[QUOTE=Void Skull;35680778]My dad and stepmom and that whole side of my family are hellbent on trying to get me to ask Valve for an internship. They have these big visions of my future, making tons of money from working at Valve, all because of the small stuff I made that managed to be added into Team Fortress 2.
I'm not even out of high school yet, and I doubt being self-taught with photoshop since I was four years old will get me anywhere.
Even if I do get the slightest chance at an internship, I doubt fetching coffee and delivering papers will be enough to move me into sustainable living in Bellevue...[/QUOTE]
Do it anyway. You never know what might happen.
[QUOTE=Void Skull;35680778]My dad and stepmom and that whole side of my family are hellbent on trying to get me to ask Valve for an internship. They have these big visions of my future, making tons of money from working at Valve, all because of the small stuff I made that managed to be added into Team Fortress 2.
I'm not even out of high school yet, and I doubt being self-taught with photoshop since I was four years old will get me anywhere.
Even if I do get the slightest chance at an internship, I doubt fetching coffee and delivering papers will be enough to move me into sustainable living in Bellevue...[/QUOTE]
You just need a portfolio impressive enough
Valve is the sole reason for me wanting to get good grades. It's my goal to work there.
[QUOTE=Mr. Smartass;35682194]Valve is the sole reason for me wanting to get good grades. It's my goal to work there.[/QUOTE]My goal is to either work with Valve or DARPA.
[QUOTE=Mr. Smartass;35682194]Valve is the sole reason for me wanting to get good grades. It's my goal to work there.[/QUOTE]
That's nice, but you will need hell of a lot more than goods grades to get into valve.
[QUOTE=Tosas;35683975]That's nice, but you will need hell of a lot more than goods grades to get into valve.[/QUOTE]
Good grades --> College --> Computer Engineering/Software Engineering for Valve out of Graduate
Probably what he means.
If you can show some good work I don't think they care about your grades.
[QUOTE=catbarf;35662020]I'm a student in game design, and even for me and my peers who have developed the skills for programming and design it's a daunting and discouraging goal. EVERYONE wants to work for Valve. To get a job there you need to have serious skills and a ton of industry experience, and even then it's almost a matter of luck as they're not always hiring.
Working for Valve is the [i]goddamn holy grail[/i] of the games industry.[/QUOTE]
if I'm like really good at math am I wasting my time going for 3d animation? (it's more fun to me, programming makes me want to shoot myself)
[QUOTE=Ithon;35681546]photoshop at 4 years old could get you somewhere depending on what door you knock on, which maynot be Valves.
Just knock on all the doors and see where it can get you.
As long as you keep being creative and teaching yourself new things you'll be better able to ride the wave of luck.[/QUOTE]
I guess it's worth a shot. I mean, who knows, I could get in just as easily as Mr. Friendly's artist did, and he was pretty much just a kid at that point.
If I could choose, I'd work at Valve or Bethesda
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;35685439]If I could choose, I'd work at Valve or [b]Bethesda[/b][/QUOTE]
Have fun being creatively stomped by Bethesda's horrible tools. Seriously, the creation kit is nice but the navigation and object manipulation is horrendous.
I really hope I can work for valve in the future. I'm going to start a small game company right after I finish gymnasium (Which is in slightly more than two years) which'll get me the industry experience I need. Hopefully after a few years I'll have an impressive enough portfolio to get a job there.
...I mean, I've already made masterpieces such as [B]DINO-CAB, THE DINOSAUR TAXI GAME[/B]!
[thumb]http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/compo2/123793/3430-shot0.png[/thumb]
[url]http://facepunch.com/threads/1179188[/url]
Of course you guys realize that companies like this will only hire you if you are proven to be good. Valve doesn't just hire employees, they don't just hire professionals, they hire independent-minded strong-visioned, fully matured and seasoned masters of the craft.
If they hired anyone that wouldn't be able to handle the "freedom" and not be productive, the company as a whole would suffer. So you pretty much need to basically have the ability to get a job anywhere you wanted in your trade before you'd even be considered at Valve, or at least prove to them that you have that potential. Most professionals would either underqualify to work at Valve, or wouldn't be able to handle the work enviornment and be effective. Valve's hiring process, especially since it is such a small company for what they do, is most likely extremely selective so they only get the people who can do both - be good in this work environment, and be good at their craft. The people who work there are the people who have done the standard professional life and are bored of it, basically.
If every company was like Valve, we'd have a very small industry and very few people to staff the positions, because there'd be no entry-to-professional level anything.
[editline]23rd April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=GameDev;35674646]mojang also has like 7 employees[/QUOTE]
Valve has about 280-300, which is rather small considering they make several games at once and are in control of the largest digital distribution market on earth.
Pretty much the entire idea of my future is learning game art or some other game related skill, make a couple indie games to get money to move to the US with my bf, start a little indie company, and try to get noticed by Valve either by the indie games (like those one in a million Narbacular Drop guys) or getting hired by some other developer, building a helluva portfolio, and trying to get a job at Valve after that.
Working there is like, the ultimate job.
[QUOTE=Legend286;35686066]Have fun being creatively stomped by Bethesda's horrible tools. Seriously, the creation kit is nice but the navigation and object manipulation is horrendous.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but imagine being able to work on a quest's script and then have it implemented into a game. Creation kit's a lot better when you have a full studio to implement it.
[QUOTE=Carne;35684185]If you can show some good work I don't think they care about your grades.[/QUOTE]
At least somebody realizes grades aren't really an accurate measurement of your intelligence or ability.
