Friday, August 26, 2005

Who am I?

Your identity and your success go hand in hand. Many people sacrifice their identities by not doing what they really want to do. And that's why they're not successful.
-Lila Swell
The only place I’ve published the yahoo email address is on this site. I created the yahoo email address specifically for this site. I bring this up because it appears that this blog has gotten linked somewhere industry related because I got 4 recruitment type emails today. That’s right, 4 in one day. Wow, that probably means my readership more than tripled in one day!

Now its not the recruitment letters that bother me. The only thing that is worse than getting recruitment letters is not getting recruitment letters. What really gets me is the ones that mention the specific position they are looking for are for artist. The resume is right over there on the right just under my picture. It says “designer” at the top. Look at the title of this blog, “Working as Designed.” Get it? Designed? Work – Designed.

Granted I used to be an artist, had fancy business cards that said “senior artist” and a whole collection of colored pencils. Actually I still have the colored pencils but that is beside the point. I didn’t keep up technology wise, stick 3DS Max or Maya in front of me and I’ll just start laying out a level using low poly models. You aren’t going to get game ready 3D modeling out of me and I know that’s what you want from an artist.

I can whip out a cool little picture in Photoshop to show you exactly what the GUI I spec’ed should look like. I might go poking around in the spell icons and come up with a set that shows exactly how the art style should reflect to the different magic schools I designed. I might even hack around with a few textures to use in the level I’ve layed out. But let us be clear about this, I am a game designer. Not an artist.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stop beating around the bush already. What is it you're trying to say? You like drawing ponies, is that it?

I don't think reading is a requirement for recruiters. The good ones of course can, but that doesn't mean it's required.

hehe

Joseph B. Hewitt IV said...

3 were recruiters and one was an actual real live HR representative from another company.

The recruiters, hell I'll just say it: "Headhunter," emails all had catchy titles like “Game Industry Job!”, “Make Video Games for a Living!” and “Interactive Entertainment Employment Opportunity!” The text of the emails was intellectually insulting. They were obvious form letter fishing expeditions just hoping to get somebody to leave where they are working now for no other reason except so that the headhunter can get a commission getting that person a job somewhere else.

The whole way the recruiters operate is just wrong. I think the industry would be much better off if they operated more like agents instead of temp agencies. I dealt with several after leaving Westwood and it was a complete waste of my time. I didn’t get work again until I stopped dealing with recruiters and started making my own contacts.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go enter my pony picture in the state pony picture finals.

Joseph B. Hewitt IV said...

Oh and the email from the HR person actually read like it was written by a real live person. I even wrote them back thanking them for their interest but declining. It has been a bit too long since I’ve had my name on a published title and I am going to get this game shipped if it kill me.

Unknown said...

Hmmmm follow an old, beaten MC path and look who you run into; if it isn't Arrion. Heya Joe how's it going? Terbear says 'hi' and invites you to see her blog also: Stress.

Don't be a stranger. Wow, Australia, how cool.