Yeah, I got to meet all 18 people that work there! lol the tour took about 5 mins, but they had a pretty sweet rockband setup, with like an awesome drumset and everything. It was cool the art team was all in one room together and their office is brand new so everything looked really nice, I'm really excited about it!
They actually introduced you to the staff members and gave you a tour? I suppose you are initiated to the team. Good luck with your job and cool stuff.
Its a fine line to walk I agree, probably best not to mention it, and above all things I am qualified for the job. It just made me happy to hear that they weren't scared of the possibility to have a girl working there with them.
Congrats on the interview Not sure I'd mention the whole "hiring a lady vs. a dude" thing though. I'm sure he said that just in a jokingly way, but obviously that can be interpreted differently on the interwebberz....yO!
I don't think it's really such a bad thing, even if 'technically' it could be seen as illegal. Even before I was out of High School and just looking at a gaming course, I was being told, "Great, the industry is always looking for girls!!" This was from the head of the gaming course I ended up taking... 4 years later :P During said course, I was still told the same thing. After graduating, I'm still being told that :P
With that said, there is STILL the expectation to be as good an artist as anyone else on the team. Ideally, I get the sense the industry, really as a whole, is looking to add in more females, but will not compromise on skill and experience. (If they did, I'd PROBABLY have a job by now... :P)
Sure, I can understand this can suck for guys to hear, cause then they might think, "Crap, I might not have gotten that job cause there was a girl applying also, and they'd rather have her on the team...", which I DON'T believe is the case. But, really, would you rather have a full on sausage-fest, or actaully have a few gals in the mix??
Oh, and about being worried about not being able to deal with the "potty talk"? You really think any girl wanting to work in a male-dominated geeky industry would have hesitations of working with said people? :P I got treated so much like "one of the guys" at school that I was even asked, "Oh did you see her, was she hot?" -"Uhhh.... o0"
With all that said... hope they give you the job, sounds promising!!! (Honestly, they'd better, after ALL these people in this thread have been waiting to hear the good news...!!)
gratz on the cool interview btw, hope everything works out and you land the job, sounds like it went really well (yay, closure... kinda :P).
And the female/male hiring thing really isn't an issue at all (unless it is but it generally isn't). There's a much larger number of guys working at games studio's atm. If there's an applicant who's top of the list and get's along with everyone in the studio... then them being a girl is just an additional plus (balancing out the average gender of the studio, maybe new perspective and all that).
Yeh that could only help, from what I can see from this forum here is a positive and energetic individual, you know, probably the kind of person you like to work with.
Also, I do feel like there could definitely be favoritism towards girls in this industry if only because there are so few of them involved. Odd, but I've seen this.
I'm amazed that people are okay with the notion of hiring a girl only because she is female. If 2 applicants are equally qualified for a position their sex should NEVER be a factor.
Think of the opposite situation, if they didnt hire you, and instead hired someone else who was at the same skill level as you solely because he was male wouldn't you be offended? You should be, and that same reasoning applies to hiring women over men.
Think of the opposite situation, if they didnt hire you, and instead hired someone else who was at the same skill level as you solely because he was male wouldn't you be offended? You should be, and that same reasoning applies to hiring women over men.
+++1
Also, in regards to women being able to provide a different perspective, I really don't think it applies so much, especially in an art field. Two men could have completely different perspectives and aesthetic sense, as could two women. I've seen many male artists create more feminine work, and lady artists who create 'manly' stuff. In that regard, it's even more important to narrow down the best candidate based on their work/portfolio, because if anything, their perspectives or unique outlooks would show in their art.
I'm amazed that people are okay with the notion of hiring a girl only because she is female. If 2 applicants are equally qualified for a position their sex should NEVER be a factor.
Think of the opposite situation, if they didnt hire you, and instead hired someone else who was at the same skill level as you solely because he was male wouldn't you be offended? You should be, and that same reasoning applies to hiring women over men.
Only? no it should never be the only reason.
