How Many Employees?

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Thanks for that, I'll have to look into it. Of course, I'm now in a position where an unpaid internship isn't feasible (already out in the workplace making money to pay the bills), so now I even have to be picky in that regard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hear that. You should be able to find something that'll pay at least enough to handle the bills, especially with the ECA's help. Most places should be pretty accommodating.

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I've also already placed one internship under my belt, but due to an NDA I signed (TV pilot) and the subsequent tanking of the project, I have nothing to show for 3 months of work. The studio doesn't even do CG work anymore :|

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Ooo, ouch. Can you at least get references from the studio? Even if they don't do the work anymore, there should be somebody who can vouch for your part in the project, even if it didn't go anywhere.

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We'll always have Paragon.

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Thanks for that, I'll have to look into it. Of course, I'm now in a position where an unpaid internship isn't feasible (already out in the workplace making money to pay the bills), so now I even have to be picky in that regard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hear that. You should be able to find something that'll pay at least enough to handle the bills, especially with the ECA's help. Most places should be pretty accommodating.

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Interesting. If that's the case, I may need to bake you a pie or something...

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I've also already placed one internship under my belt, but due to an NDA I signed (TV pilot) and the subsequent tanking of the project, I have nothing to show for 3 months of work. The studio doesn't even do CG work anymore :|

[/ QUOTE ]

Ooo, ouch. Can you at least get references from the studio? Even if they don't do the work anymore, there should be somebody who can vouch for your part in the project, even if it didn't go anywhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes and no. The people I worked for where very appreciative of my work and told me they'd be references at any time, but I've since lost touch with them. Networking is definitely a skill I'm still working on

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In the last interview I read, Posi said that they have over 50 employees now and were getting ready to take a new company pic. I haven't seen the new pic yet.

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They also still have 12 openings.

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*dashes to the Paragon Studios jobs page, reads, and then sighs in disappointment*

Damn.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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HIRE THIS WOMAN!

You have only to watch her videos to know she's qualified and that she'll be fabulous at creating videos that actually make people want to play this game.

If I wasn't already playing this game and watched History in the Making (5th Anniversary Commemorative Video) I would have dropped what I was doing, downloaded the game, and stayed up all night trying it. Then I would have bought it the next day.

By comparison the Captain Amazing videos made me wonder what game they were talking about. Goofy camp doesn't make gamers want to play, game play does. Goofy camp appeals to very little roleplayers, story does. Even the I'm a Hero - I'm a Villain videow, while cute, didn't sell the game. Videos should sell the game. Samuraiko delivers the goods.

Hire this woman.

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This a hundred times over. Qualified applicants these days involves alot of formal educations and whatnot, which do serve a purpose. I feel that Dark Respite aka Samuraiko has one very important detail that I feel should qualify her, that being...

She delivers the goods.

Tell me that that's not worth something.

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I must concur.

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Names to the faces in the group Paragon shot.

As many as I could make out. I'd do better if:

1. Some of the faces weren't half obscured.

2. The picture wasn't so low rez and grainy.

3. People who attend meet&greets and cons to see the devs actually took pictures of devs and remembered who it is they took a picture of that's not severely underexposed and is not endless shots of themselves having breakfast or photos from the car on the way to the con.

Castle's missing and I don't think Ron Friedman's in the picture, either.

I'm glad they're taking a new one. Hopefully better posed and higher rez and they warn everyone to 'dress nice ( )'.

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I don't qualify for any of these... how can you get into the game industry if they're always looking for game industry experience????

I'd LOVE to be a QA tester for this game.

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I hear yah PK, I tested software for 4 years, was a QA Lead for 3 of them, but is wasn't gaming software.

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I work at a DVD Authoring facility doing mostly odd jobs dealing with programming. There is a QA department here for all the DVD's and BD Discs we ship to replicators where they test our programming and try to break it. It's horribly boring to me, and I would never want to do it. Imagine watching the same thing over and over and over again for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 3 weeks, then moving on to a new title and doing it all over again.

I can't imagine QA for a video game is much different than that. Yeah I love to program them, but I don't wanna watch em.

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I can't imagine QA for a video game is much different than that. Yeah I love to program them, but I don't wanna watch em.

