Game Industry Interviewing Techniques

As a General Manager and someone who is responsible for hiring staff, I must say that I've waded through my fair share of resumes. Across the world I've seen different approaches to the job application process. Obviously there are a number of differences between submitting a resume in the US, and applying for a job in the Philippines.

I thought I would offer my observations and thoughts on the subject:

1. As an applicant, you must read carefully the job advertisement. The job ad will hopefully list for you the REQUIRED attributes of the position, and other skills that might be nice to have. If you don't have the required skills, you only do yourself a disservice by applying. You take up your time and that of the person reviewing the submissions, and you run the risk of creating some ill-will for you if you choose to apply again in the future for a position for which you are much more qualified.
2. Include a cover letter! This is such an important point I will say it again - include a cover letter! Very few applicants take the time to include a cover letter. The cover letter is your one chance to overcome any objections the reviewer may gloss over when reading your resume. Without a cover letter it will be difficult to understand the full value of the candidate. Please take this advice - include a cover letter with your application. It will drastically increase your chances of an interview.
3. As a corollary to #2 above, make sure your cover letter is tailored to the job at-hand. Including a generic cover letter that says how hard you will work and that your experience makes you a good fit is not enough. Talk briefly about your skills that are appropriate to the position, and how your past experiences will give value to the company for the company in this role. Be specific and draw links directly from the job advertisement text.
4. Include a TAILORED resume in your application. Submitting generic resumes will not distinguish you from the crowd, and they are quite easily spotted when pouring through the vast number of applicants. Take the time to READ the job advertisements, and highlight through bullet points, bolding, and carefully crafted descriptions. Make sure that you present yourself in such a way that it would be a crime if the interviewer didn't call you in. Of course you must not inflate your experiences or misstate (i.e. lie) about your background. Do not think for a moment that the company won't check up on you - any company worth their salt will call references and your previous companies for employment verification.
5. Since we are a game company, it helps if you have some game experience in your background before applying for game development position. This doesn't necessary mean that you have had to work for a game company before, but rather that you have taken it upon yourself to demonstrate your interest and passion for this career. Spend some time working on your portfolio or on a game demo. Show you know what you are talking about by speaking intelligently about the games the company might make. Game development is all about PASSION, and if you don't have the fire in your belly (i.e. you are just looking for a paycheck) then it's best to move along and find something else that is more suitable.
6. If your experience has been in business programming, that doesn't necessary qualify you for a game programming position. Game programming is inherently different, and requires knowledge of things like graphics, sound, AI, physics, and APIs like DirectX and OpenGL. If you are a business programmer and want to make the switch to games, please see #5 above.
7. If you are a computer artist, there are several software packages you need to know: AutoDesk 3D Studio Max and Maya, and Adobe Photoshop. You must have at least an intermediate level of knowledge before applying, so if you don't yet possess such skills, see #5 above.
8. One particular difference between resumes here in Asia and the rest of the world is the inclusion of personal/bio data on the resume. In my view this is unnecessary, and anyone who would choose an employee based on age, gender, religious affiliation, or that they didn't like your picture isn't a company worth working for. Leave it off...
9. There are a number of online services here in the Philippines that display available jobs: jobstreet.com and jobsdb.com are two of note. If you use these services, my suggestion for applicants is that you do not choose the HTML way to submit your resume, rather you should choose "send via email" option if it is available. This way you get to submit a nicely formatted resume PLUS COVER LETTER to the employer, and you will be allowed to format your materials in a way that best suits your need to highlight what's important.
10. You would think this is obvious, but apparently it's not as obvious as it should be: if you are scheduled for an interview at say 10am, it's a good idea to be there on time. Maybe even 5 minutes early. DO NOT BE LATE. Sorry guys to be harsh here, but traffic is not an excuse. I know traffic in Manila is bad, but I learned this pretty quick how bad it is - most of you have been here a lifetime, so you should know to plan around it so you aren't late.
11. If for whatever reason you are delayed or cannot make it at the assigned day/time, please be proactive and call the company to reschedule. My assumption would be that if you don't call, then you aren't interested.
12. Don't accept a job interview if you aren't truly interested in interviewing for the job. I've had way too many instances where interviews were scheduled but people didn't show up. I'll never understand that one. Just makes you look bad, that's all. Why make yourself look bad when a simple phone call is all it takes to clear things up?

