Weekly Game Jobs Digest - July 24
COOLEST JOBS I’VE SEEN THIS WEEK
Each week, I profile a very short (< 5) + hyper-curated list of unique jobs that I believe deserve special attention.
Principal Artist + Community Manager @ 2weeks - Founders Brandon Dillon and Richard Foge may have just incorporated a few weeks ago, but they already published details about the proprietary engine (“Tweaks”), and even published their first “experiment.” The team is focused on rapid prototyping, building in public, and working with passionate developers who want to make games for the browser.
Founding Artist + Senior Software Engineer @ Double Dusk - founded by Alexander & Alex, both Y Combinator startup veterans, Double Dusk is in the most formative state - deep in the idea maze of deciding what kind of game to make. If you’ve ever wanted to create a game idea from “whole cloth,” this is an opportunity to do it with founders who know a thing or two about both a.) company creation, as well as b.) making big, commercially successful AAA games.
Chief of Staff @ Hedra - The team at Hedra, led by founder / CEO Michael Lingelbach, just launched their AI video generator Character-1 which has already attracted tens of thousands of users within less than 48 hours. The diminutive team of < 10 is looking for someone who can come in and act as the CEO’s right hand.
Product Designer @ Intangible - Intangible is building a web-based, AI-enabled, 3D creation engine. A tool for creatively gifted people to build whatever they can imagine, without barrier. Cofounder Charles Migos previously led design for the iPad (!!!), as well as Unity’s central design org. A very unique and high calibre founding team focused on low-friction creative tooling.
Chief of Staff @ Yellow - Founders Mandeep Waraich (prev. Head of AI Product @ Google) and Vincent Stizman (MIT Professor EE/CS) are focused on solving two of the most intractable challenges in generative 3D. Problem 1: ethical and legal dilemmas stemming from training on questionably-ascertained assets. Problem 2: generating truly usable 3D assets (uv wrapped, pre-rigged, etc.). A great place to be if you’re interested in the future of art-tooling.
SOME PRACTICAL JOB SEARCH ADVICE
This week, we’re focused on how to answer the widely-loved question: “why do you want this job.”
This extremely common question comes up in a large share of interviews. In my experience as an interviewer, most people whiff terribly, so a little bit of practice and thought could really set you apart from other candidates.
Here’s what I’ve seen work best for candidates…
Let’s start with the obvious: the vast majority of people work to live, eat, travel, enjoy time with their friends, buy a home, send their kids to college, etc. That’s the obvious, standard, universal reality. Which means it’s not news to an interviewer that you need a job to pay the bills. So it shouldn’t even enter the conversation as a topic unless somehow invoked by the interviewer (which would be weird).
Candidates should also avoid voicing desperation (“I need a job” or “I’m out of work”) or any hint that they are considering the job only because it’s better than the alternative of not having any job at all. Even if you have no other prospects, and the financial walls are closing in, sharing that you are out of options will not improve your chances of getting the job. In most cases, sharing this information will only hurt you. Desperation is cancerous because it both undercuts your credibility and your desirability. If you are feeling this way before entering an interview, practice answering this question in a way that does not invoke your circumstances, else risk losing the opportunity.
I recommend positioning the opportunity as benefiting your broader non-immediate financial goals. A formula that’s worked for me (and many I’ve interviewed) is as follows:
Outline their mission / business objectives and why you want to support them. Interviewing at Nike? You should definitely be talking about wanting to inspire athletes. Speaking with Amazon? If you aren’t talking about being customer obsessed, you’re making a mistake. Speaking with SpaceX? The the word “interplanetary” should be solidly top-of-mind when answering this question. If you don’t have a good answer, do more research - you need to have a solid reason to want to work for this particular company.
Highlight why you believe they are (or will be) category leaders. You can define category however narrowly or broadly as you prefer, but you should try to make a convincing argument about why you believe in them over “their competition.” For example - if you are interviewing with PlayStation, you could say something about their prominent position in the console wars. If you are interviewing with Supergiant, you might speak about how they inspired a whole raft of copycat rogue-likes, none of which have touched Hades’ greatness. The message should land as something like “I want to learn from + work with winners, and here are the reasons I think you are the winner I want to work with.” To be clear, the measurement of what makes a company a “winner” doesn’t have to be commercial success (eg, dollars or value) - it could be critical acclaim, player experience, or some other metric or characteristic that you believe that company a.) excels at, and b.) clearly values (often explicitly).
Share why you are excited about the immediate role. Never forget that a team is hiring someone to do a job they need done, and likely will continue needing done in the distant future. You need to exhibit an interest and willingness in doing that work for a reasonable amount of time (at least 1+ year, likely longer). Many candidates answer the “why do you want to work here” question focusing on the next job, and this often translates to managers as “I’ll leave this job // your team as soon as I can - this is just a stepping stone for me.” While showing ambition is good in an interview, it needs to be balanced by exhibiting excitement to do the job you are being considered for.
THE “WHO IS HIRING” LIST
Each company below published new jobs within the past two weeks. Drop a comment to recommend potential additions to the list!
REMOTE
STUDIOS
TECH / PLATFORMS
HYBRID / ONSITE
CALIFORNIA
⚜️ Azra Games (San Jose)
🐿 Blind Squirrel Games (Irvine)
🔥 Bonfire Studios (Irvine)
💓 Heart Machine (Culver City)
🦅 Intrepid Studios (San Diego)
SEATTLE
NYC
👩🔬 Pahdo Labs
EUROPE
🏔 Avalanche Studios Group (Sweden /UK)
🧟♂️ Playdead (Copenhagen)
🧙♀️ Cult of the North (Stockholm)
THAT’S IT!
Wishing you all the most success with your job search!! Make sure to hit the subscribe button below to get future issues direct to your inbox!
Really great that you’re helping industry folks out - keep up the great content!