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Hehe, I've heard it's no picnic.

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We'll always have Paragon.

This is what I get for not making C/C++ part of my balanced coding diet. Plenty of dev experience and none of it at all useful if I want to work on my favourite game.

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I don't qualify for any of these... how can you get into the game industry if they're always looking for game industry experience????

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Bluntly: Lie [creatively].

Lots of people are looking to get a job done fast [or avoid it entirely] rather than putting actual thought into it, the larger the corporation, the more there are. One of my favorite interviews was when the interviewing team brought up my lack of 5 years experience, specifically in Autocad 2000, as part of the 'requirements for the position' - at the time it was August of 2001.

Have you played D&D where someone had a music player of some kind around? Congratulations, you've just been part of a team on a low budget MMO. Suggested a rule as being stupid? Consultant or Dev, take your pick [why not both!].

Granted, this isn't always the case, but more people should be scared of the things around them when they realise how common this is.

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To: Steele_Magnolia, Steeple, and Human_Being, and everyone else who's openly wondered why the Powers That Be have not hired me.

It's because Paragon Studios already HAS a videographer (whom I've met, and who's a hell of a nice guy), and a full creative team working under him. David has the necessary qualifications. He and his team did a great job with their I-14 video (not the Captain Dynamic thing, that was Rooster Teeth). I'm not sure if his team also did the Going Rogue video, but if they did, more power to them, coz that kicked major a**.

Therefore, they do not need me.

And in today's economy, they are certainly not going to reallocate funds from necessary positions intended to help boost the game's performance and playability just to have someone like me making videos for them, no matter how cool the playerbase thinks my work might be.

I wish to God it were otherwise, but it's not.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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And in today's economy, they are certainly not going to reallocate funds from necessary positions intended to help boost the game's performance and playability just to have someone like me making videos for them, no matter how cool the playerbase thinks my work might be.

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Especially when you'll do it for them for FREE.

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And in today's economy, they are certainly not going to reallocate funds from necessary positions intended to help boost the game's performance and playability just to have someone like me making videos for them, no matter how cool the playerbase thinks my work might be.

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Especially when you'll do it for them for FREE.

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Actually, not anymore, as I announced prior to the release of I-14 that I was retiring from making promotional videos for CoH. The 5th anniversary commemorative video was the last one. I'll still be making music videos and such, but no more teasers and trailers for issues, expansions, etc.

Now it's all in the hands of Paragon Studios and/or whoever they commission to make stuff.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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They could always commission you as a freelancer on a per job basis without hiring you...

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I wish to God it were otherwise, but it's not.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Then we'll still have to put you on a pedestal as the example for those of us trying to catch with you in the music vid department.

I know, its flattery. But sometimes, thats what the situation calls for. Particularly when it's true.

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Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.

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I don't qualify for any of these... how can you get into the game industry if they're always looking for game industry experience????

I'd LOVE to be a QA tester for this game.

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The "experience required" flag is put onto job postings to limit the number of applicants who flat out would not qualify. It is not, however, a "hard" requirement -- if someone is sufficiently gifted and does very well on the various tests/interviews they can still be hired. It's happened before, it will happen again....but it is rare.

Work on Mods to popular games in your free time. This isn't "real" game development experience, in that it isn't usually a paid position, but it can teach you a lot about the why's and wherefore's of game development. This is more true if you work as part of a team, rather than solo mods.

Write Pen and Paper game designs. Whether adventures, game systems or settings, designing these can and does help you hone your skills and can be used as a sort of "portfolio" of design work in some cases.

Lastly, and best if you can get it, work as an intern at a game company. There is no better way to get past the "no experience" boundary than this.

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I always love that line 'work as an intern' as the best way into the company. Interns 99.9% of the time are not paid and unless you either A.) still live at home and have no financial obligations and/or B.) happen to live with people who don't mind paying for your room and board as well as general living expenses I don't see how you can do that. I suppose you could work a part time job AFTER your internship is over for the day to make ends meet but you're not gonna have any social life and will probably get about 4 seconds of sleep a day.

