OVERVIEW
Getting a job is a life changing experience, especially within game development since you are asked to move places in a lot of cases. So the combination of your first job together with your first move often to a new country is exciting!
Which then also makes it way more important to be sure about the move you're about to make, so this time around we're going to be diving into how to do research on the company you are going to move to.
So what are some of the things you should be looking out for when doing research on a company in preparation for potentially joining them.
AS A QUICK OVERVIEW
- AVAILABLE ROLES
The role you apply for, and if it matches your skillset - RECENT GAME RELEASES
The company, their recent games and the game they are currently working on. - COMPANIES VALUES
If the companies values align with your personal values. - COST OF LIVING
How expensive the city is you’re moving too (Cost of living). - SALARY
What you can expect as your average salary. - BENEFITS
The benefit package and support the company offers when moving. - SOCIAL EVENTS
Companies often times do social events of have regular get togethers that are amazing for getting together with the team. - WORKING INSIDE THE COMPANY
How is it working inside the company, what other people that have worked are are working there feel about working for the company
HOW TO RESEARCH?
First let's talk about where to find the information on the various parts that you will want to know about the company.
Online Research
When researching a company online, there are several things you can do to gather information and gain a better understanding of the company:
- COMPANY WEBSITE
Start by visiting the company's official website to learn more about their games, history, values and what they find important to put in the spotlight. - IN THE NEWS
Search for news articles and press releases related to the company to learn about recent developments, projects, or any major announcements. - SOCIAL MEDIA
Many companies have active social media profiles that can provide insights into their culture, values, and engagement with customers or clients. - EMPLOYEE REVIEW SITES
Websites like Glassdoor or Indeed can provide you with reviews and feedback from current and former employees of the company. - EXPLORE THE COMPETITION
By researching the company's competitors, you can gain insights into the industry and how the company compares to others in the same space
Asking online communities
Joining industry-specific Discord servers can help you to connect with professionals in the same industry as the company you are researching. You can ask questions about the industry and gain insights into the company's position within the industry.
These are also good places to ask for personal opinions from people that work or have worked there and even reach out for recommendations or suggestions on where to look.
Usually if you ask in a public channel you are going to get very broad anwers, but can still be good to ask.
And if you're looking for a good community to start, we would love to have you!
Use your network
“Networking” has a bad connotation at least to me as it makes it feel like you are only there to build connections with people because you want something from them, but that doesn’t make a successful network of people.
Talking to people and using your network or reaching out to people that have worked or are working at a given company is always the best resource for getting to know what you are getting yourself into.
Keep in mind that the games industry is shrouded in NDA agreements, so anything specific about workflows, pipelines or anything is always going to be sensitive. So asking questions is totally fine, but if the person on the other end seems to be hesitant then don't keep pushing.
Keeping it high level in this case is the best approach!
RESEARCH THE ROLE
The first thing to properly read when you are thinking about applying to a job is to dissect the application itself. Especially when you are sending out a lot of applications it might be tiring to really dissect all of them, but you need to do it, it’s your future and you should be picky about the job and if it aligns with your interests and enjoy it as much as possible.
However, If you don’t do this step yourself, then the company will also in part do this for you. If your portfolio doesn’t match the required skills need for the job, the company is highly likely to reject you straight away.
ENVIRONMENT ART JOB EXAMPLE
You can actually see that this example let’s you know that you won’t be working in the level so much. But are actually more responsible for asset, material and texture creation instead. So if you have a passion about creation stories and working in environments you might want to look for another job instead.
Environment Art positions are usually treated as a container for all kinds of specialisations, so make sure to read through the application and know the role you are applying for to the best of your abilities.
More information on roles and specialisations here: ENV SPECIALISATIONS
Location, remote or hybrid?
Make sure to also check if the application is remote, on-site or a mixture of both. There are a lot of companies out there now that offer a more flexible working environment, especially for more experience people.
It might be less common for Juniors, especially fully remote jobs, but there are some out there if that’s the thing you are looking for.
Diversity and Inclusion
A more diverse working environment makes for more dynamic games and office vibes. If this is something that is especially important to, then time to check out the people that work there and how diverse it is.
COMPANY CULTURE
Research the company
When going through an application it’s useful to know more about the company you are applying for, especially because this might be your place for the next couple of years.
A studio will be very specific in the people they want to hire for a team and you should do the same for your own career too.
