My Favorite Job Interviews
Do you want to get a job in the videogame industry? Or some other "Information Technology" job somewhere else in the industry?

One of the most intimidating aspects of a programmer's career is the job interview. Unless you go the purely entrepreneurial route and never work for someone else (even as a contractor) , you are going to be in the situation where you are going to feel like you are being sized up like a slab of beef by a panel of judges, all the while trying to sell yourself without coming across as a conceited jerk.

The worst cases are the ones where you think the interview went very well, but you don't get the job. You second-guess yourself, trying to figure out what went wrong. You are never told that one of the other three finalists is actually an old college friend of the team lead - instead you sweat over what you must have done to blow the interview.

I've been on both sides of the interview process more often than I can remember - both within the videogame industry, and outside of it doing "applications" for businesses. Many of the job interviews were not very pleasant. Sitting at a table being grilled on nuances of the Java language isn't exactly a great way to spend a lunch hour. Some have been pretty fun. Two jobs (one for a videogame programming position, one for an Artificial Intelligence-related job) had me do some puzzle-solving so they could analyze my problem-solving strategy. Those are stressful but entertaining. Interviewing a person with ZERO social skills is also entertaining, but not in a good way.

Here are four of my favorite job interview experiences. All were with me in the interviewee position, and ended with me accepting the position, which is probably part of why they are my favorites. I thought these might be at least entertaining. I provide some helpful tips at the end, though I'm not a job interview expert or anything. There are many sites online with more valuable tips. But I thought these might be helpful, and demonstrate that not all job interviews are created equal.

#1 - A Minor Disaster
Fresh out of college in 1994, I found myself in two job interviews for videogame companies practically back-to-back. The first one I chronicled in "How Do You Create 'Fun'?" The next one was at a new start-up game company called "SingleTrac," located in downtown Salt Lake City.

I didn't know downtown Salt Lake very well, so I came VERY early for the interview. As I was pulling into the far right lane to get on the offramp, I realized I had forty-five minutes to kill before the interview. Then the car began to SHUDDER. Blow-out on the freeway. And as a poor, starving college student, I didn't have a spare. So I needed a tow (fortunately a tire company was very nearby), and I was nearly an hour late. (Note: The tow cost me nearly as much as a spare tire. There's a lesson...)

They gave me the interviews when I arrived, and made some jokes about me making up the story about the blown tire to cover for how late I was. I think I was less worried about the interview BECAUSE I figured I'd already blown it. That, and I may have already been offered the other job (I don't remember if it had come in yet or not). However, things went well, I got along great with the people I talked with, and I was offered a position there the next day. I spent about five-and-a-half years there, and we made some really awesome, best-selling games.

#2 - From Laid Off To Better Off
SingleTrac grew too rapidly, and was pretty much struggling from day one. Then one day (Valentine's Day, 2000, to be exact) the axe came down on about half the company. It was the second or third major layoff, and the company wasn't going to survive the year. I'd come in extra early (about 4 in the morning) to get a bunch of work done that day, and was not expecting anything like that. At noon, half of us found ourselves ushered into the break room with the H.R. manager, and dismissed without so much as a thank-you. Well, okay, I did get some severance. But this was the first time I'd ever actually lost a job, and I was panicked. What would I do? How would I feed my family? Would I be able to find something else?

Well, it turns out nearby Acclaim Studios was panicking as well, desperately trying to find experienced game programmers. When they heard about the layoffs, they snagged a bunch of us up, gave us a group interview, which mainly consisted of showing us around the company and telling us how awesome it was there, and then asking how much salary we wanted.

In fact, they told us they didn't need us for a couple of weeks, but they needed assurance to the point that they would PAY us from the day we said "yes." I answered in the affirmative the next day. It was a pretty significant salary increase (though I'd been earning so much in bonuses from SingleTrac that it felt like a step down). And they didn't need me for two weeks. AND I had severance. So effectively, I had two weeks off with more than double pay.