If you have a field of several applicants, and you are looking to expand your team, and you pick a girl because shes qualified plus you think it would add diversity, then pick a few other applicants too, great! Why do people think this is so bad? We aren't talking about a highly competed for position here, this isn't the ONLY job available, its a company looking to expand.
If it came down between me and only one other person for a job that everyone wanted and they had to decide then I'm sure sex wouldn't be a factor, by all means pick the better artist, but that isn't what we are talking about here. There are all sorts of different reasons why people are looking to hire people.
I am saying its a good thing that people are open to the idea of hiring a girl, and that they view it as a positive thing. I am not saying that I deserve this job more than anyone else because I am a girl. I deserve this job because I am qualified.
The interview is for a small studio here in Dallas called Escalation Studios.
I recently completed an art test for them. Apparently I failed. But I think the major reason why I failed was due to not asking for advice during the test, even though it was offered. Just asking likely would have improved my chances, and shown that I'm more of a team player. Although, I wasn't satisfied with the results of my test either.
I've bombed a few other interviews in the past several months. For most of them, I believe it was for not asking enough GOOD questions. When it was my turn to ask, I wasn't well prepared.
There were a few questions I wasn't expecting. One being "What games do you hate?". Another being "Explain a situation in which you failed." After rambling my way through these, and finishing the interview, I realized I had totally dug myself a hole. And that was the intent of the question. Tricky. I should have posted a thread like this beforehand.
I recently completed an art test for them. Apparently I failed. But I think the major reason why I failed was due to not asking for advice during the test, even though it was offered. Just asking likely would have improved my chances, and shown that I'm more of a team player.
I've bombed a few other interviews in the past several months. For most of them, I believe it was for not asking enough GOOD questions. When it was my turn to ask, I wasn't well prepared.
There were a few questions I wasn't expecting. One being "What games do you hate?". Another being "Explain a situation in which you failed." After rambling my way through these, and finishing the interview, I realized I had totally dug myself a hole. And that was the intent of the question. Tricky. I should have posted a thread like this beforehand.
So good luck to you.
Aw, well I sent in updates every day when I did my test I was actually afraid that I was emailing them too much. I felt like the feed back helped me a lot and I got good results from it. You should never be afraid to ask for help when its offered to you.
I'm sorry that you didn't have the same results as me, I always feel bad when stuff like that happens, I wish everyone could have jobs and be happy but unfortunately thats not how things go. But at least you learned from your experience and hopefully next time you will do better! Just remember its ok to take a moment to think about what your going to say, and it never hurts to prepare a few answers before hand just so they are fresh in your head, but now you can use this thread just like I did!
Aw, well I sent in updates every day when I did my test I was actually afraid that I was emailing them too much. I felt like the feed back helped me a lot and I got good results from it. You should never be afraid to ask for help when its offered to you.
And that is why you win.
Yes, they have all been important learning experiences. I'm glad I had them. Just wish I had them much sooner. :P
yeah I'm glad I didn't get asked that question, but honestly it would take a lot for me to fail completely at something, I don't give up very easily. I would probably mention a situation where I failed at my first attempt at something, and then wrap up the statement with how I eventually succeeded. That sounds like a good work around.
I would hire a guy over a girl any day of the week. Girls have cooties and get knocked up. They don't have nuts so you can't run around the office bag tagging everyone. They don't have facial hair (most of them) so they can't do beta beards.
If you have a field of several applicants, and you are looking to expand your team, and you pick a girl because shes qualified plus you think it would add diversity, then pick a few other applicants too, great! Why do people think this is so bad? We aren't talking about a highly competed for position here, this isn't the ONLY job available, its a company looking to expand.
If it came down between me and only one other person for a job that everyone wanted and they had to decide then I'm sure sex wouldn't be a factor, by all means pick the better artist, but that isn't what we are talking about here. There are all sorts of different reasons why people are looking to hire people.
I am saying its a good thing that people are open to the idea of hiring a girl, and that they view it as a positive thing. I am not saying that I deserve this job more than anyone else because I am a girl. I deserve this job because I am qualified.
