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I was wondering what is the likeliness of getting a programming internship in a games development company in Ireland. I have finished 4 years in of college and have my level 7 in games development and a level 8 in software development and want to enter the industry. I have nothing against going abroad since i have US citizenship but was just wondering would there be anything closer to home available.
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Same boat dude and I have a masters :shock: I’ve contacted 3 companies specifically about internships, all of which has fallen on deaf ears (the big boys – Demonware, Havok and Digit in case you were wondering).
I’ve not been pushing it because I’m really looking out for something paid, but I reckon you certainly need to work for free and actually get talking to the right people at the right time. Because this is such a small country you don’t really have any game dev companies with traditional corporate structures, that have the resources or need to hire interns in my experience. I would be very interested in hearing others experiences / insights on the topic too though.
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Hey guys.
My suggestion (assuming you haven’t already) would be to work on portfolio projects while looking for work. Build an app or a small game demonstrating your abilities and skill set. It’s not enough to have just a college degree in this industry – as I’m sure you’ve noticed from job descriptions that require at least some industry experience.
Building a portfolio will certainly help negate that and put you in a better position.
Best of luck with the search.
Paul
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Great point Paul, yeah in my spare time I have two apps going at the moment, I guess that’s the beauty of the modern day droid / iOS market, how accessible it is for anyone.
I’ve definitely found a college degree isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on for a games dev job though. I would’ve thought a masters would at least get me an internship though, but not so far!
The career zoo thing is on in Dublin soon, hoping some games people will be there and if not at least some tips and advice, and I’m going to the careers fair in the Eurogamer Expo in London at the end of September so that might be worth checking out for some too.
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Thank for the info.
I have a small portfolio at the moment and I’m still adding to it but i would like to get my hands dirty with a company. This seems to be a pretty tough industry to crack.That career zoo thing sounds good, I might hit that up too.
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We (savvybear.com) posted an internship not too long ago on GD.ie. We had a few applicants.
We use flash in here but our decision was made for the programmer internship mainly based on the applicants portfolio.
The guy we picked had never used flash but knew how to programme and sent us over 6 prototypes he was working on. He knew a few languages and was just out of college like yourself but the portfolio was what swung it for him. He learned how to use flash on his first day and now is tipping away programming mini games for our savvybear app on iPads.
So my advice is have a portfolio with a few prototypes and preferably a finished game even if it’s small.
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We (savvybear.com) posted an internship not too long ago on GD.ie. We had a few applicants.
We use flash in here but our decision was made for the programmer internship mainly based on the applicants portfolio.
The guy we picked had never used flash but knew how to programme and sent us over 6 prototypes he was working on. He knew a few languages and was just out of college like yourself but the portfolio was what swung it for him. He learned how to use flash on his first day and now is tipping away programming mini games for our savvybear app on iPads.
So my advice is have a portfolio with a few prototypes and preferably a finished game even if it’s small.[/quote:dce87a888a]
That’s interesting that the guy you took had no Flash. I remember seeing the position and specifically not putting my name forward because we never touched Flash in college!
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We (savvybear.com) posted an internship not too long ago on GD.ie. We had a few applicants.
We use flash in here but our decision was made for the programmer internship mainly based on the applicants portfolio.
The guy we picked had never used flash but knew how to programme and sent us over 6 prototypes he was working on. He knew a few languages and was just out of college like yourself but the portfolio was what swung it for him. He learned how to use flash on his first day and now is tipping away programming mini games for our savvybear app on iPads.
So my advice is have a portfolio with a few prototypes and preferably a finished game even if it’s small.[/quote:66ed0cfeb3]
That’s interesting that the guy you took had no Flash. I remember seeing the position and specifically not putting my name forward because we never touched Flash in college![/quote:66ed0cfeb3]
It’s not difficult to learn. It’s obviously a plus but people who can program are usually technically minded and will pick it up quicker. I never used flash before starting here either.
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I would have figured the same. If I don’t have the required skills then I would be deterred from applying to a position. Is this industry treated more like the arts where it’s portfolio based?
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@WingnutWilson
I found this event to day if you didn’t hear about it maybe you’d like to go
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Cheers dude, yeah I haven’t really used Unity yet (annoyingly it only just exploded in popularity as XNA died and we finished our BSc.). In fact I’ve had to ignore a few opportunities because we never looked at it in college. Of course now I’ve left it’s all they bloody teach!
I’ll maybe post in the other thread too, would still be interested in popping along.
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Glass Robot have just released a nice platformer and are looking for interns (unpaid)
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Good stuff, in the mean time I’ve had to go and find something paid (and not in games :x ). Ah well hopefully I will be in a position to get into games soon.
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