Informational Interview Report: Video Game Developer (CEO)
[Thanks to DF for sharing his informational interview with a CEO of a video game developer.]
My current career goal is to get a degree in computer science. I hope to use my degree to get a job in something related to the field of computer science or start my own business.
Through this course I have researched various jobs related to my goals, and all of them seem to be a good fit for my personality profile and strong interests.
For my informational interview, I chose to interview the CEO of a video game developer. I have come to know him because his daughters and my daughter dance at the same studio. Over the years, we have become good friends through supporting the dance team and doing things such as designing props.
The main goals of my informational interview was to get a sense of a company that is rooted in computer science, learn more about video game development and figure out some of the courses of study to pursue.
1. What is your job title?
CEO & Founder.
2. Briefly, can you let me know how you got to where you are today?
I started the company, an independent video game developer, 23 years ago. Since then we’ve grown to 250 people in two locations, sold 45 million games, won a whole lot of awards for our culture & our games and are still trying to figure out how to get better every day.
Early on we decided to maintain a focus on creating console games using our own proprietary technology. This provided the upside of allowing us to understand a very specific audience and build for it. On the other hand, our brand became synonymous with certain consoles and prevented us from reaching as broad an audience as we could.
Today we build games for console, PC and VR audiences. Adopting a broader scope has allowed us to expand our brand and reach more players.
3. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being “VERY MUCH” and 1 being “NOT SO MUCH”), how much do you enjoy your job overall?
9.
4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good are you at what you do in your job?
8.
5. How long have you been doing this job?
23+ years.
6. What are your responsibilities?
Develop long term growth strategies, lead the executive staff (who in turn lead their groups), participate in the creative oversight of our games, negotiate publisher contracts, maintain business partner relationships, represent the company in the press, develop new production approaches with COO, shape our culture daily and more.
7. What is a typical day like?
It’s never the same. But here’s a guess:
- 20%: review game content and offer direction (usually in dailies)
- 20%: communicate with business partners
- 20%: one-on-one meetings with people throughout company – covering everything from pipeline development to performance reviews to schedule updates
- 20%: contracts & strategic development
- 15%: communicate with others internally via email or just stopping by desks
- 5%: work on special projects (usually involving some sort of coding)
8. What skills are required for your job?
Here are a few:
- Ability to make informed decisions quickly
- Ability to communicate effectively – in-person, via video and via written means
- Ability to drive consensus with and provide direction to large multidisciplinary teams
- Ability to create and execute strategic plans (including staffing and budgeting)
- Experience negotiating large publishing contracts
- Comfort representing products and one’s company publicly
9. What do you enjoy doing the most?
Creating an ambitious plan and leading a team in its execution.
10. What are 3 things that you enjoy most about working at your company?
- What we do is highly creative
- Our industry is constantly evolving, which means every person at the company is pushed to develop new skills every day
- We excel at collaborative, creative problem-solving
11. What are the 3 most challenging aspects of working at your company?
- Controlling the scope of our games
- Achieving high quality while remaining on time and on budget
- Consistently communicating all relevant information for each game to the entire production team
12. What are the greatest challenges of the job?
Not everyone accepts change even when change is necessary to survive. Furthermore, people can get comfortable in any job and jump to “I can’t” versus “I can if…”
My biggest challenge is to help others understand how to break out of sometimes non-productive mindsets and think more creatively about how to solve big problems.
13. Can you share any general salary information, such as the range for entry level positions?
No. However I think general info is available via industry surveys at Gamasutra.com.
14. What resources, such as websites or professional associations, would you recommend that I check out to learn more about this career?
IGDA, Gamasutra, Game Developers Conference.
15. What kind of opportunities are there for advancement, and how would one qualify?
Every developer operates differently so career paths differ per company. At our company we reward those who are high achievers via advancement. For those who are interested in managing others, we offer leadership positions if they prove they are capable.
We have quarterly reviews where we evaluate each team member. If someone is consistently exceeding the criteria we have for a specific position, we consider advancement.
16. If I wanted to start in this career area, how would you recommend that I go about pursuing this career path?
Decide which area of making games you’re interested in. Art? Animation? Audio? Gameplay coding? Engine coding? UI design? UI coding? Tools coding? Environment construction? Design? Finance? Marketing? Community? Project management? The list goes on and on.
The key is to narrow things down to a particular area and then dive in, doing whatever one can to become well-versed in it.
Today there are many schools that have curricula focused on different aspects of game development. There are undergrad programs and masters programs across the US. There are many online courses as well, offered by companies like Pluralsight, Gnomon, etc.
When it comes to our hiring, we look for those who have some experience in a specific area and who can demonstrate they’d help us improve. For those who don’t have any experience we occasionally offer internships – though internships are usually for college or masters students only.
17. If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you have done differently?
I would have worked at another developer first to understand better what NOT to do. I made plenty of mistakes early on – mistakes I could have avoided. I also would have spent more time coding, perhaps pursuing a CS degree in college versus the English degree I ended up with.
18. Is there anyone that you think I should speak with about my career exploration, and if so, can I use your name?
If you’re looking into pursuing games, that’s a tough one. I’d attend GDC.
Alternatively, I’d get a subscription to the GDC Vault. The Vault has past talks, many of which will help you understand what it takes to enter the games industry.
But you can always use my name. I’d be uncomfortable if someone else reading this used my name however.
19. Would it be all right if I kept in touch with you? How would you prefer that I keep in touch?
Of course. We talk all the time. 🙂
Reflection
I think the most interesting information that I gathered from the interview was how creative the industry is. I like the fact that the industry is constantly evolving and that it is necessary to develop new skills on a regular basis. These facts fall in line with some of my personality characteristics and interests.
This interview created a positive impression regarding the major that I wanted to find out more about. I liked the fact that my interviewee was actually an English major and regretted the fact that he did not pursue a degree in computer science.
I think that my informational interview went exactly as planned. If I could do it over again I would approach it in the same manner. I sent my interviewee a thank you note for helping me with this interview. He was very humble and glad to help.