Recently, I interviewed at a very nice game publisher and developer. They were looking for an Executive Producer and my background makes me a good fit for such a position. I didn't get the job, despite the 7 hour interview, mostly due to the fact that the funding for the position had dried up.
They did have one big concern, I didn't seem interested in their title. I didn't download and play their free game prior to the interview. I tried to explain to them why, but I could tell it didn't sink in. Their ego says, he has to like our game because we love our game to be qualified for the position.
Unless I have never seen a title I don't like to play a game prior to the interview. If the game is totally unknown to me then yep I will play it and get to know it so I can speak intelligently on it in the interview. But if I know it well enough to have an opinion, I don't play it again.
But in this case, as is the case often, I had played it several times at E3 and I felt comfortable talking to them about it. When I got home from the interview, I tried to download the game... their custom made downloader informed me that it would take 9 days to download a 2 GB file. When I found a older version to download from another site, it took about 20 minutes to download and install. When their new downloader saw I had the previous version installed, it asked if I wanted to update, of course I do! It took 4 and a half hours to download a 350 MB file.
To add insult to injury, with about 50 MB of the update left Apple's auto-updater popped up with a 110 MB file it needed to download and install. That update, twice the size of the remaining game update, took 6 minutes to download and install. The original remaining 50 MB took 2 more hours. and when the installer tried to update, it crashed.
Had I done all of this before the interview, I would not have been happy. Although I wouldn't cancel the interview, I certainly wouldn't hold these developers in high regard. If asked if I liked the game, I would have said something like: "I'm not sure, its got 8 days left to download". These are not good things to say in an interview.
I'm starting to think that I shouldn't play games before the interview, because I want to have an open mind about the people. I want to know them before I know their product. If I am to be their leader, I lead the team, not the game itself. I know perfectly well that there are a LOT of factors that affect a games development and that developers are not always responsible for the end result.
Having said that, I think there's a huge benefit to not going in with a negative reaction to a game, and trying to sugar coat the truth when they ask me what I thought of it.
Your thoughts?
Mac
READ MORE - Playing games before interviews
They did have one big concern, I didn't seem interested in their title. I didn't download and play their free game prior to the interview. I tried to explain to them why, but I could tell it didn't sink in. Their ego says, he has to like our game because we love our game to be qualified for the position.
Unless I have never seen a title I don't like to play a game prior to the interview. If the game is totally unknown to me then yep I will play it and get to know it so I can speak intelligently on it in the interview. But if I know it well enough to have an opinion, I don't play it again.
But in this case, as is the case often, I had played it several times at E3 and I felt comfortable talking to them about it. When I got home from the interview, I tried to download the game... their custom made downloader informed me that it would take 9 days to download a 2 GB file. When I found a older version to download from another site, it took about 20 minutes to download and install. When their new downloader saw I had the previous version installed, it asked if I wanted to update, of course I do! It took 4 and a half hours to download a 350 MB file.
To add insult to injury, with about 50 MB of the update left Apple's auto-updater popped up with a 110 MB file it needed to download and install. That update, twice the size of the remaining game update, took 6 minutes to download and install. The original remaining 50 MB took 2 more hours. and when the installer tried to update, it crashed.
Had I done all of this before the interview, I would not have been happy. Although I wouldn't cancel the interview, I certainly wouldn't hold these developers in high regard. If asked if I liked the game, I would have said something like: "I'm not sure, its got 8 days left to download". These are not good things to say in an interview.
Its not disinterest, its for your own protection.
I'm starting to think that I shouldn't play games before the interview, because I want to have an open mind about the people. I want to know them before I know their product. If I am to be their leader, I lead the team, not the game itself. I know perfectly well that there are a LOT of factors that affect a games development and that developers are not always responsible for the end result.
Having said that, I think there's a huge benefit to not going in with a negative reaction to a game, and trying to sugar coat the truth when they ask me what I thought of it.
Your thoughts?
Mac