Like almost every job in life it's often not what you know it's WHO you know. I have a friend who wants to be a Network Manager and has so many degrees and certifications under his belt he needs a briefcase just to bring them all to an interview. But for all his smarts and his degrees every employer often wants hands on experience unless of course you happen to have friends or family working there in which they mysteriously get the job they apply for. He's been trying for years to get hired by companies and he still can't get any nibbles regardless of the fact he's spent years in school and has passed all his computer certifications with flying colours. He's even CompTIA A+/Network+ and Microsoft MCP certified.

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[IMG]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2886/coxboardsig.jpg[/IMG][B][SIZE="3"]
The shining world of the seven systems. On the continent of Wild Endeavour. In the mountains of Solace and Solitude there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mightiest race in the Universe. Sworn never to interfere. Only watch...[/SIZE][/B]

what they seriously need to post is a job for a PVP Designer, because clearly who they have dabbling on it doesnt know what there doing so they should make a specific job of it for someone who is qualified, ie. is a pvper.

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I don't qualify for any of these... how can you get into the game industry if they're always looking for game industry experience????

I'd LOVE to be a QA tester for this game.

[/ QUOTE ]

The "experience required" flag is put onto job postings to limit the number of applicants who flat out would not qualify. It is not, however, a "hard" requirement -- if someone is sufficiently gifted and does very well on the various tests/interviews they can still be hired. It's happened before, it will happen again....but it is rare.

Work on Mods to popular games in your free time. This isn't "real" game development experience, in that it isn't usually a paid position, but it can teach you a lot about the why's and wherefore's of game development. This is more true if you work as part of a team, rather than solo mods.

Write Pen and Paper game designs. Whether adventures, game systems or settings, designing these can and does help you hone your skills and can be used as a sort of "portfolio" of design work in some cases.

Lastly, and best if you can get it, work as an intern at a game company. There is no better way to get past the "no experience" boundary than this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've done most of that, (and by most, I mean I've designed pen/paper systems and, while I don't mod popular games, I do manage a very small online game with a staff/development team of about 15 people who do 2D graphics, leveling and programming), I applied to be a Powers Designer to work with you ( nudge nudge) and still got a polite letter of declination a few weeks later, though it did stress how lucky they were to get such qualified applicants .

On a side note, I'd love to have a job working as an unpaid intern for Paragon Studios or any other game developer really, but I live in rural Michigan so... that's a bit of an obstacle. I've got a friend who graduated from a game design school, 4 years, can't find a job in the industry and he's working at a movie theatre right now, so I imagine the market is flooded. Or maybe it's just because he doesn't want to move out of Canada where he now lives.

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It's even more frustrating when you have a dream position (like working on the CoX team would be for me), but you know you'll likely have to take baby steps to get there (knowing full well the franchise might not last forever). Oh well, a fellow can dream.

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Honestly, working at a game company is crap. I tried it once and completely hated it. If you're a designer you have to sacrifice your creativity for functionality and if you're a programmer or artist you generally work under unrealistic deadlines and without solid development plans because the designers are spewing last minute changes at you :P

Now I'm the head of product development for a defense contractor - much more seriouspants job but I love it a lot more because I actually get to spend time with my wife.

Unfortunately working at a game company, at least for me, didn't leave me a lot of time for work/life balance.

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Hey hey hey buddy! Stay on task here! What does that gentleman do?!

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@.MIDAS

BIG BROTHER MIDAS, Ice/Ice Dominator, 1314 Badges
* Any toon you see with Midas in the name is probably me *

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It's even more frustrating when you have a dream position (like working on the CoX team would be for me), but you know you'll likely have to take baby steps to get there (knowing full well the franchise might not last forever). Oh well, a fellow can dream.

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Honestly, working at a game company is crap. I tried it once and completely hated it. If you're a designer you have to sacrifice your creativity for functionality and if you're a programmer or artist you generally work under unrealistic deadlines and without solid development plans because the designers are spewing last minute changes at you :P

Now I'm the head of product development for a defense contractor - much more seriouspants job but I love it a lot more because I actually get to spend time with my wife.

Unfortunately working at a game company, at least for me, didn't leave me a lot of time for work/life balance.

