GameCareerGuide Feature: Applying For Game Development Jobs

Author: by Staff

What are game employers looking for when hiring in today's ever-changing market? In our latest GameCareerGuide feature, Square Enix's LA studio head and longtime company employee Fumiaki Shiraishi talks about his views on important job skills in a new GameCareerGuide feature. Notes Shiraishi in his introduction: "We are looking for candidates who can hit the ground running. Even from college graduates, we are primarily looking for employees who can start contributing on day one. This means that the resume and portfolio must show that the candidate knows what it takes to make games." He adds: "Previous experiences at a game company, or making games for a class, are both ways to show experience. Ideally, we would like to see candidates who have spent lots of time and effort making their own games on their own time." More pointedly, he says, "Nerdy is good, but we also like to see the balance in candidates." Shiraishi outlines solid requirements for three major disciplines in his article -- software engineers, 3D artists, and level designers. For engineers, says Shiraishi, prior game development is key. "A good game will usually lead to a phone interview, which might then lead to an on-site interview. We like to ask C and C++ questions to make sure they're up to speed on that. We will also grill them on specifics on something they wrote to make sure they actually did the engineering." When it comes to artists, work is also more important than an impressive resume, he says. "We do glance at the resume, but the portfolio is what we'll look at to decide whether we want to go ahead with the interview or not." Meanwhile, says Shiraishi, "The Level Designer position is a difficult position both to hire and to apply for, because it is a moving target. The skills necessary for the position change depending on the development phase as well as the genre of the game." For Shiraishi's full list of do's and don'ts, read the full article on the subject at Gamasutra's sister educational site GameCareerGuide. And for more on Square Enix's LA studio, check out Gamasutra's interview with Shiraishi from earlier this year.