Games Industry Job Conference

chris writes "Mobliss, Valve, Gas Powered Games, Sony Online Entertainment, Time Warner Interactive, Monolith Productions, Mary-Margaret.com, Konami Digital Entertainment - America, Zango Games, and Oberon-Media are just some of the game companies participating in the Seattle Video Game Industry Job Conference and Resume Workshop that takes place in the Seattle suburb of Shoreline, Washington on February 12, 2005 at the Shoreline Center. A number of companies are actively recruiting and looking for new talent at the conference. The event is designed for artists, programmers, writers, musicians, designers and others looking to get into the computer and video game business. Students and professionals looking to get into the computer and video game business will have the opportunity to speak with industry insiders, hiring managers and participate in an engaging resume workshop."

Comments

Tip

[christopherfinke]

Even though this sounds obvious, make sure you have plenty of copies of your resume if you go to one of these. Back when I was young and stupid, I made the mistake of not bringing copies of my resume along to the first job fair I went to, and all I heard all day was "Do you have a resume? No? Come back when you do." Time wasted, opportunities lost...

Re:Tip

[Lord_Dweomer]

Also, if you want to stand out from the crowd and already have a decent portfolio, look into purchasing those cut cdrom business cards. You can print your information on the front, and burn your portfolio to the card, and the coolness factor is so high that you will definitely get your work viewed.

Re:Tip

[PhoenixOne]

Might work for a small company, but the larger ones will just toss it in the trash. Besides, I would be very careful loading up software on my PC that was handed to me by somebody I didn't know.

Not saying it is a bad idea, it's a great idea for smaller companies (which are cooler to work for anyway ;)) as long as you have something cool to show. Just make sure to give them a standard resume as well.

Re:Tip

[Lord_Dweomer]

Absolutely. But I should point out that while it will get tossed away if its just in a pile of resumes, if you are good at networking and meet someone from a big company, by all means. This card is best used when there's a personal connection already there.

can't help it

[Fr05t]

"Mobliss, Valve, Gas Powered Games, Sony Online Entertainment, Time Warner Interactive, Monolith Productions, Mary-Margaret.com, Konami Digital Entertainment - America, Zango Games, and Oberon-Media"

No EA? I thought I heard something about them making lots of money and needing more game developers.

Re:can't help it

[Rad Adam]

They're to busy creating a monopoly of the sports gaming wolrd to busy themselves with peons like young innovative talent! Maybe when they get done taking over their industry they could work on bettering their games instead of securing their markets. :roll:

Re:can't help it

[SuperRob]

No, you misread that. They're making lots of money, and laying off game developers.

Re:can't help it

[Rad Adam]

Ouch ... Pwned for assuming they were just sitting and not expanding. I can't believe they are laying off developers! Do they think their products are that sound?

Re:can't help it

[BlackMesaResearchFac]

EA probably owns the Shoreline Center, or will by Feb 12th.

That way they can get an idea of which company to buy up next.

Re:can't help it

[tod_miller]

See parent's (Score:5, Funny)

Anyone been to these

[jlechem]

So are these worth the time and cost to go to these? I woud have to fly or drive in from Utah and don't want to waste my time.

Re:Anyone been to these

[Chosen Reject]

I've never been to one but I'm going. Leaving Provo, UT on friday for quite a drive. I'm stoked!

I am so there

[Anonymous Coward]

1) This place is about 3 blocks from my house.

2) I've landed exactly ONE interview in the industry since I moved to Seattle 3 years ago. Even though I have 10 years in the industry. You almost always need a friend on the inside to land a gig at these companies, unless you have an agent (see #5)

3) The people there are fishing for talent they can abuse with long hours and mediocre pay. I can do that. Better than delivering pizzas.

4) I have the demo reel and the laptop.

5) For all my time browsing game developer sites for job listings and googling for 'game industry agent' this is the first I've heard of mary-margeret.com. None of my old pals from the industry have ever mentioned it, none of the studios i've ever worked at have ever used them, and apparently, they don't advertise on the industry sites like mobygames, gamedev.net or gamasutra.

Re:I am so there

[cooler64]

"5) For all my time browsing game developer sites for job listings and googling for 'game industry agent' this is the first I've heard of mary-margeret.com. None of my old pals from the industry have ever mentioned it, none of the studios i've ever worked at have ever used them, and apparently, they don't advertise on the industry sites like mobygames, gamedev.net or gamasutra."

If what you say is true then this could be a just a big recruiting event for mary-margeret.com to get clients, and they charge you for it! Who ever heard of paying for a job fair or at least paying $45-$60??

Ripoff

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a job fair with a cover charge. $45 advance/$60 at the door, and they are not even offering a lunch.

This 'conference' comes down to 3 hours to cover the most basic industry information ("Industry Overview", "Getting in at the Ground Floor", "Applying Transferable Skill Sets"), then 90 minutes to find your own lunch, and 90 minutes of "Resume Workshop".

What a scam. If you want industry info, try http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html or http://www.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/.

Re:Ripoff

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not entirely a rip off. The networking opportunities make it worth while. Reading sloper's stuff is great to get you oriented, but "face time" will ultimately seperate you from the thousands of resumes that are submitted to every single game job posting.