JOBS: game development
Walter & Company
industry--large (>150 staff) and small (<15 staff) game
development firms throughout USA. Companies pay our fee.
Below are some of our openings. For more info, please email
or call. We also place senior execs, sales/mktg, etc. If you
don't see what you want, ask..we may have it :-)
note: remove 'no spam' in email to reply.
PRODUCER, MULTIPLAYER GAMES, BOSTON
PRODUCER, PSX GAMES, SAN DIEGO
NETWORK PROGRAMMER, MULTIPLAYER GAMES,
SO CALIF
3D GRAPHICS ENGINEER, MULTIPLAYER GAMES,
BOSTON
SOFTWARE ENGINEER, TECHNOLOGY, SAN DIEGO
PROGRAMMERS, PSX GAMES, SAN DIEGO
ENTRY PROGRAMMER, N64 GAMES, SAN DIEGO
ART DIRECTOR/3D ARTIST, MULTIPLAYER GAMES,
BOSTON
ART DIRECTOR/3D ARTIST, CONSOLE GAMES, WEST
COAST
3D ARTIST/MODELERS, ALIAS/3DSMAX, CONSOLE
GAMES, SAN DIEGO
Barbara Walter, CPC, Walter & Company
+game industry recruiter+
walt...@adnc.com voice: 760-745-4100
POB 500707, San Diego CA 92150-0707
www.sandiego-online.com/forums/careers/
member, IGDN, AIAS
-REMOVE NO.SPAM IN EMAIL ADDRESS TO REPLY-
fromhellsheart
I hate game companies that use these stupid recruiters. They just
spam the net with their poorly formatted messages, and they only
attract people who don't give a shit about what company they work for!
Walter & Company
Barbara Walter (my real name)
'
Bjoern Guenzel
wrote:
>With an email address like that, I am not surprised at your attitude.
> Barbara Walter (my real name)
>'
Seems a thick skin is really required these days for reading this ng
:-(
I admit capitals look suspicious at first sight (up to evoking default
ignore modus), but from a closer look I would say your job advertising
is formated/designed as good as one could possibly wish (ie as short
as possible) (IMHO).
Bjoern Guenzel
--
At times I felt I had to make up for a
sad lack of experiences by wild imagination.
(Urs Widmer, insufficiently translated by me)
Alexander Stein
newsgroup, I see messages from people looking for jobs in the games industry
(see the thread of the merits of attending CGDC when looking for a job).
Now, here comes someone who has a line on some jobs, and immediately (and
predictably) she is attacked for the format of her message?
I can't imagine taking the time to subscribe to a newsgroup just to flame
anyone who dares to post message regarding jobs. I could care less if EVERY
message was about jobs in the industry. It certainly wouldn't be worse than
a thread about John Romero's response to the Dallas Observer's article about
ION Storm, which somehow generated lots of opinions about Romero from a
bunch of people who've never even met him.
And although I know this next statement will most likely start off another
completely unnecessary flame war, I have no problem whatsoever with
recruiters or game companies that use them. If someone helps me get a job,
or better yet helps me staff an art staff with talented people who have some
good credits, that's fine with me. Howver, I also can honestly say that I do
not give more weight to resumes that come from a recruiter rather than from
an individual.
Like it or not, we are moving towards a paradigm much like the film world,
where developers (like actors, directors, crew members in film) work from
project to project, and a good Rolodex becomes more important than a stable
of programmers, designers, and artists staying at one company for years and
years. Will that make games better? Who knows. Certainly there is something
to be said for a core group of people refining their ideas, but there is
just as much argument for the influx of ideas and techniques that a new
person will bring to a development team. You could certainly point to the
film analogy I brought up earlier and say that most movies suck these days,
but so do most games, most books, most paintings, pretty much the majority
of any given creative field. The trick is to try and increase the percentage
of quality products out there.