Man I wish I had been more interested in games other than just playing them.
[editline]24th April 2012[/editline]
(To be fair I was, I was just really bad at everything related to making one).
[QUOTE=ijyt;35692502]Man I wish I had been more interested in games other than just playing them.
[editline]24th April 2012[/editline]
(To be fair I was, I was just really bad at everything related to making one).[/QUOTE]
It just takes practice, patience and a lot of googling if you're using an SDK since they're all pretty shite
I gave myself the task of making a TF2 hat from scratch a while ago. I finished it in around two weeks, and felt great about myself, after all the hoops I jumped through to get from a rough sketch to a bunch of ready-to-use files.
I've pretty much been using hammer for almost 2 years now, i've made a handful of maps during that time. I'm suprised by how much better I am now compared to when I started, but I still have abit to go before I can really consider myself good.
[QUOTE=Tosas;35683975]That's nice, but you will need hell of a lot more than goods grades to get into valve.[/QUOTE]
Good grades = four year college
Four year college = good CS course
Good CS course = more programming knowlege
Better programming knowledge = a better chance at getting a spot at valve.
[QUOTE=Mr. Smartass;35702597]Good grades = four year college
Four year college = good CS course
Good CS course = more programming knowlege
Better programming knowledge = a better chance at getting a spot at valve.[/QUOTE]
not true at all.
when i took c++ classes at my local community college my instructor worked with nasa on the gemini program (he's old) as a programmer for tracking satellites.
College is mostly useful for being well rounded and it shows you can complete long-term goals
The majority of subjects you "major" in college can be "learned" to a much more developed level by simply doing it on your own outside of class throughout your years growing up, being in school and such. It's why a lot of places that hire based on college education, tend to not care what exact degree you have, just that you have one, and it is loosely relevant. STEM is kind of an outlier though, since by the nature of STEM it's extremely education based (even as a professional).
I could probably end up where I want to end up if I just drop out and only have my assoicates to my name, then just focus the next couple of years or so on things I want to do directly relevant to my career goals. I don't though, because it's more risky, I get paid to go to school anyways, and it would most certainly take me longer to get through HR enough to land an interview without a degree. Your bosses and peers tend to only care about how much experience you have and if you'll be a good employee. HR departments only care if you have a bachellors degree and a resume. You need to get by both to get a job, even if the people who actually DO get you the job isn't HR. So might as well get a degree so I can make things easier on myself. I'll go ahead and have a good time, and learn a thing or two as well.
It's not like college is a total waste for me or anything - being well rounded and experienced in a broad array of subjects is more useful than you might imagine. Hell, Valve even states this in their handbook - they look for people who have a lot of breadth in their skills and experiences, but are world-class experts in one or two areas (or "majors"). You can expect most places of employment to adopt similar hiring mantras. They like people who are experts at few, but experienced in many. It's better than hiring an expert, that has little bredth outside of his/her focus. Because traditionally those types of employees are less flexible, and less able to handle changes. Being able to adapt is a key part of being someone people love to hire, even if you still have the same focus throughout your whole career. It can only benefit you in the long run, and allow you to become even more skilled, and skilled quicker, at what you love doing the most.
[QUOTE=Carne;35674337]Makes me sad knowing I'll most likely end up with a horrible job for the rest of my life :([/QUOTE]
god did you have to say that, ugh why
[QUOTE=KorJax;35703406]College is mostly useful for being well rounded and it shows you can complete long-term goals
The majority of subjects you "major" in college can be "learned" to a much more developed level by simply doing it on your own outside of class throughout your years growing up, being in school and such. It's why a lot of places that hire based on college education, tend to not care what exact degree you have, just that you have one, and it is loosely relevant. STEM is kind of an outlier though, since by the nature of STEM it's extremely education based (even as a professional).
I could probably end up where I want to end up if I just drop out and only have my assoicates to my name, then just focus the next couple of years or so on things I want to do directly relevant to my career goals. I don't though, because it's more risky, I get paid to go to school anyways, and it would most certainly take me longer to get through HR enough to land an interview without a degree. Your bosses and peers tend to only care about how much experience you have and if you'll be a good employee. HR departments only care if you have a bachellors degree and a resume. You need to get by both to get a job, even if the people who actually DO get you the job isn't HR. So might as well get a degree so I can make things easier on myself. I'll go ahead and have a good time, and learn a thing or two as well.
It's not like college is a total waste for me or anything - being well rounded and experienced in a broad array of subjects is more useful than you might imagine. Hell, Valve even states this in their handbook - they look for people who have a lot of breadth in their skills and experiences, but are world-class experts in one or two areas (or "majors"). You can expect most places of employment to adopt similar hiring mantras. They like people who are experts at few, but experienced in many. It's better than hiring an expert, that has little bredth outside of his/her focus. Because traditionally those types of employees are less flexible, and less able to handle changes. Being able to adapt is a key part of being someone people love to hire, even if you still have the same focus throughout your whole career. It can only benefit you in the long run, and allow you to become even more skilled, and skilled quicker, at what you love doing the most.[/QUOTE]
Indeed, thats pretty much why I attend college on a Monday to Wednesday basis. Studying whats called a BTEC National Diploma in IT at Level 3, it basically covers majority of fields within the IT industry including Game Design which was pretty much the reason why I picked up the course.
And during the rest of the week I am either working on a map within hammer or looking up on things to hopefully improve myself.
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