Monday, June 15, 2009

Post: Touching You, Touching Me

That Burn Your Resume opinion piece must have reached somebody in corporate gaming America, 'cause Epic Games can be seen here quoting me (with attribution) in a job description, of all things:

::: Director of Special Projects :::
We're looking for someone to report directly to the president to take on projects at Epic and its international subsidiaries, and drive them to completion. In the immortal words of Foe -- "to execute shit like shit was a mass murderer in Texas."


Even better than being quoted in a job description, today I received word from Andrew Dovichi, one of the game designers of Sega's Alien Syndrome for Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP, a person whom I have never met, a person who had, after having been for months frustrated by games industry interview process, stumbled across the Burn Your Resume piece on Gamasutra ...

So after I read your piece, I decided to craft my own CV in a style that is more indicative of my personality. I also cribbed some inspiration from your posted CV but that was the point of posting it right? I've attached my CV in case its the sort of thing you'd care to look at.

I sent that CV to one, that's right 1, company. Did the phone interview, took the design test, got the job.

I am, of course, completely amused: If everybody copies the style of the CV which I put with the Burn Your Resume piece for illustration, then we are back at square-one for getting noticed when our papers hit the desk. I am also completely heartwarmed: Touching lives is the reason that I pursued a career in the games industry to begin with!

Recently, a friend reminded me of the story of the Businessman and the Poor Fisherman. To make a long parable short, the Businessman must work his entire life to save for retirement so that he might live the very same pleasures that the Poor Fisherman lives everyday: Fish in the morning, play with his children in the afternoon, sip sangria and strum guitar in the evenings. The moral of this story being that we should put less effort into our work and enjoy what youth and money we have, when we have youth and money.

That's hooey, I say: The Poor Fisherman never made an awesome videogame that was enjoyed by millions of people, which means that - though he may everyday have relaxed to lazy pleasures - the Poor Fisherman probably went to Hell when he died.