Updated: 6/8/98

Hi there,

I've been searching for programming positions in the games industry.  I'm aware that some of you also want to enter the industry at some point, so I thought I would write an account of my job search to give you an idea of what to expect.

I was going to do a diary, but I couldn't be bothered to write an updated account every few days. This will be a retrospective viewpoint, and I think that this will be better because the interviews have a lot in common, so it won't be repetitive.

Contact
My situation was that I decided to start applying for jobs in the middle of June, to start work as soon as possible. This meant I needed to find companies that were either looking to expand their staff, or had a vacancy at that particular time.  You may want to take a different approach if you are willing to wait.

I would say that the best way to go about finding a job is to go through the agencies.  Despite adverts in Edge magazine and contact addresses on their website, none of the Playstation companies I wrote to even bothered to reply (about seven), though a couple contacted me through the agencies. The only company who replied was Rare, who sent me a letter straight away.

I originally contacted just one agency along with the direct letters - Datascope, who got me a few top interviews.  Because of the failure of the direct approach I felt I'd better contact some other agencies so that I had a bit more choice.  One problem is that the companies are also in touch with several agencies.  This leads to a bit of confusion, and its really a problem for the agencies more than anyone else.  I got back from one interview and got a phone call asking me to attend an interview with the same company.  If you contact an agency, one of the things they'll want will be a list of companies that you've already been in contact with.  The other agency that got me a few interviews was Aardvark Swift who acted very quickly.  I think it was difficult for the others because my CV had probably been well-circulated by the time they sent it out.  

I think as far as the job-hunter is concerned, its better to be in contact with as many companies as possible.  It is probably good to think hard about what kind of games you would work on, and what locations you would go to, and give that information to the agency, so that you don't get bombarded with interviews for companies you have absolutely no interest in.

Another problem I had was that I was getting new interviews all the time.  This meant that even after getting an offer, I still had a number of interviews I wanted to attend.  Maybe it would be better to pick a two week slot for interviews, then ask the agencies to find you interviews for that period.  Then, hopefully, any offers you get should also come around the same time.

Demo
I produced a demo for the Yaroze, and I also had a basic version on the PC which I had used to test the algorithms.  Before my initial direct mailing, I sent an email asking the companies if they had a Yaroze, but I had only one reply which was negative.

So with my letter and CV I sent out the demo on a floppy disk. I pointed out that they would have to change the download command in the auto file.  Sony said that my Codewarrior ny.pxe file should work.  Also, when I contacted the agencies I told them that I had produced a demo and that I could send it out to anyone interested.

I'm a bit disappointed about the companies attitude towards my demo.  I would have thought that it would be the first thing they'd want to see, yet its often at the end of an interview when they ask 'You say you've done a demo?  Oh we haven't got a Yaroze.'  I think Sony should have pushed all these companies to buy a Yaroze, after all it costs very little compared to the other kit they have.  What's the point in touting the Yaroze as encouraging people into the industry if companies aren't interested or are incapable of playing demos made on it.  Codemasters has some Yarozes, so they have found a use for them.

Sony were the only ones who played the demo before the interview.  Some have asked for code samples.

The Interviews
Interview 1:
This interview was over the phone. I was asked a lot about my Neural Network stuff, but that was because this company's game was heavily AI based.  The guy was also going to ask me some technical C++ questions, but I couldn't even answer the first one - the reason is that I hadn't really thought about the language in a few months, the code for my game only used basic classes.  So if you put C++, or anything else on your CV, be prepared.

Interview 2:
This interview was conducted by three people in all, sort of coming in and out, because they had other meetings to attend.  It mainly consisted of puzzles, with one of the guys setting a typical game problem on a whiteboard then asking me various questions on it.  The idea was to test my way of thinking, but there's no doubt that the experience of creating a game helped, because I could relate a lot of the problems directly to things I have encountered.  One of the problems was a 3D Doom style game, which was handy as that is like my demo.  I told them how I solved the problems in my demo, which led on to me explaining a lot about the techniques I had used.
Other than that, there was the standard sort of questions e.g. Tell us about your C programming experience.  Also, they loaded up my demo, but because we were short of time, they only tried the crap PC version, but I left them the disk to try loading the Yaroze stuff into the PSX dev system.

Interview 3:
I had to do some tests, and I was forewarned.  These tested my logic, my programming aptitude and my knowledge of the games industry.  The interview was straightforward, in that I was just asked about things I'd done.

Interview 4:
I had a single test, which covered lots of different things.  The interview was fairly straightforward, consisting of questions of things I'd done and general discussion about where the industry is going.

Interview 5:
Just an interview, but quite a challenging one.  The interviewer had forthright opinions.

Interview 6:
Probably the most challenging interview, bar the problem solving one.  They were certainly the most prepared - I've noticed that most interviewers weren't much prepared, they just looked through my CV and asked questions when they noticed something of interest, though I think they may have looked through before and noted points of query.  One good thing about this one is that the interviewer started off by taking me through the terms of employment, such as days of holiday and how bonus is calculated, and he suggested that I should ask such questions of other companies.

Interview 7:
Oh dear!  I turned up late, thanks to South West Trains, and by that time, my interviewer had left.  But, for the first time, they made an attempt to download my demo onto a Playstation with Action Replay (I don't know much about this).  The guy said that the Codewarrior executable was fine, and replaced my local load commands with something else, but it didn't work.  They said they'll try it on the Dev System.

Interview 8:
These guys were well prepared, they had the questions ready.  They gave me a C programming test, in which I had to talk through the answers.  To be honest, it was more about spotting bugs due to the syntax of C rather than programming ability.  I think if you want a programming job, make sure you know C syntax.

Some general comments:
There are the standard questions, such as describe what you did on a particular job or project, why you took a particular job. Basically a run through of your CV.  As well, think about what you can offer the company in terms of skills.

I've found that interviewers are very interested in opinions.  I had questions on where I thought the industry was headed, what I thought of the games around at the moment, what kind of games I liked.  An almost universal question is to discuss a game I liked particularly, what I thought was successful about it, yet how I would improve it.  I actually had a couple of arguments, which I'm not sure was a good thing, although I would be impressed by someone willing to argue their case.

I think if you are a reasonable programmer, you won't have any problem with the logic and programming tests, and I'm assuming you'll need some programming experience or knowledge to get a programming job anyway.  As for questions on the games industry, if you read magazines like Edge or a PSX mag, you'll probably be able to answer all the questions.  If you don't then I suggest you make sure you've got a reasonable knowledge of the different genres, the games and the strengths and weaknesses of the different platforms.

I noticed that some of the interviewers were keen to criticise the approach of other companies, in contrast to their own wonderful approach.  Funnily enough, the companies with the weakest track record were those more inclined to criticise others.  Maybe they felt more of a need to convince me that they were worth working for.  Though they were all honest in saying you must expect to work long hours as the deadline approaches.

Success?
I've had loads of interviews and one offer which I am really keen on.  I would be interested to know what aspect of my CV helped get me the interviews, and likewise the job offers.  I have several years programming experience and I have produced a demo, but very little (in years) game experience.  I have done a Neural Network PhD, but all the companies said to me they have no intention of using Neural Networks in the immediate future.

I hope you find this of help.  I don't want to name specific companies and their interview questions as I don't think it would be fair on them.  If you have any further questions and things you would like me to comment on, then let me know and I'll update this account.

Good luck.

Jeff Hannan