After nearly two decades of workin’ in the games industry no two job-hunt stories I have would be alike. The most recent evolution is with recruiters, companies seem to be leaning more and more on third-party recruitment services… and it’s very telling those services aren’t terribly familiar with the wonderful world of game development. Recruiters tend to focus on very “traditional” employment (please sign this contract to devote a minimum of 40hrs a week to this corporation but in reality it’s closer to 60-80 averaged out over the year), and I tell ya, I’ve been on some journeys with recruiters this last year. Those journeys were unfortunately as dreadfully boring as they were confusing for everyone involved, probably make for poor content to pad out this online journal entry.

Okay okay, just one. Short story. Sometimes a group of people needs a really specialized person to fill a role, it’s good to be up front about this. I like to suss out any important expectations right away, so in this particular case the very first time I talked to this particular recruiter I discovered the company they represent really wanted someone super passionate about American Basketball. That very first time I told’em: I’m familiar with the rules, I could write them down without reference, but I don’t actively watch it so I don’t think I’d meet those expectations.

…so several conversations later the recruiter is telling me that my salary expectations are totally fine, and I’m thinking “huh, I guess that basketball thing wasn’t as big a deal as I originally thought”, so we kept talking, even updated my digital paperwork based on what they recommended from feedback from the client, cool cool. Things seem to be progressing (I’ve noticed this is a common theme with recruiters, regardless of reality everything is making progress), and after over a month of entertaining this particular recruiter…

I was informed it was really important they have someone very passionate about American Basketball fulfilling the role so they’ll be looking elsewhere.

That was the most interesting recruiter story, time and energy investment certainly don’t make a better story. Now contrast that with a fascinating scenario I find myself in: a studio has a problem, someone who does work with them understands the problem and what they need, they suggest to both studio and myself that I help them with their problem.

Rather than acting like a recruiter the person who made the observations and connected the dots just got us all in a video chat to discuss the problem and how I could help, how long I think that would take, and what I would need in support + financial compensation. It’s a format that may shift my attention away from my personal projects for a short time but wouldn’t have me abandoning them completely, slowing the drain on my savings so I can put more effort into hopefully creating my own financially stable game library. Win-win!

I’m super intrigued by this new (for me) idea now that I’ve been engaging in the process and having it go so smoothly. My next step will be to not divert all my limited energy, make sure at least one personal project continues to make progress (sorry Roblox game! back soon I promise). Hey look, I’m doing better! I’m on round-two of this fascinating new experience and I’ve updated my online journal 😉