Bjoern Guenzel wrote in message <36bc9909...@news.lrz-muenchen.de>...
Nathan Mates
Alexander Stein <tout...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>What the hell is wrong with this newsgroup? Everytime I check this
>newsgroup, I see messages from people looking for jobs in the games industry
>(see the thread of the merits of attending CGDC when looking for a job).
>Now, here comes someone who has a line on some jobs, and immediately (and
>predictably) she is attacked for the format of her message?
[Just to reverse the annoyance of html-postings onto html readers:
<html><body><h1><center><blink>
Look, *any*body posting in all HTML is going to get flamed on this
newsgroup, or just about any other newsgroup. HTML does not belong in
the middle of usenet-- it's for the WWW. MIME crud does not belong in
the middle of usenet either. Binaries (i.e. "attached" pictures,
sounds, etc) do NOT belong in usenet if 'binaries' does not appear in
the group's name.
This is just basic ettiquette, *NOT* related to the poster or the
subject matter. It's not about a jobs posting, a troll, or anything
else. It's strictly related to the presence of an annoyance in a
posting that makes it damn annoying to try and read.
If you want to try and defend new people posting with such gunk in
their messages, spend the time instead *educating* them to turn such
things off. Or, find the bleeping jerks who set html-postings as the
DEFAULT in various GUI programs, and nuke them from orbit. It's the
only way to be sure they won't foist such crud on the world again.
Nathan Mates
</blink></center></h1></body></html>
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Network Programmer, Battlezone 2: see http://www.pandemicstudios.com
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios or Activision, ONLY myself
# "What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein
fromhellsheart
>With an email address like that, I am not surprised at your attitude.
> Barbara Walter (my real name)
Let me explain my feelings...
First the spam... I've seen the same recruiter post to the same
newsgroup the SAMe job offer every single day for TWO weeks.
Now, I've advertised my business online in newsgroups. I don't have a
problem with that. I DO have a problem with excessive postings
though! A posting every day for the same thing is just wasteful!
Someone's not going to miss the message... messages are stored, and
when you log on you get all the new messages. I don't need twelve
copies of the message over my modem to see it!
As for the not giving a shit about he company they work for remark...
If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
copmany you're applying at, right? They don't tell you, because they
want their commission. Now obviously you'll know what the company is
whe they call you. But you're still just blindly applying at
companies. If I were to hire people for my company, I would want
people who thought "Hey, it would be cool to work for [company x]!
They make games I love!"
Well if you're applying to a recruiter, you're not applying at the
companies because you love their games or their company. You're
looking for a job, and any company will do.
I wouldn't want employees who didn't choose my company over all others
because they respect it!
W. Ivey
>
>If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
>copmany you're applying at, right? They don't tell you, because they
>want their commission.
Actually, some recruiters do tell you what company they are soliciting
for (assuming the company doesn't mind). These are the recruiters whose
names I pass on to my friends first, by the way.
To give a recent example, I was contacted by a headhunter on behalf of
a company he wouldn't name. I went and talked to him and during the
interview he let slip the view he could see from their office window.
Within a few minutes of returning home I knew what company it was, who
had founded it, and lots of other details about it (like the fact that
they were likely to lowball salaries and, hence, I was out of their
reach). The next day I was contacted by another recruiter and she had
no problem telling me what company she was working with. (It was the
same company, so it's good that she did.) The first one had asked me to
put him in touch with anyone I knew who might be interested, but it was
the second recruiter for whom I did this, unasked. (The company wouldn't
meet his price either, but it's the thought that counts, right?) -Wm
Russ Williams
>Alexander Stein <tout...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>>What the hell is wrong with this newsgroup? Everytime I check
>>this newsgroup, I see messages from people looking for jobs
>>in the games industry (see the thread of the merits of attending
>>CGDC when looking for a job). Now, here comes someone who
>>has a line on some jobs, and immediately (and predictably) she
>>is attacked for the format of her message?
