#cohina

[sakamichirooters]

[yu-ki98]

@cohina.official さんから、#プレゼントキャンペーン で頂いた #裏起毛ショート丈パーカー ！ @cohina.official さんは、155cm以下の小柄な女性のためのファッションを提案しているブランドさん👗😘 私自身、146cmととても小柄で普通の服がブカブカでダボダボ😂 そんな私でもピッタリ🥺😍 今回頂いた服は、ジッパー付きで脱ぎ着しやすい服👗 スカートに合わせて、ガーリーにも！ パンツに合わせてカジュアルにも！ パーカーだから、スポーティーにも合う😍😍😍 本当にありがとうございました！ #pr #presentcampaign #cohina #cohinaコーデ #cohinaレビュー #cohinaプレゼント #ありがとうございます #パーカーコーデ #parker https://www.instagram.com/p/B9GI75jjxZk/?igshid=gg1ch1aj2zec

[askagamedev]

I'm also curious about, since I've been thinking of applying to study computer science in the university, is it possible to get internships etc. before graduating, when you're still studying and your skills are limited, so that you could be an intern for example during the university's summer holidays or alongside your studies? How eagerly do the studios hire newly graduated people? What about foreign people? Is it harder to get an internship/job from a studio somewhere else than where you live?

Thanks for your questions. I’ll  try to tackle the them one by one.

#1. Are game development internships available? Should I try to get one?

Yes, it is absolutely possible to get internships, and I would heavily, heavily encourage those who are interested to look into them. This is an opportunity to get some real hands-on experience on a project that will very likely ship, and that’s something that is invaluable to someone hoping to get into the industry.

The important thing is to do the research for it, and do it early. Some of the larger studios have more established internship programs, while others don’t. Some might help you with housing, some won’t. Try to contact them and find out. Do it early (like… the fall, if you can) since a lot of places will wrap up their recruiting in midwinter. If you have an on-campus career center, see if they have any connections to companies or alumni.  Try to cultivate those connections if you can.

Link to Activision’s current available internships.

Link to EA’s current available internships.

Link to Ubisoft’s job search page (they have an internship category under “employment type”)

Riot Games has an internship program, though they are no longer taking applicants for 2014.

Don’t just look at big publishers either. It is totally possible to go work for smaller developers or studios directly. Email them, talk to them, and thank them for their time. Don’t turn your nose up at an opportunity just because it is mobile, social, XBLA, PSN, downloadable, etc. As a student, you are basically the lowest rung on the totem pole. You typically don’t get the luxury to be picky, and I can guarantee you that an internship at a small studio working on mobile or social games will be far more impressive than just school project work.

#2: What about internships far away from where I live?

Internships are almost never going to be remote. If you want an internship, you’re going to have to either be local to the studio, or you’re going to have to move there for the internship (temporarily). Remote doesn’t work - you’re going to be working with a team, and that means you’re going to need face to face time for training and evaluation of your work. You’ll need to be part of meetings, and you’ll need to review and learn new things. It’s very much a collaborative process.

If you are a foreign student and want to consider an internship in a different country, you absolutely need legal clearance (a student or work visa, for example) to participate in an internship elsewhere. You will also probably need to be prepared to foot the bill for travel expenses. This will likely also include interviews, since any normal studio will want to interview you before they decide to hire you. That can get expensive, especially since the internships might not be paid. In addition, try checking locally for internships before thinking about going international.

#3: How do I make myself more appealing to get an internship?

I’ll start by saying that there is definitely competition for internships. Most teams only have enough room for a handful of interns, because they need mentoring and tutelage from more senior developers. Summer internships generally comprise of one or two tasks or features that the intern gets to work on and attempts to finish within 2 months or so. If you want to make yourself more attractive as an internship, start by networking. Go to any meet and greets, talk to people face to face if you can, etc. If they know your face, you’ve got a much better chance of being remembered when they see your resume in the pile.

Do work on your own, and show it to the recruiters. Write a mod, design a level, animate a short film, reskin a model, model a creature, create a quest, and so on and so forth. Try using existing and available tools at your disposal and burn a demo disc or provide a link with your material on it for them to try. Put up a demo video on youtube with your explanation as to what choices you made and why. Make sure it is easy for them to get it functioning. 

#4: How easy is it to get an entry level job for a new graduate?

I’ll be honest here… it’s not that easy. The vast majority of openings are for people with 3+ years of experience and at least one shipped title. The highest chance at getting hired on entry level is actually through an internship. If you successfully complete your internship (and make sure that you work well with the rest of the team while you’re there), your chances of coming back as a new hire go way up for two main reasons:

You’ve already proven that you can work and get along with the team.

You’re already familiar with the project and won’t need as much tutelage.

If you don’t, you need to impress somebody with your work. You need to do something to stand out in order to get a callback. And you need to make it easy for the people who make these decisions to see the things that you’ve done, and why they (and, by extension, you) are awesome. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to want to hire you. Make sure that your resume and your demos showcase all the reasons why you would make a great addition to the team, and why they would want to work with you, not just why you want to work with them. You need to present them with a value proposition - that you’re better than the other applicants for these practical reasons, and why these reasons are important.

Game development certainly isn’t the easiest of roads to pursue, but it can be extremely rewarding (on a satisfaction level… not really that much on a monetary level). Most of this sort of advice also applies to practically every career.  If you’re really passionate about developing games, then you need to work on showing it. Tailor your resume to the target, show them why you are good, give them as few reasons to red flag you as possible. You always want your resume to pass the 4pm Friday test… if the recruiter saw your resume at 4pm on a Friday, would she actually take a look at it, or would this person just toss it so she could go home for the weekend? It’s a lot of work, but all things that are worth getting tend to be. I wish you the best, and I really hope you have the determination and skill needed to get in the door.