This stage is all about the research. You’re going into an unknown environment with unknown interviewers, do you suffer from sweaty palms and cotton mouth (dry mouth), do you lose your train of thought or talk incessantly? An interview can cause a fight-or-flight response, especially when you really have your heart set on the job. So how do you overcome these hurdles to help you in your hour of need?
Fear or anxiety is apprehension about the unknown, it’s projecting what might happen. The problem is, you just don’t know. I don’t think you can control everything, but I’ve found the task of research helps to reduce that unknown quantity. So, do some digging, see who or what comes up in your search. Even if it doesn’t have all the answers, it can help you develop some good questions for your interviewer.
As a starting point, I recommend you look at these areas:
• Company history
• Previous games
• Studio boss
• Interviewer(s)
• Previous employees
• Culture
• Salary and benefits
Many of these are a sub-set of something larger. Use the places listed below to find what you need, activate your inner super sleuth, and see what you can uncover, you might be (pleasantly) surprised!
Companies House (UK) – The Companies House website is useful for finding details of company directors and yearly financial results, nuggets of information about titles, annual turnover, number of staff and bonuses. There may also be links to parent companies if they are multinational, which can give you further insight.
LinkedIn – A well-known global site for professionals. It’s the place to go for making connections and finding people, as well as searching their career backgrounds. Recently LinkedIn has become more of a one-stop shop with people posting articles and self-promotion. I would be careful of recommendations though, have you noticed they are always positive? Think about it, you don’t ask your nemesis to post a review of you, do you?
Glassdoor – A website dedicated to giving an insight into how a company operates, comprising happy and sad employees. I’ve read comments about some of my previous employers and they are interesting, but ask yourself how much you think is true. Do the comments make sense or is the reviewer a rotten apple? Note the dates when comments were posted to see if you can find any trends; is the company getting better where it initially had failings? Are you ok with some of those failings? As a newcomer to the industry, it’s hard to know what’s acceptable, but culture comments or harsh crunch conditions are a real red flag.
Google – Google will show you which games the company has released. It also lists who worked on what. From this list you can look up the Lead or the Art Director and do more digging into who the personalities are at the head of the project.
Social media and YouTube – Keep on sleuthing! Use social media and YouTube to continue to build your dossier, so that you go to your interview fully prepped and ready.
Salary sites – I’ve left the best to last, maybe because salary is the hardest thing to research. Countries, regions and departments all pay differently. Artists appear to get paid more in the USA, but the cost of living can be high in certain cities, so effectively you won’t be much better off. These are some sites where you can find out more about pay and see what the going rate is for someone with your experience:
• www.loveforgames.com/salary/
You won’t be tested on this digging; it’s really an opportunity for you to find out more about the company and the culture. All along the interview process, you’ll be gathering information from your interviewers, the company, and their culture.
Ready and prepped? Now it’s interview time.
By now you’ve done the hard work of the writing, emailing, portfolio and the art test, so now it’s the personality test. Are you who you say you are? Do you have the skills you say you have? Do you present as modest, a hard head, a rascal, or a charlatan? Those are the sort of things your interviewer will want to know.
My most extensive interview was at Epic Games; it was also one of my best. They flew me to North Carolina in the USA on a whirlwind trip. This journey had started long before the flight though, a month before with a long-awaited phone call.
I had thought that I’d blown the interview and needed to look elsewhere. Not having heard anything for weeks, I naturally imagined that I’d done or said something wrong that had put me out of the running.
The position was for a Senior Artist but my major downside was that I had no Unreal Engine experience and this opportunity was to make Unreal Championship 2 in Unreal Engine 2 on the Xbox.
To cut a long story short, my interview included these small social tests too:
• A drop-in visit from Epic’s then Lead Game Designer, Cliff Bleszinski.
• A BBQ at Co-founder, Mark Rein’s house that evening.
• Talking to many of the stalwart staff, people that already had large reputations within the community (no pressure!) and further conversations the following day.
They eventually offered me the job. I worked from home while they completed the visa and paperwork, and we sold our house and left friends and family. Within six months we had moved with my two kids and I was on site, full time in Cary, USA.
With games recruitment being a global process, candidates are just as likely to be in a different part of the world. Companies have adapted to make the most of the hiring market, and a popular process is the two-stage interview. Large companies with deep pockets have the resources to fly you over for your second-stage interview, although normally senior roles get the special treatment.
