EA's Summer Interns Weigh In

MTV's games site has a piece looking at what it means to be a summer intern at EA. The article explores the experiences of three interns who did far more than fetching coffee. From the article: "Gwynne Olson-Wheeler ... showed some of her intern work in a cubicle that wasn't hers -- she was spending her final weeks of the summer working on a different floor, on EA's under-wraps 'Simpsons' game. Meeting with her there would give away too many secrets. So instead she zapped some graphics work she did earlier in the season for 'Sims 2 Pets' onto her iPod and plugged into a computer at a less-sensitive area. The room where she set up was darkened by dropped blinds, most of them dotted with spent ammunition from the floor's many Nerf gun battles. On the walls, signs addressed the staff of another under-wraps EA game: 'Welcome Sims 3 team.'"

Comments

Intern this past summer at EA Tiburon

[AssKoala]

I interned with EA Tiburon this past summer, I worked as a Software Engineer on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour team for the PS3 and Xbox360.

First off, noone was working insane hours. It's a misconception that people have that you get worked to death. I didn't see anyone on the team working like that and I sure as hell didn't work like that.

Yes, they liked me there, before some smartass posts "Well, you didn't work late because your code sucked."

I was the build engineer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour and I also implemented some features into Tiger Woods 2007 (I haven't seen the credits yet, but they told me I'd be in them).

Next up, one of the interns was from Digipen (and he can drink as fast as I can). There's no discrimination against people from trade schools. Hell, the guy who replaced me as Build Engineer when I left graduated from Full Sail. However, in general, the people coming out of those trade schools have no business competing with people who have degrees from major universities (when asked what schools to go to, Will Wright responded GeorgiaTech, USC, and Carnegie Melon on multiple occasions). I, personally, am from GeorgiaTech and will be graduating in the Spring with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science. This isn't to say those schools aren't valuable, but you get what you put into them: they graduate everyone. Again, this is a generalization, this isn't always the case.

I loved working at EA and I'm definitely staying in the game industry. Despite the fact that all of the armchair engineers on various forums (you know who you are) are constantly ragging on <i>something</i>, it's still fun. I still love the fact that everyone who said "oh you're going to work for the slave drivers at EA" when I was leaving have eyes glazed over after hearing the great work experience it actually was.

Chris Burke is right, when he posted the two main reasons for an engineer internship as being cheap labor and an extended interview. This is the case everywhere. However, that doesn't mean they overwork you or treat you like crap. I was a part of the team when I was there, or at least felt that way, and loved going to work every morning (ok, sorta true, I hate waking up in the morning). The hours were flexible, I went to work in a tshirt, shorts, and sandals on many occasions, and I had a PS3 and an Xbox 360 at my desk. How awesome is that?

Flame away.