Devoted and loyal polycounter Asking for any help
polycounter lvl 17
Hello everyone,
I made a post about this recently but I guess this is both a post asking for some other polycounters advice/ help for the most part.
I was layed off early April due to a hostile merging company in china that layed off 80 % of the development team.
Since I moved at cost from out of pocket to Washington I have little money in my name. I was only given enough pay to survive a very short time (1-2 months top if I dont eat much)
I since then was given recommendations by formal work collages, leads to companies etc. I have applied for every job possible in washington according to game dev map, linked in, gamasutra,creative heads, and craiglist.
I was given written recommendations for zombie games,hidden path,and WB games from formal work collages , and was told by some big credible names who worked for microsoft (guy who originally worked on XNA) of studios he knew of.
Ive only heard back from a handful of studios saying at the moment they are not hiring. I was giving leads at Amaze but they are not hiring either, Same for both studios owned by WB games (monolith/snowblind) And Valve gave me the fastest rejection letter in the game industry possible (withing 1 hour of sending the email, im pretty sure that that email has a speeding ticket on it)
It seems down the board aside 1 or 2 companies that no one is hiring any sort of art jobs, Ive even tried contracting jobs (all 3 agency's here) That are out of work as well.
I heard 1 or 2 studios hiring but it seems for really really experienced people, (Example bungie, monlith, valve, and arena net)
But in those studios I do not really know anyone.
To anyone whos known me on polycount Im a very hard and diligent worker, you can see from previous work jobs Im not making this up (you can check my linked in profile)
I really just want to continue working in this field, I moved across the united states with that hope in my heart. And right now the reality is I might not even have enough to live past may.
So im asking at this point, any polycounter anywhere, can you please help me land back at all? Any info, or if you work for any of the studios local if you can toss in a word for me.
I will be forever in your debt.
Im closely reaching a full month of unemployment and I cant even collect unemployment due to my previous job (which I was a contracted worker and took out my own taxes and was seriously under payed so I have no money for unemployment to help me with either)
I cant even seem to find a crappy job to help me hold ends meat.
So any help anywhere
I will be in your debt
Thank you polycount
-Remi
I made a post about this recently but I guess this is both a post asking for some other polycounters advice/ help for the most part.
I was layed off early April due to a hostile merging company in china that layed off 80 % of the development team.
Since I moved at cost from out of pocket to Washington I have little money in my name. I was only given enough pay to survive a very short time (1-2 months top if I dont eat much)
I since then was given recommendations by formal work collages, leads to companies etc. I have applied for every job possible in washington according to game dev map, linked in, gamasutra,creative heads, and craiglist.
I was given written recommendations for zombie games,hidden path,and WB games from formal work collages , and was told by some big credible names who worked for microsoft (guy who originally worked on XNA) of studios he knew of.
Ive only heard back from a handful of studios saying at the moment they are not hiring. I was giving leads at Amaze but they are not hiring either, Same for both studios owned by WB games (monolith/snowblind) And Valve gave me the fastest rejection letter in the game industry possible (withing 1 hour of sending the email, im pretty sure that that email has a speeding ticket on it)
It seems down the board aside 1 or 2 companies that no one is hiring any sort of art jobs, Ive even tried contracting jobs (all 3 agency's here) That are out of work as well.
I heard 1 or 2 studios hiring but it seems for really really experienced people, (Example bungie, monlith, valve, and arena net)
But in those studios I do not really know anyone.
To anyone whos known me on polycount Im a very hard and diligent worker, you can see from previous work jobs Im not making this up (you can check my linked in profile)
I really just want to continue working in this field, I moved across the united states with that hope in my heart. And right now the reality is I might not even have enough to live past may.
So im asking at this point, any polycounter anywhere, can you please help me land back at all? Any info, or if you work for any of the studios local if you can toss in a word for me.
I will be forever in your debt.
Im closely reaching a full month of unemployment and I cant even collect unemployment due to my previous job (which I was a contracted worker and took out my own taxes and was seriously under payed so I have no money for unemployment to help me with either)
I cant even seem to find a crappy job to help me hold ends meat.
So any help anywhere
I will be in your debt
Thank you polycount
-Remi
Replies
If i were you i would try looking for work outside your field. that's what im doing until i can land a job in the industry , its not fun, its boring but it pays the bills.
Like all artist Me and you are struggling, were basically a stereotype's.
Have you tried the local temp/placement agencies like Volt, Filter, Sakson and Taylor, or MAQConsulting? They place artists at Microsoft, and elsewhere I would guess as well.