Online
Whether you use Skype, Zoom, Teams or one of the many other options, the list is growing regarding which software to use, but the pre-checklist stays the same.
• Ahead of time, check that your camera and microphone are working. Test them on a friend to make sure the day before.
• Check your desktop. Make sure your background image won’t cause offence and that you have no strange files visible if you are going to share screens.
• Check your surroundings. Is there anything behind you that will distract?
• Become familiar with using the software ahead of time, sharing screens and work is not uncommon.
• If you are encountering technical difficulties/glitches, you can resort to your phone and ear buds.
• Let your interviewer and company know ahead of time if you can’t connect for any reason, and as a last resort, you can ask to reschedule.
• Prepare by looking over your art test because they will ask you about your results and if you would change anything in hindsight.
• Have a glass of water on standby.
• Enjoy! You are talking about you and your work; you got this!
On site
Interviews in person give you a great opportunity to experience the vibe of the office; how busy is it, what’s the seating layout, do people seem happy, what’s the decor and lighting, do they have any goodies like commissary, gym or basketball court and car parking? Obviously this is subject to our post-COVID world, however, working face-to-face is likely to return in some form.
Pre-interview
• Be presentable. Yes, I know game devs are a mixed bag and that they dress how they like, but save some of that for when you have the job! At least turn up clean and refreshed looking.
• Write down your questions. If you get nervous and forget them, you have them right in front of you to read.
• Check your details. Do you have the right address; do you have the correct studio? It’s a simple mistake to make, but potentially fatal.
• Plan your route. When you ask Google to tell you the travel time, make sure you enter the time you intend to travel, so it gives you an accurate prediction. Traffic will ebb and flow depending on the day.
• Have a printed copy of the important details, including address, which entrance, the interviewer’s name and phone number.
• Take some water, just in case. Your travel time may be long, and the studio may not offer refreshments. Not all interviewers are well versed in looking after interviewees.
• Aim to arrive early. You want to feel prepared and not flustered. There could be documents to sign (eg Non-Disclosure Agreements) and you may need a quick trip to the bathroom.
• Stuck in traffic or some situation that’s making you late? Contact the studio and let them know; hopefully they will push your interview to a later slot.
• More senior roles will involve a lunch with devs to chat about you and your career and skills. It’s all part of finding out how rounded you are as a person and an artist.
TIP: I travel with a small bag of goodies, such as a high energy snack bar just in case my blood sugar goes low and I feel woozy, some water, a small battery pack in case my phone uses a large amount of charge for some unknown reason and some sunscreen – my head is slowly becoming more and more polished!
The interview
• Time to talk turkey! Exchange some pleasantries, ask for a glass of water if you have a dry mouth and then settle into it. Be professional but also approachable, if your feeling super nervous, remember you'll be talking about a shared passion, you've got common ground, so let it flow.
• Expect to talk about your work, your portfolio and your working process. Be ready to answer questions on your art test and what you feel your strengths and weaknesses are.
• Ask about the company’s process (if they are willing to share), find out about their pipeline, what software they use and what the artist workflow is like. How editable and flexible are their systems (some pipelines make it difficult to make alterations quickly)?
• Don’t badmouth people, projects, or situations. While your grievances may be all true, it’s not professional and not appropriate in an interview.
• Don’t waffle. You aren’t paid by the word so answer the question honestly and with some passion.
• Be truthful. Some questions can be tricky, like ‘Why are you leaving your last company?’ If you have had a bad experience, it’s best to figure out your answers prior to the interview, such as what you want that your current employer isn’t providing. Perhaps you seek ‘a chance to grow in a different direction’, or are ‘looking for ways to further your art skills’? There are many ways to turn a poor answer into a positive one. Spend some time on it though!
• Make sure you ask questions; this is just as much about them as it is you.
• Evaluate the room/situation. Is it safe to ask about crunch culture, to find out about the company’s views on that and how they deal with it? Do they offer paid overtime? Are meals provided? Would you receive time back in lieu?
• Ensure you ask further questions on company benefits, vacation days, company pension, healthcare, accommodation help and duration.
TIP: Topics of race, sexuality, gender, physical appearance, disability, religion, citizenship, marital status, children are a big no. You are being interviewed on your skills and personality. If you offer them up in the interview, that’s ok, but an interviewer should not be asking.