TRY AND FIGURE OUT:
- THEIR GAMES
The games they work on, was anything announced recently, or wat was their latest release?(What games and type of games you will be working on) - STUDIO PERCEPTION
How the Studio portray themself to the outside, are they very open or more closed off.(This helps you to align with their mission and maybe even contribute to sharing knowledge) - COMPANY IMPRESSIONS
What do employees say about the company(through glassdoor or personal connections) - THE SOFTWARE USED
What game engine, programs and workflow do they use for their projects?(Allows you to prepare for the work itself and if you want to work with those programs yourself) - SENIORITY WEIGHT
Are there a lot of seniors at the company? Or does it mainly consist of Juniors?(Really helpful to know if you are going to learn a bunch of things when working there) - COMPANY HISTORY
How long has the company been around? How is their track record?(Good to know the rough spots and what to keep in mind)
All these bits of research can help you get to know the company on a deeper level and how you are going to grow when working for that company. It can also be important during the interview, since the people doing the interview might ask you questions to determine if you’ve really done the legwork as a measurement of interest in the company.
📍 An example question could be: ”Are you familiar with our latest game “X”? What would you improve on it if you had the opportunity to do so?”
Also, after doing this research this also allows you to look at the type of projects they are working on then you can also make some assumptions about the workflow they use and how yours fit into it. There is also no need to make a full timeline of the company itself either, focus on the relevant an more current information.
Studio benefits
Apart from the salary companies offer they usually have to do more than that to attract talent like yourself. These can range from pretty simple things to a lot, like on-site gyms etc too.
SOME BENEFIT EXAMPLES:
- ❕ Daily delivery of fruit
- ❕ Free commute card
- ❕ Paid improvement time
- ❕ Free tickets to industry events
- ❕ Games/Books rental library
- ❕ Stock options
- ❕ Cycle to work Schemes
- ❕ Regular company parties
- ❕ Subsidised meals
- ❕ Etc…
Salary estimation
It's important for anyone in the game development industry to be informed about the financial aspect of the field. It's a large industry with a lot of money circulating, so it's essential to make sure you're getting your fair share.
As artists, it's natural to be less familiar with discussing or thinking about money, but it's crucial to be aware of the financial aspect of the industry to have a successful career. Having a "anything is awesome" attitude can not only harm your own career but also the industry as a whole by lowering the collective median salary.
Thankfully, there are now plenty of resources available that can help you get a good starting salary or at least give you an idea of what's out there in the industry. This way you can be prepared and not have to go into an interview without any knowledge.
There are generally two ways of estimating a salary, one of them is to research the average salary for the specific role you are applying for in your area, and the other one is to use a salary calculator.
Specific approach
But when doing the research on a specific company, you will most likely end up at on sites like glassdoor that offer averages on salaries. But the data on them might vary depending on the company size.
Region/area approach
Another approach is looking at an area and looking at what people get offered in that area, the more specific the area is the closer you can get with your own salary expectations.
There are a lot of great spreadsheets that are good at this approach. But if you are looking for some numbers make sure to check out this.
📍 More on Salary can be found here:
Relocation assistance
One that many often forget to ask for, but most studios offer relocations assistance if you are coming from abroad. Usually this is advertised in the applications itself, but if it’s not, it’s definitely worth asking about it.
📍 More information on the Relocation Assistance topic can be found here:
STUDIO LOCATION
Knowing the cost of living
So we’ve talked about salary first, but like said before, that’s only one part of the equation. Cost of living is the money that is needed to live in a certain city/country, which include things like rent, heating, gas, car insurance, insurance, food, entertainment, restaurant costs, etc...
So if you have a salary that looks amazing on paper you always need to make sure you factor in the cost of living, and that drastically changes that salary number.
So that’s where we go into Cost of Living these are all the expenses you might incur when living there. I’m not going to dive too deep into this as there is a separate topic on that later on.
📍 You can check the full list over here:
Honestly, the best way is leaning on people that are already there and just asking them. Especially if you have some friends already living there, those are an invaluable resource. If you don’t know anyone there, you can also just ask this in the final HR interview itself to get a clearer image of that number.
The vibe of the city
Underestimated, but if you are going to be living in a new location, making sure that the city itself is going to be a good fit for you is a priority.
The size of a city, how expensive everything is, how many amazing restaurants there are can all play a big role in “Feeling at home” in your new city.
The closest that you are going to get here is talking to the locals if you can. Both people that moved into the city and people that have been there for a while, this is where online communities come in handy!
Everyone has their own personal preference though, so make sure to ask WHY they love it or not.
So hopefully this will help you get prepared better for the next time you have an interview or are thinking about joining a company.
