Job Search Advice and Making Contacts

barnesy

Hey all,

Please don't view this as another thread with a student moaning about how difficult life is. (I went through that stage a couple of months ago lol)

It is more of a discussion on job searching in general and the best ways of making contacts.

I have read countless articles about how to "break into the games industry" and I have been following the 3P’s, Practice, Persistence and Positivity. It isn't really getting me anywhere though :poly141:

The problem with these articles is they are fairly vague and say things like, "make new contacts through digital forums". I have been using Polycount for years and I am not one of those people that just expect to receive feedback without giving back to the community. I regularly offer feedback and it hasn't really got me any 'contacts'.

Everyone that I know who has freelance work etc has managed to get it through a contact/close friend in their home town etc, but I live in Cornwall and there is barely any game designers here :poly122:

Agencies have contacted me but annoyingly enough the projects have been put on hold so it never really gets me anywhere which is frustrating.

I have been considering sending messages to developers on moddb and LinkedIn, with regards to possible freelance work, but I am not sure that will go down very well.

I was wondering if you guys could offer me some 'real' advise as to how I could go about landing my 1st job as a 3d artist, making real contacts; or even share any stories of adversity you faced when trying to break into the games industry?

Thanks!

ZacD

Make more and better art, there's a lot of people that want to be a character artists, I think most people here would agree it is a lot harder to break in as a character artist than an environment artist.

Saman

barnesy wrote: »

The problem with these articles is they are fairly vague and say things like, "make new contacts through digital forums". I have been using Polycount for years and I am not one of those people that just expect to receive feedback without giving back to the community. I regularly offer feedback and it hasn't really got me any 'contacts'.

Giving and receiving feedback isn't the only way to make contacts on this forum. There are google hangouts which you could join. There is GDC(I made a lot of contacts there). There is also this. Polycount isn't the only forum for finding contacts, there are a few more out there like gameartisans. There are some groups on linkedin as well. Good luck!

Avanthera

About the making contacts via online communities, remember that some people stick out more, I recgnize Saman because he's always giving good advice and doing good art, I recognize ZacD Because he's always heavily involved in the community. I've been on Polycount longer than both of these guys but nobody ever recognizes my screen handle outside of polycount because I don't post all the time, I don't post tons of project work, and I'm not super awesome/sharing the awesome (racer 445 and Hazardous spring to mind) So ya... Be awesome and/or helpful.

David-J

up your visibility, make art, and go to meetups or arrange meetups in your area if there are none. (Is that how you spell meetups, looks weird to me). Also join classes.

Dylan Brady

go join your local IDGA chapter.
Search for any Bar nights - lots of devs use that as there MAIN networking spot.
like David said, Find classes/schools within driving distance that might have workshops/meetups. also take any classes you might be slightly interested in (Life Drawing?)
and don't wait around for people to give you some reason to network, PM People on polycount with questions (the senior members will hate me for offering this idea) and KEEP IN TOUCH. its not there job to ask you how your doing, its your job to ask them.
Start your own groups/create networking opportunities. one of my close buddies is well know for starting group chats and then breaking off and starting another one as soon as the last one becomes too popular.
Main thing with networking is that there's not some magical place where networking happens, no one in the industry is going to come and find you and say "hay, wanna be a part of my network?" at least no one that matters. its up to you to seek them out and use every method at your disposal to keep in touch.

I myself met several people at last GDC, and after never receiving a reply to my Follow up email tracked them down on skype and added them as contacts, soon thereafter we began talking on a regular basis and I consider that a perfect example of what I'm trying to say

EDIT: one last thing that might get me some gruff: Air on the side of being annoying, rather than on the side of being patient.

barnesy

ZacD - Thanks for the advise, I wish I knew that before I went to uni lol The majority of my modules were aimed at character art so I never really had the chance to pursue prop modelling. Now I have too much time and too little money so that is a good motivator to get some sweet environment stuff out to complement my characters.

Saman - Thank you so much for suggesting the google hangouts! I spent a fair few hours on there last night, having a laugh with a few artists who I recognized on here . I think that is the way forward, hopefully they will recognize me on here as well.

Shrew81 - Thanks for the advise. I know what you mean, people prefer better work which is understandable, they aren't going to remember, "ayy, it's the guy who modeled that woman with 1 boob!" I will just try to keep improving and hopefully get some features on the news etc.

David_J - That is a good idea, sadly I live in Cornwall so there isn't really much down here in terms of game design . I shall try to up the visibility and keep creating art. It's a tough mistress this games industry!

Dylan Brady - Thanks man, you have gave me a lot to think about there. I just hope that my location doesn't put a spanner in the works as there is nothing down here but fields and cows.

The Google+ hangouts that Saman linked are pretty cool. You can literally chat with 10 people at a time and discuss each others work flows etc. It is pretty magical. I went on there last night for about 2-3 hours, burnt some chicken and made like 9 Skype contacts

slipsius

Also, a key point to networking is actually caring about the people you meet. If you go to bar nights, and start asking about jobs and stuff, you`ll shoot yourself in the foot. People HAAAATE that. They can see right through you instantly if you just try and fake it. Go to beer nights and meetups to meet the people you have something in common with. Make new friends and have a good time. Don't treat them as a job fair. Seriously.

If you make a good impression and your art is good enough, if you start talking to people on skype, or here or google or where ever, when job openings appear at their studios, they might think hey, I know a guy looking for work. Afterall, most jobs in this industry are got through contacts in the studio. Not all, obviously. But a lot of the time, the employees will know about the job opening before the internet does.