I knew that sort of thing was HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen again. So what did we do? We immediately headed out for a trip to Disneyland.

#3 - You Want Me To Program In What?
Unfortunately, the Acclaim thing was actually not so hot. They went from having a mandate to add a new team to having to downsize the entire studio - TWICE - within two months of my starting. I survived the layoffs that time, but I saw the writing on the wall. I decided to exit the games industry (and become an indie game developer, though I didn't know there was such a thing at the time). It seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, there were all these paper millionaires appearing during this whole "Dot Com" boom...

So in 2003 - in the wake of the dot-com bubble burst - I found myself out of work again. I was much less stressed about it this time around, even though there were lots of out-of-work programmers in my area.

I got an interview at Symantec, an office which was still largely staffed with members of the original company whom Symantec had bought out a few years earlier. I took a laid-back attitude towards this interview - the pay wasn't great, and the commute would be long.

But I went, not expecting much. I think it helped me relax. There were lots of people interviewing that day. One guy hadn't shaved that morning before donning his buisiness DRESS. Complete with white stockings. Considering that this office was in pretty conservative Utah Valley territory, I figured that at least my chances were better than his. After all, forgetting to shave can really give a bad first impression.

During one part of the interview - with the guy who would be my immediate supervisor - I struck up a pretty good conversation. Turned out he was a gamer, so he liked my background as a videogame developer. So then he asked me some hard questions. "How's your Java?"

I prefer to be honest with these things. I answered, "Well, my Java looks a lot like C++. I can work with it, but it's not my strong suit."

He asked me a few follow-up questions, and then he asked, "So, how are you at Python."

I continued the brutally-honest approach. "I've never programmed a line of Python code in my life."

We talked a little more about what programming experience I did have (almost exclusively C and C++), and then I asked, "So... what languages do you use here?"

He answered, "Oh, a little bit of everything... C++, Ruby, Perl... but mainly Java and Python."

Oh, JOY, I thought. So much for that job. Much to my surprise, a couple of days later, they offered me the position. It turns out that this particular manager realized that a good programmer with a Computer Science degree is actually capable of programming in MANY languages, and he assumed I could pick up Java and Python easily enough. And I did. And I fell in love with the Python language. Overall, it turned out to be a pretty good job (most of the time), and I learned a lot there.

#4 - A Unique Challenge
My current "day job" came about in a pretty unusual manner. I already knew the Wahoo Studios (aka NinjaBee) guys, and had met with them a few times before as an indie game developer. They were planning on releasing Outpost Kaloki as a downloadable title, and I knew a little bit more than they did about that space. They were impressed with my work on Void War, and we already got along pretty well.

My job interview in this case was --- different. There was no question of whether or not we wanted to work with each other. It was just a question of if we could figure out a way to structure the deal so that it would work out for both sides. We went in very open-minded, and promised each other that it would be no big deal if we couldn't make it work.

It's been a little over six months now (longer than I was at Acclaim), and while I'm making less money working in the games industry than I was "on the outside," and while the actual work is largely the same, I do have to admit it's a lot more enjoyable that what I had been doing the last couple of years. And they've been extremely supportive of my indie game development business which I have on the side.

And it's been over six months, and they haven't fired me yet, so I guess I'm doing okay. The worst part of the job has been that my motivation with Rampant Games has dropped somewhat. Part of it is because I'm doing game development work all day, which makes it harder to go back to doing it at night. Part of it is that I don't hate the day job, which I found was a pretty strong motivator.

Lessons Learned
Okay, so I skipped a whole bunch of other interviews I have had, most of which didn't pan out for one reason or another. One amusing incident was when - working under a fairly oppressive management regime - I ran into another coworker interviewing at the same place I was. We didn't tell on each other :)

And I skipped an equally innumerable interviews where I was the one conducting the interview. While it's somewhat less stressful (especially when the potential hire won't be a direct report to you), it's got its own set of frustrations. Especially when you are interviewing a candidate for someone who may be your own manager.

