4 réponses à ce sujet

[MichaelPaton]

BioWare is the type of revolutionary place that one would typically stumble across in a large metropolis, such as New York, or LA. In my quaint city of Edmonton, such a place was founded. Now, I'm the type of person whose life revolves solely around games. I run a gaming website, I play games when I can, and I have a team of over 20 people that I founded to develop games. To have BioWare in my city, a studio of such stature, talent and respectability, it's shocking.

As my goal in the coming weeks/months, I hope to get an interview and get hired as a team member of BioWare. Now, I know that it's not a simple task. I've poured immense effort into my application: A quality cover letter and resumé. I'm only a grade 11 student, but I believe I meet the qualifications to become a QA Tester. I've always looked at games as something of beauty, as something of a piece of art that was created with careful thought and stunning creativity. I've had numerous jobs, from nearly 2 years at McDonalds (not my desired career path, but I worked tirelessly, nonetheless), to my recent job at Best Buy. I pay attention to detail, and always put as much effort into something, even if it's more than necessary.

Now, my question to you, anyone in the community or outside it that stumbles upon this: Do you think I have what it takes? I know getting a job at the finest game developer in the world is something that requires those with absolute passion and motivation to do the impossible time and time again, to blur the lines between what others see as possible within the specified time frame. I believe I fit this criteria, but I want to know what you believe I, as a QA Tester, would need to prove that I'm worth hiring. Seeing the place in person is stunning, also nerve-racking. Simply handing in an application in person makes you feel like you're in such a legendary facility that it's not even funny. I know I'd need to get over these nerves for an interview, so, do any of you have suggestions on how to do so? See, normally, at my previous jobs, I felt fine during an interview, it's just that BioWare is so important to me, that it feels nearly impossible to not feel nervous. But hey, we're all human, I guess. Thanks for any feedback and suggestions. I really appreciate it.

-Michael

Modifié par MichaelPaton, 18 janvier 2011 - 07:42 .

[Stanley Woo]

First of all, you'd need to be 18.

[Stanley Woo]

Employees would need to be 18 due to all the contracts they need to sign. And, you know, all the beer developers drink.

Captain Cornhole says:

Hey Stanley, are there any positions open for were-chickens that have a bizarre taste for human flesh? And if it matters I can juggle, just saying.

We had one position open, but there was this awesome Iranian were-duck who could juggle and sing and bake a mean pie all at the same time. We're waiting for his visa to come through now.

ReconTeam says:

If anybody ever needs a drunk angry guy to toss things at the developers while they try to work... well you know who to call.

We already called Nick Nolte, thanks.

[Stanley Woo]

*mean face on, list of difficult questions prepared*



So what precisely is your contribution to this MMO your team is making? What makes you think you can succeed with a ragtag team of volunteers when entire companies of paid, experienced professionals have lived and died on similar projects? What's the scope of the project, and how long do you expect it will take to complete? And what position are you hoping to get at BioWare? And what makes you think you would be a good developer, besides being popular and punctual and not easily bored?



You are 16. What will you be doing until you are old enough to work at a a development studio? what do you do besides gaming and gaming related things?

[Stanley Woo]

MichaelPaton wrote...

Stanley Woo wrote...
*mean face on, list of difficult questions prepared*

So what precisely is your contribution to this MMO your team is making? What makes you think you can succeed with a ragtag team of volunteers when entire companies of paid, experienced professionals have lived and died on similar projects? What's the scope of the project, and how long do you expect it will take to complete? And what position are you hoping to get at BioWare? And what makes you think you would be a good developer, besides being popular and punctual and not easily bored?

You are 16. What will you be doing until you are old enough to work at a a development studio? what do you do besides gaming and gaming related things?

My contribution to the team is design and management. By design, I am not referring to the actual 3D design of the game, but things such as the design document, balancing of weapons and buildings, etc; as well as ensuring the levels are designed to work on both sides equally. We have a low budget  for our team, and yes, we're only spending a number of thousand as opposed to a number of million on development. We believe that we could succeed because of the resources we have, and a couple communities which members of the team are administrators on. These forums cumulatively have 500,000+ members. Each forum has over 5000 premium members which each paid $10 for their status. As well as free advertising here, we hope to advertise through other means. We plan to make our game cheap, to have the price at $10 to beta players, who will play for free during the beta. The full retail price for regular people is planned to be $20.

Whoa, that sounds a lot like you're getting ahead of yourself here. What's the 500,000 number for, potential developers? Your market? Investors?

Now, for the position I aspire to get at BioWare:
I can easily see from your point of view how ridiculous you think I sound wanting a job at BioWare.

I don't think you're ridiculous at all. My questions were serious. Regardless, your posts already put you ahead of other, similar threads I've read.

I broke my humorous bone in May and it completely overlapped itself (yes that's a bone name, and no, it wasn't funny when it happened).

It's humourous that the bone name is humerus, but I understand the confusion. Not trying to be a jerkface, but you emphasized the point so I thought I'd correct you. Also, sorry to hear about your arm. That's gotta suck.

I'm still not totally convinced that your proejct will ever see the light of day, but that's neither here nor there. Experience in working on such a project is still experience. I applaud you for your enthusiasm and actually working on a project in an industry you love.

BUT...

Slow down, man. You've still got two years before you're old enough to sign legal documents, which is usually required when working at a development studio. For now, don't worry about getting a development job and keep doing what you're doing. Stay in school, get good grades, and maybe you'll find something you want to go to college for. Do that, and work your butt off to do the best you can at school and your project. You'll probably want that project to be done (or abandoned, however it works out) before you get an industry job, as it would be unlikely that a dev studio would let you continue making a commerical game while working for them.

By the time you're 18, you might not want to do something as relatively low-paying as QA. You might decide that project management is what you want to do, or design, or something else entirely. You don't have to impress people now, you need to do it when you're in a position to work for them. But if you are as dedicated and hard-working as you say, and if your project gets completed, then I'm sure you'll have no problems at all finding a development job, even if it's in QA. And really, don't pin all your hopes on just one studio. There are lots of development studios out there, large and small. don't dismiss them just because they're not BioWare.