Post-interview
• Be appreciative. Make a point of thanking the interviewer for their time, regardless of how the interview has progressed.
• Be patient, as some companies are crazily busy. If you’ve heard nothing after a week, follow up with your point of contact.
Hopefully you were successful! If you were, then it’s all change! Time to step up and face a new and exciting challenge. If you weren’t so lucky, it’s an opportunity for some self-evaluation, to discover areas for improvement before your next application.
Nobody likes rejection, especially when your heart is set on a job. When this happens, what can you do to ease the pain of the rejection? Or worse, when the only thing you hear is deafening silence?
I remember my first rejection, I’d applied to Ocean Software, based in Deansgate, Manchester. They had it all, the cool warehouse offices, a quick trip to the bars by the canal, it was good city living. Oh, I really wanted a job, but I knew it was a long shot. My portfolio was woefully light in content. Despite that, I still got an interview, something must have caught their eye. The project was Jurassic Park (1993 version). I didn’t get the job; I was pretty clueless about 3D and game pipelines but at the end I grilled my interviewer on hardware and software specs, so determined was I to get my own rig and teach myself after that interview. It was a pivotal point in my career development.
Henry Ford said, ‘Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely’. While I feel that’s true, sometimes it’s hard to hear straight after losing out on your dream job. But maybe it’s too early for sage advice! So, let’s look at something more practical and tangible to get you back on track.
1. Request feedback – It’s now the norm to request feedback on your interview, but if you do this, know that you might get nothing back. Emailing the company, asking if they can provide some insight into why they felt you weren’t suitable for the role, is a simple first step. Remember though, that companies must be careful about what and how they reply, so most will steer clear to avoid any legal issues or will provide a generic response.
2. Moving forwards – It’s time to regroup after the rejection. If you received negative feedback about your application, interview or art test, spend time finding solutions to upgrade your weaknesses. Sure, it’s a pain to be rejected, but next time you’ll be a stronger candidate, so re-apply for that same role if that truly is your dream job.
TIP: You can apply for a job more than once, but not usually within a six-month timeframe. Make sure you have improved since your last application, as employers will still want to see progression.
The industry can be tough to get into, but if you really want it, it’s a matter of staying motivated and proactive. Keep going, keep pushing, keep improving – Go! Go! Go!
You were accepted? Great, then you’re in the last stretch, having reached all the way to the money part. You want to feel appreciated and you want to be comfortable. You don’t want to be living in a bedsit with a month’s worth of ramen noodles as your only food source. You want to buy coffee, video games and art tutorials, right? Who doesn’t! But how do you get paid what you feel you are worth? Some of these factors might help you determine your starting package.
Experience
As a Junior, your experience will be from university or online training. It’s possible you’ve done modding or freelanced prior to your application, all of which bolsters your resume and increases your worth.
Desirability
What sort of artwork are you producing? Some genres are in high demand, so if you are lucky and deliver that type of art, it can benefit you at the negotiation stages. The quality of your work counts too. If you are making killer art, then you are in a strong position to get the salary you want.
Scarcity
Most art positions are environment, because they are the biggest department of the studio and therefore have the most open positions. Roles such as visual effects (VFX) and user interface (UI) have smaller departments, but good candidates are harder to find. Even though they are niche areas, they are just as important as anything else. Quality character artists and concept artists are also scarcer than you would think. My advice would be not to choose a role on scarcity and salary though, rather do what attracts you and what you think you will love, remember, you'll dedicate a large portion of your waking life to this role, choose something that motivates you!
Personal situation
Circumstances play a role in how you operate and negotiate, so if your bank account is about to hit zero, you’ll take any job they offer to pay those bills. If you are already in a job (the best circumstance), you are in a safer situation where you can afford to pick, without that weight on your back, bearing down.
I once resigned from my job and needed a new gig. I wasn’t in the best of positions; I had bills to pay, family to support, and I was feeling burnt out. I took the first interesting job I could find, but it meant stepping down my career ladder for a while. That wasn’t the worst thing though, a poor exchange rate and lower salaries in the UK meant it paid me 35% less than my previous job. It would never be an easy course of action but looking back at it now, it worked out thankfully ok, I found new routes to progress along and eventually made it to the Art Director role I wanted.
