Prepping for Gamedev Interviews

How to get ready for the scariest part of getting hired

In 2021 a friend of mine was asking for advice on how to prep for an upcoming job interview in gamedev, and I realized I had a lot of experience from which to draw. This started as an advice thread on Twitter, and I’ve edited it into an article.

Most gamedev interviews are organized into three specific stages, at least from my experience:

1. Phone screening
2. Interview with management/hiring manager
3. Interview with team members

They’re broken up this way for a few reasons, and each segment serves a purpose.

The phone screening is just to make sure you’re not a crazy person, and you actually fit what they’re looking for. During the phone screening, you’re going to talk with HR, a recruiter, or the hiring manager.

They’re essentially making sure you’re not a complete fraud, and they’re going to ask questions about relocation (if necessary), and what you’re expecting in terms of compensation.

The Screening Interview and Compensation Talk

Here’s how I usually handle the initial salary discussion when interviewing for a new job:

Interviewer: What are you looking for in terms of compensation?

Me: What’s the salary band for the position?

Interviewer: Uhhhhh let me look that up.

Me: Ok, take your time!

Then we chitchat until they have a number to give me, and I say “Ok, gotcha.”

If pressed, I’ll just say “Oh, that’s about what I was expecting.”

Asking for a salary band leaves the ball in their court. Since it’s a question, it feels a lot less aggressive when you say it, and it also lets you know their expectations.

A phone screening can be nerve wracking, but it also lets you and a potential employer lay out all your expectations.

Remember: You’re interviewing THEM just as much as they’re interviewing you. You want to make sure it’s a job you’d be a good fit for.

A bad fit helps no one.

Interviewing with Hiring Managers

The next step, interviewing with management/the hiring manager is all about how they feel you’d slot into the given team. Here you’re going to be explaining things like your process, past experience, and essentially pitching yourself as a good candidate.

I’ve found it helpful to be very frank and honest about past experiences here.

HOWEVER!

I’ve had lots of bad experiences in my career, and I try to avoid talking badly about previous teams. Instead, I frame it as having a bad experience rather than interpersonal conflict.

For example, I had a negative experience at my first job in the game industry. I fucking hated it, actually.

But I say it this way:

It wasn’t a good fit. They wanted to do things in a way I thought had some sexist overtones, and it didn’t sit well, so I left for another job.

What this does is show management that you understand some people simply don’t fit into some environments. If you’re pursuing anything below a management level, that’s probably as much as they’ll ask.

If you ARE pursuing a management position, they’ll most likely ask you how you would deal with interpersonal conflicts like the above. Something like “If a member of your team came to you with a complaint about another team member, how would you solve that problem?”

There are a million ways to answer that, but what I’ve tended to say was along the lines of “I’d talk to both parties, try to understand where the conflict is, and then see if I could facilitate finding a common ground to discuss the issue.”

Interviewing with the Team

The third part of the interview process is when you interview with potential teammates, people who you’ll work with on a daily basis. This is the part I enjoy the most because, honestly, it just feels like shooting the shit with people who have my same interests.

Interviewing with the team gives them a read on how you communicate, how you’d either fit in with or be a culture add to the team, and gets multiple sets of eyes on things that may mean you are or aren’t a good fit.

I like to make sure I’m as open and honest as possible during interviews, but I like to just have a conversation when I’m talking to the team. I go in knowing these are people I’ll spend almost as much time with as I do with my spouse, and try to think of how that plays out.

During my last interviews, right before I started at my current job, I had a nice moment talking with our tech artist about some stuff on Spider-Man. We geeked out about shaders and had a grand ol’ time.

That was one of the times I knew we were probably good to work together.

Regarding Remote Work

Now that remote work in the game industry is finally a viable option instead of a one-off happenstance, here’s some stuff I’ve done to prep for remote-only interviews:

Interview call on one screen, portfolio and resume on the other

If an interviewer has a question about one of my experiences, I can jog my memory by looking at my resume or portfolio. No need to sit there trying to remember things in the heat of the moment.

Name search interviewers

When I’m told the names of people I’m going to be interviewing with, I search for their name + the company name on LinkedIn. This lets me get an idea of what kinds of questions they may ask, how I can prep for them, and things I may need to know.

Typed-out list of specific questions

If there’s something I want to know, like how long the company is going to allow rem ote work because of COVID, it’s nice to have a sheet with a reminder for myself.

A few more things, in no specific order:

Whenever I interview, the questions I ask are about culture:

• How would you describe the company culture?
• How does this place compare culture-wise to other places you’ve worked?
• How often do you have to crunch?
• How many people from marginalized groups are on the team?

Some questions I’ve been asked (that you might be asked too):

• Do you have experience with Confluence, Jira, Perforce, Git?
• Have you done much scheduling?
• What’s your experience working with people from other departments?
• Have you done much work with people in production?
• How do you feel about working with rigging and animation?
• How do you see the role of management?
• How do you feel delegating work?
• How do you deal with tight deadlines?
• What about when something is late?
• Have you done any outsourcing work?
• Do you have experience providing written or visual feedback?
• What are your long term career goals?
• How do you feel about providing mentorship and being a learning resource?

Finally:

• What date would you be available to start?

I always fuck this question up. I never give myself enough time off. If you have the ability and aren’t strapped for cash, do yourself a favor and give yourself some time off. It’s good for you.

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