End of discussion.
Quality of art, experience, personality, salary requirements, ability to relocate, etc. These are things that should be and are the main considerations when hiring an employee. Gender bias isn't illegal in some situations and legal in others, from what i understand, its not a matter of picking and choosing when you can and can not hire someone based on their gender.
It seems like some people want to blur the line between what the believe is the right thing to do, and what is the actual legal protocol in these sort of situations. I really dont think there is much here that can be left up to subjective opinion. I'm not a lawyer or anything, so feel free to correct me if i am wrong.
Saying this, I dont really have much of an opinion on if being a female is a positive or a negative, as each person is different and the main thing is are they the best artist. Assuming a female is going to bring some new fresh perspective simply because she is a female, is pretty shortsighted. She could easily be a dorky Tom-boy as someone else suggested, and not really bring any new viewpoints to the table than the rest of the nerds. She could also be a nut-job feminist and bring a drastic new viewpoint to the table, but surely you would agree that these sort of things(being a feminist, etc) are topics that should not have any bearing on the hiring process.
Pardon me Firecracker, but i'm going to be a dick and stick mine into this thread.
Men and Women are different (as a generalization) -- this is more or less a fact. you can have masculine women or feminine men (I happen to be a feminine man)
Masculine and Feminine qualities are valid TYPES. you can define that how ever you want to define it, but a girlie girl is different from a manly man. if you argue with this you're retarded.
if you have a team and you make a judgement call that the team could BENIFIT from some more feminine energy, then hiring a feminine person would be a good idea. I personally can bring a lot of the feminine into the work place. Most game designers are fucking super masculine.
lets stop pretending that the masculine and the feminine are the same thing. it's not true, and it's a lil' dumb. hiring a woman because she has the type of personality that can add to a team is 100% valid
If you can't value that interpersonal level, then perhaps you need to work with more women. OH SNAYP.
I'd also like to add that because of the type of stuff that we're creating right now as a whole, this industry could use A LOT more of the feminine. that means women, guys... and not just because they're women, but because they tend to be more feminine.
If you want to start a new thread on this issue and discuss it there then go ahead, but I wanted this to be a thread where people could go and read helpful words of advice on how to prepare for an interview. This conflict is not helpful to anyone and it is not relevant, and I'm really regretting saying anything at this point just because it is defeating the purpose of the thread and that is unfortunate.
Was there any question's they asked you that caught you off guard? I hate getting smacked in the face with a question you should have able to answer quickly and then you look like an ass when you come up with a stupid answer
It only caught me off guard half way really..I had a few answer possibilities if they asked me what my biggest weakness was, but they asked me "Whats your biggest weakness as far as your art?" so then I had to think of something, because my other answers didn't apply to my art very much. My answer was that organic modeling was more challenging to me than hard surface, because hard surface comes more naturally to me, but even though its challenging I am still able to accomplish it.
Then someone asked me what music I listen to...and I was like uuuummmm....(in my head I was like omg you have to say something cool) and I ended up saying a few people they hadn't even heard of, they were like ooh...
Then someone asked me what music I listen to...and I was like uuuummmm....(in my head I was like omg you have to say something cool) and I ended up saying a few people they hadn't even heard of, they were like ooh...
When you say someone, did you have one of those 'gang' interviews? I hate those things, I had one for a programming job once with 5 other people. I ended up explaining game art to them for about 20 minutes because they kept asking questions about it. This was at an insurance company...... Yeah, I didn't get that job...
Haha well this wasn't like that, it was the whole art team, so it was good to meet everyone and they all seemed really cool and it helped make me feel more relaxed actually, I guess I do better in groups than in a one on one kinda thing.
Sorry to hear that, I was expecting to hear good news
I suppose you can still look at this as good experience and a step forward. You'll probably ace your next interview, and your portfolio will only get better.
yeah at this point all I can do is keep working on my portfolio, I have to get a part time job just so I can pay some of my bills, but I'm gunna do some new art and make another round with my resume to see what happens, but I haven't had anyone else so far ask me for an interview.
