Advice for a Student seeking Placement Job

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone, first off I’ll give a quick introduction. I’m a current Interactive Multimedia and Design Student studying at University of Ulster and have a placement year coming up for 2009/2010. I was hoping to be able to get into a games development company though the North has nothing of the sort so down South would be a good place to start.

My question is even though I don’t have much background in games development (but I am very keen to learn) would it be hard for any company to take me on board? I know with the current economic climate there is going to be some difficulty already. I have all the regular web design and some multimedia design skills like XHTML, CSS, Java, PHP, which I know aren’t exactly used in games.

Should I just start self teaching while doing a useless placement job in preparation for graduation so I’ve something to write in my CV? Or will I just e-mail every company in Ireland and the UK in the Games Industry asking (begging?) them if they’ve room for a keen to learn placement student?

I just thought I’d ask you guys in here because you all seem to be where I want to be. I’ll be here to answer any questions if you need to know more.

[Anonymous]

I know there’s been at least one or two UUJ IMD students over the past few years asking the same question. You might want to do a search to see if you can come up with anything useful.

I really don’t think that degree should have a mandatory placement year. A lot of the students just end up wasting a year of their lives working for some second-rate company doing something they don’t enjoy. It’s the same for a lot of courses with mandatory placement years.

You’ll have as hard a time getting a games industry placement in RoI as you would in NI… incredibly little or zero.

You’re on to a good idea with the self-teaching. If you have to get a non-industry placement, make the absolute most of it and then teach yourself game development in your spare time.

I wouldn’t bombard all UK companies just to get a response. Like when applying for a real job, you should select between 10 to 20 companies that you really like and try to craft your application towards them.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ronny, yeah slim pickings for the whole island then. Well no need to worry, think I’ll have more fun starting out small. Think I’d rather have a placement where I’ll be used more.

Cheers again Ronny, now onto another thread to get started on self teaching.

[Anonymous]

K

What do you feel are your strengths?

Are you an artist? 2D? 3D?

Are you a designer?

Are you a programmer?

If you are a "web" guy, and by that I mean, know photoshop, flash, and dreamweaver, javascript, etc. then probably start looking at web games (ArmourGames.com is a good place to start). There are a few people on these boards who are involved in that space.

If you are an "artist", and by that I mean, a traditional artist who uses tools like photoshop and max/maya, then i’d imagine you would want to talk to dedicated games companies (again, there are a few of them on the board here.)

If you are focusing on "programming" then you probably want to start looking at C++ if you want to be a commercial game programmer (and as much 3D math and Comp Sci material) as soon as possible.

That’s my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

B.

[Anonymous]

I would say I’m a web guy through what I’ve done over the years but with a bit of progamming thrown into the mix. I would love to have been a good artist, I do love art and am insanely jealous of others artistic abilities. Sketches are as far as I go with that.

Being a web guy may have its advantages in the future with web games getting bigger and better really.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been developing games for the past 8 years now, I’ve done a little bit of everything though my input has leaned more towards the games content. We have a small team of 5 and we all know what we are at. There has been moments over the years were we hit certains walls and would have loved a place to learn in an informal cost effective way. (Mostly in relation to 3D Modeling) I was considering setting up some sort of 3D game development workshop/tutoring courses for those interesting in learning. I’d like to start with a 5 week course in XSI or 3DMax and extend it to cover advance techniques, texturing, then maybe cover some coding (C++) and game engine design, implimenting Network APIs, 3D Engines, Sound APIs everything really. Im based in dublin and would look at hiring some place out in the city center region for maybe 2 nights a week. Think any one would be interested?

[Author]

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