Friday 18 March 2011

How to Find Video Game Companies that Are Hiring

If you’re currently looking for a career in video game development, finding a job is one of the hardest parts of the process. Sure, education was tough, and building your portfolio was trying, but actually landing a job as a programmer, designer, or even a tester is hard. To start with, you have to deal with heavy competition in the industry, and not all job openings are publically advertised as developers strive to keep certain projects under wraps.

However, there are a number of ways to look for major publishers in your genre of choice beyond simply checking the classified ads.

Online Ads and Postings

If a project is not secret or if a publisher is simply trying to expand its operations, you can find job postings on public boards. These are the hardest to get, however, as they require you to go up against the largest chunk of competition. Generally, you’ll have the most luck with these listings if you live in a publisher heavy area like southern California.

Job Services

Some jobs go straight to hiring services that will screen candidates in advance. These services will use discretion to sort through applicants, find people with related skillsets and set them up for interviews. Of course, you must join these job services and they can cost money at times. Other times, they are selective in matching.

Cold Calls

Cold calling a developer is the least effective way to get a job interview, but it does work. The reason it is so ineffective in general is that most people will just send a resume and cover letter and leave it at that. You must be persistent though. Developers exist across the United States and Europe and will often have needs that don’t require a major ad or call for employees. To get in place for those roles, you must position yourself as a persistent, highly skill prospect. Major developers like Vivendi, EA, Activision Blizzard, THQ, Acclaim, and Sony are all looking for new employees regularly.

References and Contracting

Some smaller development companies will outsource their smaller needs between projects. Rather than hiring dedicated workers, they will pick up programmers for small projects or testers on sites like VWorker.com and vet them that way. If you do a good job, however, these onetime projects can turn into recurring work that will help you develop a portfolio and eventually a permanent position.

Getting a job in the game industry is not easy. It takes persistence, experience, and thick skin because you’ll be rejected a lot. But if you go in with the confidence that you can do a good job for these companies, you’ll eventually land that job you’ve been dreaming of.

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