Best job interview ever.

[ChrisBardon]

I figured that with the demographics here, you guys might appreciate one of my better job interview stories. Back in August of 2003, I was just finishing up my Master's degree, and I was on the lookout for jobs. Now I'd wanted to work in the games industry for a long time, and even chose my master's research area (co-operative artificial intelligence) at least partially as a potential in to a game development job. I sent resumes off to anyone who would take them, including a small company in San Francisco that you may have heard of called Double Fine productions.

 

Usually, the drill with these things is that you submit a resume, and then more often than not never hear from the company again. A couple of weeks later though, my roommate leaves me a message saying that I got a phone call from (his words) "Tim Fucking Schafer", and that I should call back. Needless to say that this was extremely cool, since I was a huge fan of all of Tim's games, which was the reason I'd aplied to doublefine in the first place. After some telephone tag back and forth, I get a call one afternoon, which basically amounted to me shooting the shit about games with Tim Schafer for about half an hour. He then asked if I could come in for an interview that week, which would have been a little difficult, since I was about an hour outside Toronto, and they were in San Francisco. So we parted ways, and I have no idea if there would have been a job there for me or not. Still, he was one of the coolest people I interviewed with, but it's still kind of difficult explaining why to non-gamers.

 

In retrospect, I think getting a job in games wouldn't have been as cool as it sounds. Sure you'd get to work on something cool, but I get to do that anyway in my current job (software R&D for a small telecom company). The only difference is, I'm not in an industry where profits are so razor-thin that you have to work 90 hour weeks, or be a cog in some gigantic software sausage factory (EA, I'm looking at you). I still think Double Fine would have beena cool job though, and if they'd been closer (e.g. Toronto), I'd have gone for it in a second.

 

So, anyone else work in the games industry and care to share their experiences. Anyone have other really cool job interview stories?

[kelley]

I interviewed earlier this year for a position with Apple Computers, I had two phone interviews and then was invited for face to face interviews. I never went to the in person interview, the wife and I decided it just wasn't the right time to pack up and move to Austin, TX.

 

The interviewers talked more about music and movies then the actual job. From what I've read online this is very common as Apple feels like they can teach you what they want you to know, but if your personality doesn't fit in then there is no hope for you. I hope this job or one like it comes up again in a few years.

[Camp]

I also interviewed with Apple a couple years ago. I met with three people in their HR department and one field employee and left very impressed with each one of them. The interviews were all very fun conversations. They seemed more interested in getting to know the person rather than bothering with typical scenario-type interview questions. I really, really wanted the job just to work with the quality of people I met (although the company provided car and Mac would have been nice too ). In the end, Apple was forced not to create the team I was going to run because a partner company backed out. Bummer.

[dogbert]

I still think Double Fine would have beena cool job though, and if they'd been closer (e.g. Toronto), I'd have gone for it in a second.

 

It would have been sheer hell if you got hired there around that time. They were dropped by Microsoft in February 2004, at which point they had zero cash. They scrambled around for a year on creditcards, borrowings etc while they finished the game (and Majesco picked it up).

[Covak]

I once had an interview that started with "You're hired."

 

Now, though, I'm working in the game industry as a programmer (for KOEI Canada, in Toronto). Definitely not as cool as it sounds!

[James T]

The interviewers talked more about music and movies then the actual job. From what I've read online this is very common as Apple feels like they can teach you what they want you to know, but if your personality doesn't fit in then there is no hope for you. I hope this job or one like it comes up again in a few years.

 

It depends on what you're applying for. If it's an entry level position,then the person conducting the interview just needs to know if you can handle the job. After a few quesitons, the majority of the interview will be if you fit in with everyone else. Anyone can be trained for entry level.

 

My friend is level one computer tech support for a major bank company and he doesn't even know what a hard drive partition is.