I have an interview next week.Sorry to hear you did n't get yours Firecracker197.
Interviews are weird sometimes but generally I don't get too nervous these days. getting too old for that.
I think some times they just invite you in as a speculative type thing, but when you have more skills and experience, that generally doesn't happen so much.
Sorry to hear you didn't get it. You will get something. Your portfolio is on the right track.
A small suggestion would be to add more of you own 2d work.
Also, have you considered studios outside of Dallas? Perhaps Austin, not too far away? I think there are a few in Houston as well. Find a studio that fits your style.
So while we're on the topic of interviews and such, here's a question I've never had fully answered. When you're sending out demo reels, resumes, etc., how much does proximity to the job matter? Does it matter more if you're right in the city where you're applying? Does skill factor in, say like if a guy who lives half way across the country is slightly better than the next one that lives right in town. I've heard stories that the first thing companies do while looking at stacks of resumes is throw away the ones with addresses that are out of town, just to weed people out.
I don't know if I don't get replies due to my stuff not being good enough, or if it's not even being looked at in the first place due to my location.
A good question, and one that hits close to home for me.
I think if you're good enough a company will bring over from wherever you are. Peris got nabbed from Stockholm to California by Blizzard.
I've personally been flown out to an interview fairly far away. One reason they were interested in me was that I was from so far away I would likely bring in new ideas and fresh perspectives coming from a different part of the world than the local artists.
yeah, didn't get it this time, but I'm on the "maybe someday" list..so that's good. I just have to keep building my portfolio.
doh. but keep trying! persistence pays off!
I know many people who had long stretches inbetween jobs or between college and a job, who're doing great now. just keep applying!
So while we're on the topic of interviews and such, here's a question I've never had fully answered. When you're sending out demo reels, resumes, etc., how much does proximity to the job matter? Does it matter more if you're right in the city where you're applying? Does skill factor in, say like if a guy who lives half way across the country is slightly better than the next one that lives right in town. I've heard stories that the first thing companies do while looking at stacks of resumes is throw away the ones with addresses that are out of town, just to weed people out.
I don't know if I don't get replies due to my stuff not being good enough, or if it's not even being looked at in the first place due to my location.
Thoughts?
I think usually when its inside the US its not that big of a deal, people fly from all over to take jobs in this industry its not uncommon, if the person is really talented I'm sure it wouldn't matter where they currently live. Not to say someone who lives in town would probably be less expensive to hire and interview, so I guess it depends on whats more important.
I know that when your looking for a job outside of the country though such as Canada, those companies are legally obligated to consider hiring Canadian citizens first, and if they choose to hire someone from outside of their country they have to have a good amount of reasoning why that person is better. Plus they have to go though all the crap to get the visa. So in that case I can see them weeding people out based on location.
Thanks everyone for the support! I have another interview...at GameStop...yay.../fail
Replies
They actually introduced you to the staff members and gave you a tour? I suppose you are initiated to the team. Good luck with your job and cool stuff.
Congrats once again.
With that said, there is STILL the expectation to be as good an artist as anyone else on the team. Ideally, I get the sense the industry, really as a whole, is looking to add in more females, but will not compromise on skill and experience. (If they did, I'd PROBABLY have a job by now... :P)
Sure, I can understand this can suck for guys to hear, cause then they might think, "Crap, I might not have gotten that job cause there was a girl applying also, and they'd rather have her on the team...", which I DON'T believe is the case. But, really, would you rather have a full on sausage-fest, or actaully have a few gals in the mix??
Oh, and about being worried about not being able to deal with the "potty talk"? You really think any girl wanting to work in a male-dominated geeky industry would have hesitations of working with said people? :P I got treated so much like "one of the guys" at school that I was even asked, "Oh did you see her, was she hot?" -"Uhhh.... o0"
With all that said... hope they give you the job, sounds promising!!!
gratz on the cool interview btw, hope everything works out and you land the job, sounds like it went really well (yay, closure... kinda :P).