"It's just my opinion, I could be wrong" - Dennis Miller

Two Steps forward, Two Steps Back

Several years ago I wanted to purchase a digital music player. I wasn't one to become one of the millions of iPod lemmings, so I looked far and wide for the best digital music solution out there. At that time I purchased a Creative Labs Zen Xtra. It had the size (40 or 60GB), replaceable battery (iPod eat your heart out), and played a file format that I thought was better than MP3 - namely WMA. Read more here to understand this position.

The Zen Xtra has served me well. My 40GB model can hold just about my entire music collection (sampled at a high bitrate), has a decent battery drain time, and ultimately sounds great. It's only drawback was that it is a little large - about the size of an old Sony Walkman (remember those - the tape player, not the CD player). But this was a price I was willing to pay for these feature.

Of course time marches on, and technology improves. There are much better players out there now. While the price point has remained about the same, they have gotten smaller and now have the ability to store/view pictures and movies. As I am currently in the market for a new digital music player, I of course when looking at the latest Creative Labs offerings. I've examine two in particular: the Zen Vision:M and the Zen V.

On the surface these look like solid products, and when held against the current iPods they indeed are. The problem as I see it is that to take on the iPod, you have to not only meet the iPod's specs, but surpass them - and by a significant margin.

The two biggest features I hold in the highest regard are the player's music capacity and if it has a replaceable battery. I travel quite a bit, and I like to take my entire music collection with me. I just never know what I may be in the mood for, so it's good to have my collection with me. And because I travel, I also tend to run the player for a long time - listening to music for hours, or trying to get through a book-on-tape or my language CDs in one sitting. When your cruising at 40,000 feet, the options for recharging your player are limited. Just give me an extra battery and I'm good to go.

So what then happened with both these features? Creative Labs in its wisdom has chosen to reduce the capacities on their players (30GB is the largest Vision:M you can get), and it looks like they have dumped the idea of a replaceable battery all together - none of their new players have them.

Ouch. Time to look for another company's player...

Eric Marlow
aka "Snacko"

Wow - Never This Easy Again!

I found something today that totally amazed me. We've recently purchased a bunch of LCD monitors for our office. One of the monitors I used was developing some "stuck" pixels. You can tell you have stuck pixels if you see small dots of a particular color remain on your screen. Usually they are apparent when you have a black screen saver.

Anyway, I had a few red and blue stuck pixels crop up. I did a quick search on the 'net and came up with this fix. I was totally amazed. It worked! Try it yourself...

Eric Marlow
aka "Snacko"

Shocking - Technology in PH

As I am responsible for setting up the office here in Manila, I was shocked as to the state of technology here. It's not that decent technology can't be found - eventually it can be. It's just more difficult to find. Gone are the days of just running into the local Best Buy and finding exactly what you need for a good price. Gone are the days of Internet shopping from New Egg or other online retailer - fast delivery, cheap prices. hehe - a thing of the past for me.

Now I'm relegated to not only paying a HUGE incremental for both hardware and software, but there is a tremendous lead time to receive the goods you wish to get. Sure, you can buy technology same-day, but it may be a lesser brand or not the specification you want. If you are looking for a specific model of HP printer, or a high-end Nvidia graphic card - good luck. You may have to wait 30-45 days until it can arrive from overseas distribution points.

The problem as I see it is that foreign tech companies are not serving the Philippines directly. I guess there isn't a big enough market here. I know that Dell doesn't go direct here, and neither does HP. It all comes from Singapore.

Of course this is a big problem for running a business here. The costs, lead times, and availability of technology are a huge disincentives for productivity. And the large incremental on pricing only contributed to piracy. In the US I could get a copy of Autodesk 3D Studio Max for $2800 USD, but here it' s more like $5000. Same holds true for Microsoft software, Adobe, and other software makers. What incentive do they have here to get the legitimate stuff? Very little. I imagine this is a similar issue in other emerging markets as well.

Eric Marlow
aka "Snacko"

First Post

Hello - my name is Eric Marlow. I'm the General Manager and Head of Studio for Matahari Studios in Manila, Philippines. This site contains some thoughts, idea, conversations, and miscellaneous ramblings of my life and work - computer games, technology, and life abroad - all are topics of interest to me.

I have never written a blog before, but I have contributed to magazines and online websites, so I think I have something to say. Please visit often and contribute your own thoughts and ideas. I'd love to hear from you.

Eric Marlow
aka "Snacko"