As for alternatives to the industry, maybe try to find a job that might be condusive to strengthening your skill set/portfolio. One that either gives you free time to study (like a security guard perhaps), or one that allows you to work with the public and meet folks and maybe do a little networking (like at a restaurant or bar). A friend of mine is working graveyard shift at fitness club, and he brings his laptop in to work on stuff. I used to bounce at bars and would sketch in my sketchbook if things weren't too busy. Another friend of mine used to work security at a community college, where he spent most of his time studying. Come to think of it, Cornish (an art school in Seattle) was looking for security guards a while back. That wouldn't be half bad, hangin out at an art school, probably meeting some folks, gettin inspired, and hopefully having some time to spend drawing in your sketchbook as well.
As crappy as this situation might appear, and as corny as this may sound, hopefully you are looking at it as an opportunity to grow and improve through challenge and adversity. Good luck.
I use to do graveyard 2/3 years ago to work on my stuff before, If I have to find another job like that hopefully I can work on 3d stuff again art school security dosent sound to bad.
Its just rather sad spend a few years to get farther finally get far and go so many steps back all over again
I used to work at TKMaxx every morning and did my 3d stuff afternoons.
Right now , you just need a job to pay bills, so suck it up and keep applying
Don't get disheartened:)
But you are at a very sketchy place in terms of finance so you don't have the luxury of landing your ideal job. Having said that, it doesn't mean you should lose hope either. Something is bound to open up and you'll back making games in no time.
Best of luck, mate. Just hang in there.
If I were an AD, I wouldn't hire you with your work/skills right now either. Frankly the folks with more talent and experience are getting the few available jobs right now and you just don't make the cut. By a fairly wide margin.
Now, I only feel remotely comfortable saying this because I am in a similar boat.
You do seem like a nice, hard working, diligent guy, but IMO you really need to focus on your art more, and less on clarion call posts for help on Polycount. This is what...your 3rd or 4th? What do you think that says? I think you've stretched that resource as far as it'll go.
Time to put feet to pavement and pen to tablet. Go silent for another 6 months or a year and work harder. Then put the folio & resume out there again.
Truely sorry if I'm being overly harsh, but I'm going for "honest tough love" not "douchesauce".
But in the meantime; my advice would go something like this;
Go get a dish pig job at a restaurant. Dont leave Seattle, its a cool place. Doing a dish job is brainless, and leaves you lots of time to mull over thoughts and projects, plus food is usually included. Plus you can just walk up and get one.
besides that, it is my belief that no real artist can produce good work unless it comes from some place of some pain and suffering.
forget about this game for a bit and go live some life, then you will have inspiration to make art. Go wash some dishes or another easy grab job and climb up some hostess's skirt and get beat up by her husband, thats going to further your art 10 fold in my opinion. a healthy head will produce tons of art.
Good luck man!
My suggestion is maybe shortening your resume. 4 pages is a little overkill. Not that people hire based on resume alone, but there is a lot of 'fluff' in there that can be cut or bullet pointed. I don't know much about the game industry but I know a shorter resume will help when an HR is looking through dozens of resumes.
We all have been where you are now in some shape or form. I know i did, i held on to this idea that because i was offered a job once that it would happen again in no time at all. I was wrong, i pushed off going to work for a non art job for as long as i could(hell longer than i could) then i gave in and got one. Just having a job helped ALOT it kept my mind off why i didnt have a job, and let me just think about what i was going to do when i got off work.
Also, have you thought about other 3d or graphic art jobs not related to gaming? Here in Houston we have a big oil and gas industry and I know plenty of people that do 3d work in that field. It's not gaming, but it's 3d, and the pay is way better than the gaming industry to start off. Maybe you can find something along that line, or 3d visualization, graphic design, video editing, something. Not to knock the website guys or graphic designers here but a lot of it is stuff that someone with knowledge of photoshop and illustrator can do in their sleep.
Good luck man dont give up!
I hear Dairygold is hiring, that should be fun huh? =P
but I spent all of friday driving around/ applying locally...doing the same monday again and the full rest of the week continuing to do the same.
hah! great.
[ame]
Hang in there, and make sure you keep working on improving. It can be hard, but you need to stay positive.
Best of luck man.
What about UPS, Fed-Ex or Fed-Ex Office(kinkos)?
If you're really hard up... There are 2 wake board mfg companies in Redmond HO (Herb O'Brian) sports and O'Brian sports (started by the same guy, long story) I worked at HO, great boards, horrible work, great motivation to get another job but some good people work there so it makes the time go by. They're not the type of place you apply online, more call or stop by. If you start working at HO you could blow peoples minds with you're asstounding insight as to the companies past... heh.
Last and most definitly least, Labor Ready (they have desk jobs too) and there are a handful of other day labor places, they've been hit hard but with stimulous money starting to trickle in more construction projects might be starting up. WashDot is also starting up their regular summer season road repair/construction projects.
I'll be applying actively monday again, wish me luck
one more.