And the female/male hiring thing really isn't an issue at all (unless it is but it generally isn't). There's a much larger number of guys working at games studio's atm. If there's an applicant who's top of the list and get's along with everyone in the studio... then them being a girl is just an additional plus (balancing out the average gender of the studio, maybe new perspective and all that).
Why is this always surprising people...?
Should I talk like, teehee, you know, totally like this more often?
Something to keep in mind: those guys who interviewed you are probably reading this
+1
*mind blown*
Also, I do feel like there could definitely be favoritism towards girls in this industry if only because there are so few of them involved. Odd, but I've seen this.
+2 & lol
Think of the opposite situation, if they didnt hire you, and instead hired someone else who was at the same skill level as you solely because he was male wouldn't you be offended? You should be, and that same reasoning applies to hiring women over men.
+++1
Also, in regards to women being able to provide a different perspective, I really don't think it applies so much, especially in an art field. Two men could have completely different perspectives and aesthetic sense, as could two women. I've seen many male artists create more feminine work, and lady artists who create 'manly' stuff. In that regard, it's even more important to narrow down the best candidate based on their work/portfolio, because if anything, their perspectives or unique outlooks would show in their art.
That said, best of luck
Only? no it should never be the only reason.
If you have a field of several applicants, and you are looking to expand your team, and you pick a girl because shes qualified plus you think it would add diversity, then pick a few other applicants too, great! Why do people think this is so bad? We aren't talking about a highly competed for position here, this isn't the ONLY job available, its a company looking to expand.
If it came down between me and only one other person for a job that everyone wanted and they had to decide then I'm sure sex wouldn't be a factor, by all means pick the better artist, but that isn't what we are talking about here. There are all sorts of different reasons why people are looking to hire people.
I am saying its a good thing that people are open to the idea of hiring a girl, and that they view it as a positive thing. I am not saying that I deserve this job more than anyone else because I am a girl. I deserve this job because I am qualified.
End of discussion.
I recently completed an art test for them.
I've bombed a few other interviews in the past several months. For most of them, I believe it was for not asking enough GOOD questions. When it was my turn to ask, I wasn't well prepared.
There were a few questions I wasn't expecting. One being "What games do you hate?". Another being "Explain a situation in which you failed." After rambling my way through these, and finishing the interview, I realized I had totally dug myself a hole. And that was the intent of the question. Tricky. I should have posted a thread like this beforehand.
So good luck to you.
Aw, well I sent in updates every day when I did my test
I'm sorry that you didn't have the same results as me, I always feel bad when stuff like that happens, I wish everyone could have jobs and be happy but unfortunately thats not how things go. But at least you learned from your experience and hopefully next time you will do better! Just remember its ok to take a moment to think about what your going to say, and it never hurts to prepare a few answers before hand just so they are fresh in your head, but now you can use this thread just like I did!
I wish the best of luck to you!
And that is why you win.
Yes, they have all been important learning experiences. I'm glad I had them. Just wish I had them much sooner. :P
Oh my list goes on and on and on.
Quality of art, experience, personality, salary requirements, ability to relocate, etc. These are things that should be and are the main considerations when hiring an employee. Gender bias isn't illegal in some situations and legal in others, from what i understand, its not a matter of picking and choosing when you can and can not hire someone based on their gender.
It seems like some people want to blur the line between what the believe is the right thing to do, and what is the actual legal protocol in these sort of situations. I really dont think there is much here that can be left up to subjective opinion. I'm not a lawyer or anything, so feel free to correct me if i am wrong.
Saying this, I dont really have much of an opinion on if being a female is a positive or a negative, as each person is different and the main thing is are they the best artist. Assuming a female is going to bring some new fresh perspective simply because she is a female, is pretty shortsighted. She could easily be a dorky Tom-boy as someone else suggested, and not really bring any new viewpoints to the table than the rest of the nerds. She could also be a nut-job feminist and bring a drastic new viewpoint to the table, but surely you would agree that these sort of things(being a feminist, etc) are topics that should not have any bearing on the hiring process.