>
> [Just to reverse the annoyance of html-postings onto html readers:
><html><body><h1><center><blink>
And that's supposed to bother anyone? I haven't seen a
newsreader screw up on that since the earliest versions of
Netscape... That's the whole point of MIME.
> Look, *any*body posting in all HTML is going to get flamed on
>this newsgroup, or just about any other newsgroup. HTML does
>not belong in the middle of usenet-- it's for the WWW.
OK.
>MIME crud does not belong in the middle of usenet either.
Yes, it does. MIME is an extension to the basic message format
that's needed to correct several design flaws. It's not like it's just
suddenly been sprung on everyone, either - the RFCs have been
there for years:
RFC 1341-2, June 1992
RFC 1512-2, September 1993
RFC 2045-9, November 1996
---
Russ
Jeff Somers
>fromhellsheart wrote in message <36bde811...@news.earthlink.net>...
>>
>>If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
>>copmany you're applying at, right? They don't tell you, because they
>>want their commission.
>
>Actually, some recruiters do tell you what company they are soliciting
>for (assuming the company doesn't mind). These are the recruiters whose
>names I pass on to my friends first, by the way.
But that's pretty rare. It's usually not in the recruiter's best
interests to name the company they're representing. If they tell you,
you could contact the company directly and give them the option of
hiring you without having to pay the recruiter a 30% (or whatever)
premium on top of the salary.
Some companies have in-house recruiters, who work as employees of the
company. In that case, they probably have no problem with telling you
who they represent.
Please note that I am not knocking recruiters. The best ones are very
good people to know, whether you're a employee or an employer.
Unfortunately there are many crappy ones out there as well.
W. Ivey
>On Sun, 07 Feb 1999 03:55:29 GMT, "W. Ivey" <wi...@flash.net> wrote:
>
>But that's pretty rare. It's usually not in the recruiter's best
>interests to name the company they're representing. If they tell you,
>you could contact the company directly and give them the option of
>hiring you without having to pay the recruiter a 30% (or whatever)
>premium on top of the salary.
True, but in practice, I've been contacted by several recruiters who
have told me what company they'd like to submit my resume to. Maybe
they're hip to the fact that it's pretty easy to find out who's
hiring in the game industry, and that there's a strong possibility
of redundant submissions if they don't mention names. (Not only do
many of the good ones give you names, but URLs so you can check out
the company's web site - knowing full well you could, if you chose,
just e-mail your resume to the address most websites give for such
things.)
My theory is that a good recruiter knows you can bypass them, but
hopes you will feel the extra service they're providing will keep
you from doing so.
-Wm
Alexander Stein
was a plain old text message. The all-capitalization was a bit much, but
otherwise I didn't really have a problem with the format of her message.
What was the "reverse the annoyance of html-postings onto html-readers"
supposed to do? Something annoying? Something not annoying? I don't think I
am getting ANY of the HTML on this end... sorry...
-Alexander Stein
Lead Artist
Interstate '82
Nathan Mates wrote in message ...
>In article <Qr3v2.5721$eh6....@cynws01.we.mediaone.net>,
>Alexander Stein <tout...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>>What the hell is wrong with this newsgroup? Everytime I check this
>>newsgroup, I see messages from people looking for jobs in the games
industry
>>(see the thread of the merits of attending CGDC when looking for a job).
>>Now, here comes someone who has a line on some jobs, and immediately (and
>>predictably) she is attacked for the format of her message?
>
> [Just to reverse the annoyance of html-postings onto html readers:
><html><body><h1><center><blink>
>
> Look, *any*body posting in all HTML is going to get flamed on this
>newsgroup, or just about any other newsgroup. HTML does not belong in
David H. Loeser
> >>
> >>If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
> >>copmany you're applying at, right? They don't tell you, because they
> >>want their commission.
