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Each month, industry veteran Tom Sloper provides career guidance to game biz wannabes, newbies, and junior professionals with the goal of helping them break into the industry, and stay in. Submit a question to Tom for developer-oriented advice in this column (IGDA members only).
 by Tom Sloper |
Smart Wannabe/Programmer Tricks (February 2008)Dear Tom, Should my portfolio include every small project I worked on, or only the very best one? Should I include sample code from past and present to show the improvement I've made? Do I need to build a complete game that takes hours to play through, or can I just make something that's incomplete but shows off some cool features? Some things are hard to demonstrate through code - like showing that I'm a good collaborator. How do I prove that? And I don't know if my résumé should include my summer jobs in geriatric care, since that's not relevant to games.And is it realistic to go for an entry-level programming job at a triple-A game company in another country? David David, Your portfolio should include only your very best work. Nobody wants to see beginner projects. Nobody is going to analyze the progress you made. Employers are very busy multi-tasking people. You need to help them jump right to the bottom line, and the best way to do that is leave out all the other lines entirely. It's a good idea to have two or three great demos on your disc. The demos should do something cool, and the source code should be included. The demos don't have to be huge epics of gameplay. Interviewers just want to see that you understand how to program a game. And they want to see that you write efficient well commented code. The way to demonstrate that you're a team player is to include a team project on your disc. In the interview, you can explain exactly which parts of the project you coded, and which parts were coded by another team member. As for jobs that you've had that aren't applicable to games, all past jobs must always be included on a résumé, period. All too often, a recently graduated applicant has no employment history at all. We employers have all encountered problems with inexperienced applicants who don't get the importance of showing up punctually, putting in a full day's work, or even showing up to work at all. When your résumé shows that you've had summer jobs, the employer can tell that you're not one of those. And your having worked in a humane field like geriatric care says that you know how to interact appropriately with people who aren't your peers. Finally, I wouldn't recommend limiting your options to triple-A companies in North America or Japan , but you can apply for entry level jobs at triple-A companies in Scandinavia and Europe , and you might even get hired. Don't ignore smaller companies, though. And keep in mind that your first few job interviews will probably serve as practice for the interview that eventually gets you your first game job. |
Please note that there is no guarantee that Tom will be able to respond to all the questions he receives. It is up to his discretion which questions he uses for this column. For further advice and resources, check out the IGDA's discussion forums, the Breaking In web site and the Students & Newbies Outreach section.
Tom's Bio
Tom Sloper's game biz career began over twenty years ago at Western Technologies, where he designed LCD games and the Vectrex games "Spike" and "Bedlam". There followed stints at Sega Enterprises, Rudell Design, Atari Corporation, and Activision. In 12 years at Activision, Tom produced 36 unique game titles (plus innumerable ports and localizations), designed four games, and won five awards. Tom worked for several months in Activision's Japan operation, in Tokyo. He is perhaps best known for designing, managing and producing Activision's "Shanghai" line. He is currently consulting, writing, speaking, teaching, and developing original games. Find out more at Sloperama.
© 2007 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.