Salary bands
Companies work with salary bands, which means the way they bracket financial worth per position in the company. Every candidate can be potentially average, good or amazing. Depending on what the project needs, the company will pay X, Y or Z amount. A few websites collate survey data on salaries paid in the US and Europe, so make good use of them to get an idea of how much to expect.
Benefits and bonuses
Often, especially in start-up companies, the salary can be lower if the company wants to conserve funds. They might offer you stock options to make up the perceived shortfall (See 2.4 Show me the goodies). Along with stock options, the benefits package including health, life, dental and pension schemes can also influence your negotiating strategy.
Negotiation
Honestly, in your early career, there isn’t much of a negotiation. You need a job and you want to get into the industry, so you’re at the disadvantage. While that’s the reality of the situation, companies are all in competition with each other. If they want to attract and keep their staff, they’ll try to offer attractive packages to keep their workers focused and making games. As you progress in your career, you’ll gain a greater ability to negotiate a higher salary, higher-tier bonus package, and other perks.
If you receive a low-ball offer you can still counter, even as a Junior. You can respond with a ‘Love the package, but a salary of X amount is what I was hoping for’ and see what they say. In the worst case they can say no, it’s a final offer, so you’ll either take the job or not on that basis. Even better, you might get an increased salary. The middle ground would be an offer to review your salary after six months, and if you prove your worth, they’ll honour the increase.
TIP: Bonuses are not salary. Salary pays the bills; salary is money in the bank every month. Bonuses are fantasy money, they may happen (and can be big) or they may not, so consider the risks when accepting deals where the salary is low, and the prospect of large bonuses is high. I’m not saying don’t do it, just weigh the risk/reward and what that means for you.
You’re on the edge of entering a brave new world, where you can really soar, learning new software and skills while working with exceptional talent. You’ve about to make a massive leap forward after all the hours of preparation/art tests/interviews, and the effort has paid off. Great job!
But before stepping into this creative arena, is there anything you need to do to wrap your current life up before you embark on your new one?
1. Arrange your new start date – Work out how long you want between jobs and whether you can afford it. Do you want some time off or do you want to jump right in and get cracking? Companies are flexible to a certain extent, but if you’re serious, don’t delay too long, they won’t wait forever if there are other candidates to choose from.
2. Hand in your notice – Be aware of your current working contract details (if you have one). When handing in your notice to end your current employment, companies and countries operate differently. In the USA it can vary from state to state.
3. Preliminary paperwork – Your new employer will email your new contract. Look it over carefully and if you are unsure of anything, seek legal counsel. Note that if you don’t like the contract, there’s not a lot you can do about it, other than turning down the job offer. On matters of who owns creative property rights while you’re working for them, read the contracts section in 2.1 Gear Up.
4. Shout from the rooftops – Let your friends, family and colleagues know about your recent success – it’s worth celebrating! Though only post something after all the paperwork is complete.
5. Time to pack? – Is your new job in your local area? Great, you don’t have to think about packing up and moving. If, like me, you are prepared to move around either in your home country or to a new one, then time to pack and call the movers. Often employers will allocate a moving allowance to take some of the financial strain off you.
It’s likely your new job will involve a move to an unfamiliar place, especially if you have been chasing a specific games company to work with. But you know this already, you applied there and you’ve done your research because it’s been your goal all along.
Relocation to a new country is best suited to a whole different book, because the hoops to jump through and the pitfalls are extensive. If you get the opportunity, I heartily recommend moving; it’s challenging but worth it. Even if you have a family in tow, it’s totally possible.
Companies may offer relocation packages as part of the offer, often covering flights, transport costs of household contents, visa requirements, lawyers, transport, and temporary accommodation while you find your feet in your new surroundings.
At the time of moving to the USA, everyone thought we were crazy. We sold the house, the car, everything, we upped sticks and moved with our three- and five-year-old kids to somewhere we knew next to nothing about. We were about to live the American dream! Nothing could have prepared us for the spring pollen levels (cars were turning yellow), the summer heat, my aversion to cockroaches and reaction to mosquito bites! On the flip side, my kids grew up in a safe place, accessed many activities and had a pool and tennis court behind the house, burgers, ice cream and the Epic pantry, meaning free candy and soda when I took them with me.
On reflection, living and working in the States was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There’s nothing quite like travel to expand your mind and horizons, allowing greater understanding of others and different cultures. Developing soft skills and a greater willingness to understand and learn will only help your career, especially if you later choose to progress into management roles such as Lead Artist or Art Director.