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I wouldn't say it is restricted to game companies. And QA, while being a great way to get into the field, is not a fun job. I take that back, it CAN be fun, but it also involves a ton of overtime, and can be very stressful. I work for a very large software firm. I spent 3 years in tech support, 4 as a QA Lead, and the past 6 years as a senior lab tech (basically a combination of tech support for tech support, and QA, with numerous special projects thrown in). The QA part of my job is the worst. Granted, where I work, our release schedule is not really normal, as we have a new full release once a week. Regardless, any software company, is going to have numerous projects going at the same time, and a lot of times, you have all of those projects being "top priority". I used to work about 80 hours a week, and was on-call almost all the time. I can't tell you how many times I had to either be on a conference call, or actually come in to the office at 3AM.

On the plus side, a QA tester gets a ton of experience. Most QA testers end up interacting with the programmers quite a bit, so even if you aren't a programmer, you learn how things work. The other drawback to being QA, at least as an entry position, is that QA testers don't generally get paid a whole lot.

I do actually love doing QA work. Finding problems, and FIGURING out why those problems happen, and what fixes there are, is very rewarding to me. The problem a lot of times is, for every QA tester you have that is good at thinking outside the box, you have 5 or 10 who are only good for handing a test script to, and have them run through it and write up anything that doesn't give the expected results.

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-= TANSTAAFL =-

Adar - Lvl 50 Emp/Elec/Psy Defender on Guardian (411 badges)
Itsy Bitsy Slicer - Lvl 50 Kat/Reg Scrapper on Guardian
Flying-Tiger - Lvl 32 Sonic/Energy Blaster on Guardian

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Hey hey hey buddy! Stay on task here! What does that gentleman do?!

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He's an Environmental Artist, which I believe puts him working with Melissa "War Witch" Bianco.

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So, how do I get a paid testing job from home?

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My Lego Models http://www.flickr.com/photos/30369639@N07/ lemur lad: God you can't be that stupid... I'm on at the same time as you for once, and not 20 minutes into it you give me something worth petitioning?
Lady-Dee: Hey my fat keeps me warm in the winter and shady in the summer.

You don't. Every time that comes up, they make it very clear that all the jobs they list require you to work from their offices.

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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project

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Hey hey hey buddy! Stay on task here! What does that gentleman do?!

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He's an Environmental Artist, which I believe puts him working with Melissa "War Witch" Bianco.

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War Witch is more into environmental design than art. She places spawns and writes dialogue. Environmental art creates the 3D world with 3D modeling, meshing, and texturing.

If the gentleman in question is one of the environmental artists then he is either Don Pham or Ryan Roth.

Updated labeled group shot of Paragon Studios.

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Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

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I do actually love doing QA work. Finding problems, and FIGURING out why those problems happen, and what fixes there are, is very rewarding to me.

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This is exactly what I do with my current job, except with cash registers, ATMs and check sorting machines instead of code.

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Brand New Job Posting: Windows PC Tech I
Location: Mountain View

Description: NCsoft, the world’s largest independent developer and publisher of online computer games, is looking for a self-starter to provide desktop support to internal users at Paragon Studios in Mountain View, CA.



Job Qualifications:

· Exceptional customer service skills with a passion for learning.

· Ability to communicate effectively with end users of varying technical knowledge on a regular basis.

· Demonstrable experience with building, repairing and troubleshooting PC hardware – Desktops and Laptops.

· Demonstrable experience troubleshooting and maintaining Microsoft Windows XP & Vista

· Demonstrable experience with Microsoft Office products.

· Understanding of basic PC network troubleshooting.

· Demonstrable experience setting up and troubleshooting printers.

· Experience with Macintosh systems a plus

· Experience with consumer-level & Gaming-level PCs a plus.

· Experience with, knowledge of, and troubleshooting of Gaming Video Cards..

· Ability to work and accomplish tasks with little supervision.

· Experience in an Enterprise environment a plus.



Job Duties include, but not limited to:

· Give NCsoft employees excellent on site customer service.

· Setup end user Desktops and Laptops, including Windows configuration and application installation.

· Troubleshoot end user PC issues: hardware and software.

· Setup and troubleshoot printers.

· Track and document tasks via issue ticket system.

· Possible overtime required.

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I wonder if this means Jimmy the IT guy is getting a minion?

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