But if you happen to be starting out on your career and need some pointers, here's what I've learned. Bear in mind that as far as my videogame job experience, I've generally worked the back-roads, so these suggestions may or not apply if you are applying for Electronic Arts (think of it as an apprenticeship rather than surfdom...)

* Who you are is as important as what you can do. Be yourself (as best as you can under the circumstances). You are being hired into a social environment ... yes, even videogame programmers are social. We have to work together and communicate. We have to work together long hours. We have to work together long hours when stress level is high, we are tired, and our patience is exhausted and our nerves, frazzled. While it may be second to actually being... you know, competent... being someone with the right personality and "fit" for the team is critical. (In fact, one of the big questions I get asked whenever I have been one of the interviewers is, "Will this candidate fit into our culture here?")

* It's a two-way street - you aren't the only one under scrutiny. You are making a business agreement. YOU need to be asking them questions as well to make sure it's a reasonable match. Some potential employers may be annoyed by this, but those aren't the kind I'd want to be working for anyway. I know that for me (as an interviewer), being asked intelligent, reasonable questions is actually a plus. It shows me the candidate knows enough about what he'll be doing that he can ask the intelligent questions, shows he's not afraid to ask questions, and thinks highly enough of his own skills to want to make an informed decision. (I say "he," but "she" applies, of course, though it's a little less frequent in the IT industry).

* Don't ever be desperate. Anything I've ever read about negotiation notes that the first rule of negotiating is that you should always be prepared to leave with no deal. Not only should it be a reasonable proposition for you, but you should also go into any negotiation (or interview) with a good idea of where that threshold is where you'd be better off saying, "No, thank you." Yes, getting a job in the videogame industry sounds like a "dream job." And some days, it is. But it's not the only way to do it. Look at all of the indies out there.

* Always be honest. This doesn't mean volunteering your faults or anything. But I have found (through hard experience) that I really prefer working with people who are up-front and open, and people who expect the same in return.

* Use good social skills. Learn 'em if you don't got 'em. Look them in the eye, shake their hands firmly, call them by name.

* Don't trash your previous employers. Be honest, but this is not the time to vent your spleen. That just comes off as a bad attitude. And in fact, it very well may be, so you may want to do a little self-analysis. Also - at least in my area - the IT industry is fairly small. The games industry is even smaller. People talk, word gets around. Trashing on people CAN come back to haunt you.

* In the videogame industry, I DO feel it's important to actually LIKE GAMES. Some employers may not care, but I feel that people who like and are enthusiastic about what they do, who have a personal investment and pride in their work, will do a better job. If you are interviewing with a games company, be prepared to talk about your favorite game and why.

* Even for a videogame job, dress appropriately for a job interview. There may be exceptions (I came pretty casually to the Wahoo interview, but I talked to Steve about that first), but in general the suit & tie is in order. And a fresh haircut. Oh, and don't wear a shirt that you just barely bought, which still has the fold-wrinkles in it from the store. Or the cardboard collar support still in it (I won't talk about who made THAT mistake... though it wasn't in an interview)

* Though the emphasis is on you as a candidate, you should be focusing on their needs as a prospective employer. Look at it this way - they need help making money. They are shopping around for someone to help them make money. You need to provide them with a convincing argument as to why you'd be the best investment. Tailor your answers to their needs.

* Most job opportunities (and certainly the best ones) I've had came from contacts, not public ads. Once you get started in your career, you should always be networking. In fact, my first job interview - at SingleTrac - came about because of a couple of students in Artificial Intelligence class I was a Teaching Assistant for my senior year in college. One was the wife of one of the founders, and another was one of their first employees (when they still weren't sure they actually had funding to afford employees).


(Vaguely) related musings:
* How Do You Create "Fun?"
* No Excuse for IT Ignorance
* How Do You Start Making Games (getting started in the games industry)
* Working For the (Game) Man!

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:00 AM (Permalink)