Men and Women are different (as a generalization) -- this is more or less a fact. you can have masculine women or feminine men (I happen to be a feminine man)
Masculine and Feminine qualities are valid TYPES. you can define that how ever you want to define it, but a girlie girl is different from a manly man. if you argue with this you're retarded.
if you have a team and you make a judgement call that the team could BENIFIT from some more feminine energy, then hiring a feminine person would be a good idea. I personally can bring a lot of the feminine into the work place. Most game designers are fucking super masculine.
lets stop pretending that the masculine and the feminine are the same thing. it's not true, and it's a lil' dumb. hiring a woman because she has the type of personality that can add to a team is 100% valid
If you can't value that interpersonal level, then perhaps you need to work with more women. OH SNAYP.
I'd also like to add that because of the type of stuff that we're creating right now as a whole, this industry could use A LOT more of the feminine. that means women, guys... and not just because they're women, but because they tend to be more feminine.
If you want to start a new thread on this issue and discuss it there then go ahead, but I wanted this to be a thread where people could go and read helpful words of advice on how to prepare for an interview. This conflict is not helpful to anyone and it is not relevant, and I'm really regretting saying anything at this point just because it is defeating the purpose of the thread and that is unfortunate.
Was there any question's they asked you that caught you off guard? I hate getting smacked in the face with a question you should have able to answer quickly and then you look like an ass when you come up with a stupid answer
Then someone asked me what music I listen to...and I was like uuuummmm....(in my head I was like omg you have to say something cool) and I ended up saying a few people they hadn't even heard of, they were like ooh...
When you say someone, did you have one of those 'gang' interviews? I hate those things, I had one for a programming job once with 5 other people. I ended up explaining game art to them for about 20 minutes because they kept asking questions about it. This was at an insurance company...... Yeah, I didn't get that job...
I suppose you can still look at this as good experience and a step forward. You'll probably ace your next interview, and your portfolio will only get better.
Best of luck with the next one
[ame]
It's easy to dwell on this kind of stuff, find the next big thing to work on. You've got a great attitude just keep at it
Interviews are weird sometimes but generally I don't get too nervous these days. getting too old for that.
I think some times they just invite you in as a speculative type thing, but when you have more skills and experience, that generally doesn't happen so much.
[ame]
A small suggestion would be to add more of you own 2d work.
Also, have you considered studios outside of Dallas? Perhaps Austin, not too far away? I think there are a few in Houston as well. Find a studio that fits your style.
I don't know if I don't get replies due to my stuff not being good enough, or if it's not even being looked at in the first place due to my location.
Thoughts?
A good question, and one that hits close to home for me.
I think if you're good enough a company will bring over from wherever you are. Peris got nabbed from Stockholm to California by Blizzard.
I've personally been flown out to an interview fairly far away. One reason they were interested in me was that I was from so far away I would likely bring in new ideas and fresh perspectives coming from a different part of the world than the local artists.
Really, sorry to hear that.......I am pretty sure you will get hired soon. For now, do as you've stated.
doh. but keep trying! persistence pays off!
I know many people who had long stretches inbetween jobs or between college and a job, who're doing great now. just keep applying!
I think usually when its inside the US its not that big of a deal, people fly from all over to take jobs in this industry its not uncommon, if the person is really talented I'm sure it wouldn't matter where they currently live. Not to say someone who lives in town would probably be less expensive to hire and interview, so I guess it depends on whats more important.
I know that when your looking for a job outside of the country though such as Canada, those companies are legally obligated to consider hiring Canadian citizens first, and if they choose to hire someone from outside of their country they have to have a good amount of reasoning why that person is better. Plus they have to go though all the crap to get the visa. So in that case I can see them weeding people out based on location.
Thanks everyone for the support! I have another interview...at GameStop...yay.../fail
That's not a fail. A job is a job, if it pays the bills, who cares. You'd fail if you didn't do ANYTHING haha