Wednesday, 6 February 2013

David Smith Guest Lecture

David Smith
GameCareers.BIZ

  • Head of and founder of Interactive Selection and Women in Games Jobs
  • 12% of Grads get a job in the Games Industry straight out of uni (2010 figures).
  • Not easy for agencies to help Graduates.
  • 5 people in the company - work with over 23 countries. Gaming is GLOBAL.
  • Montreal is now too over-saturated with games companies - there are no first rung jobs are available.
  • Indie companies will probably not use agencies - dont be afraid to knock on doors.
  • Each time you get a job, its easier to get your next one because of you gained experience.
  • Extra Curricular Work is KEY TO YOUR JOB APPLICATION
  • GET INTO MODDING NOW
  • David's top advice; team work, hard graft, compromise.
  • David's twitters; @gamesjobs @davidsmithuk
  • Digital Shoreditch - use twitter through the event to meet people.
  • Events to lookup!
  • UKINteractive Entertainment -
  • XPLAY Festival in Bristol is a good event to attend if possible
  • IGDA UKIE TIGA MeetUps
  • Eurogamer Expo 3 Meetups Ambassadors going into schools
  • Digital Shoreditch is an event Gina Jackson is speaking at.
  • Go to individual developers
  • Think of how you can promote your game on a budget?
  • Keziah McDonald Writing Prize.
  • ESkills on twitter
    InteractiveSelection.com
    Jobsdbate.com

  • 9000 people working within the industry
  • 30% of salaries paid by Canadian government
  • Tax breaks for media industry especially games and SFX to come into UK in the next few years.
  • Mixture of creativity, leadership/project management, Presentation skills, personal skills, project your personailty and your ideas across. Self Motivation.
  • You can use a redundancy to apply for a slightly better paid job - so a redundancy could be a promotion in disguise!
  • Research Linda Carlson at Sony Online Entertainment.
  • BoysClub Culture Is it a game developers responisbility to try and influence and improve on gamers' behaviour?
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Robin Silcock

I am a Second Year Games Art and Design student at Norwich University of the Arts. After exploration of a number of roles in my first year, I am now looking to graduate as a 3D Artist with applicable skills in Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush and Photoshop. I understand that my skills in this field are not there yet - but I aim to achieve this goal through consistently working through the programs in my University and Personal Projects. I love to be busy - I have always had a lot of things on my plate since the age of 7 where I successfully balanced school with Ballet, Tap, Horse-Riding, French, Piano and Singing Lessons! In the same fashion, my university schedule is just as hectic and varied; I am a Peer Mentor to first year students, Student Rep for Second Year, and President of the Enterprise Society. Like I said, I love to be busy! I am a Games Hippie - so to speak - I believe that Games if designed and harnessed in the right way, will be able to help solve many of the global issues we have today - even if it starts off in a small way. Just look at the positive effects that Facebook and Twitter have already had... When navigating my blog;
  • Works in Progress - This section is a constantly running account of all my current projects - personal and for university. It will contain reference images and website links and sometimes less than coherent posts, so be prepared!
  • Finished Pieces - This is where you will find my more polished artwork. Looking for help with Maya? Check out the posts tagged "Maya How-To's"