"It's not what you know, it's who you know" is the norm in pretty much every industry. With games specifically, if you prove to be incapable of getting work done then you'll probably get replaced fairly quickly. Connections can get you through the door but you need to be able to consistently prove that you deserve your…
Sure, but that doesn't mean the two are necessarily related, plenty of less than qualified people have been hired at studios without previous connection. Correlation does not imply causation. Maybe the person who got the job was super confident and interviewed very well, while more talented applicants were socially awkward…
Well whenever you have to hire someone it's basically the following: 1. Ask existing employees if they know anyone who might be fit for the job 2. Check the existing database of past applicants 3. Post job positions on all internet websites 4. Get a headhunter They're progressively more and more expensive in time and…
As someone who doesn't have an online portfolio (i usually just send through a link to a folder with images from projects worked on that features work. because when it comes to personal work I have very little time, i could find time and over work myself however life balance is important.) but also someone who has been in…
To add another aspect to this: I regularly get asked from time to time about someone's friend or even from people in my social network like LinkdIn. Noone ever really came out explicitly to ask for privileges though. Anyway, all I've ever been willing to do was to take a loot at their portfolio and if it looked OK I've…
Right, I've been in a position to influence hiring a few times in my career, and the last thing I would ever want to do is recommend someone that I don't truly believe can do the job. If you start pushing for your friends to get hired over more qualified applicants, you probably won't be in a position to have a say very…