> >
> >Actually, some recruiters do tell you what company they are soliciting
> >for (assuming the company doesn't mind). These are the recruiters whose
> >names I pass on to my friends first, by the way.
>
> interests to name the company they're representing. If they tell you,
> you could contact the company directly and give them the option of
> hiring you without having to pay the recruiter a 30% (or whatever)
> premium on top of the salary.
>
> company. In that case, they probably have no problem with telling you
> who they represent.
>
> Please note that I am not knocking recruiters. The best ones are very
> good people to know, whether you're a employee or an employer.
> Unfortunately there are many crappy ones out there as well.
I know first hand how crappy some of these recruiters are - I worked for
one. While I was trying to land my first programming gig, I went to a
recruiter for work and they set me up working in their offices(system
admin).
That was one experience I will never forget. They lied, cheated,
everything but
tell the truth, to me, and anyone that walked through the doors.
I got out of there very quickly and never looked back -
I did meet a very nice recruiter who told me the companies that she
represented. I have to say - it's not the job, it's the person. Some
people
are nice and some... well... you know.
________________________________________________________________________
David H. Loeser Jr. moc.uolgi@scb
C/C++,VB,Rebol Programmer, Artist http://www.bcs-i.com
Kenney Mencher
Kenney here. I'm the web guy poster for a game industry recriting
company "Virtual Search".
When we make mistakes (I mean recruiters and newbies) posting to usenet
groups sometimes they are real mistakes. More often than not, and this
has happened to me, if someone tells me politely the error of my ways, I
won't repeat the same mistake: now I post a single posting with three or
four jobs not in HTML. Flaming a person hurts their feelings and
doesn't educate them and may even impede the message you are trying to
get across because of the quick delete.
I understand a lot of the hostility about recruiters, but, think about
the fact that some of them, even if they can't tell you what company
they are recruiting for, might be able to hook you up with an
opportunity that you would not have access to in any other arena.
Another idea is this: the company I work for is actually a family
business. Sort of a "mom and pop" operation. My brother who runs the
company consistently is thinking about how he can actually help the
client, the candidate and himself. He calls this a "win win situation".
Of course there are bad people out there who are out to just make a
buck; however, being a recruiter does not necessarily mean that you have
no integrity and that you aren't thinking beyond the next commission.
Remember, this industry is a neighborhood and you are only as good as
your reputation. I would imagine a lot of the recruiters who some of
you are so suspicious of might actually feel like they are trying to
build a reputation and help candidates who they actually believe in.
Kenney Mencher
ken...@vsearch.com
--
Virtual Search: Computer and Game Industry Career Agents
Voice: 800-779-3334 Fax : 800-779-3369
many more listings at: http://www.vsearch.com/
mailto:vsre...@vsearch.com
Jerome Jahnke
Somers) wrote:
> On Sun, 07 Feb 1999 03:55:29 GMT, "W. Ivey" <wi...@flash.net> wrote:
>
> >fromhellsheart wrote in message <36bde811...@news.earthlink.net>...
> >>
> >>If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
> >>copmany you're applying at, right? They don't tell you, because they
> >>want their commission.
> >
> >Actually, some recruiters do tell you what company they are soliciting
> >for (assuming the company doesn't mind). These are the recruiters whose
> >names I pass on to my friends first, by the way.
>
> But that's pretty rare. It's usually not in the recruiter's best
> interests to name the company they're representing. If they tell you,
> you could contact the company directly and give them the option of
> hiring you without having to pay the recruiter a 30% (or whatever)
> premium on top of the salary.
This is true, but it isn't as though they won't know you got hired. The
company all of a sudden stops looking for someone to fill the spot, and
you all of a sudden have a job... It doesn't hurt recruiters to tell you,
keeping it secret really does piss people off and there isn't a good
reason for it.
Jer,
Sean Timarco Baggaley
Nathan Mates wrote in message ...
> [Just to reverse the annoyance of html-postings onto html readers:
><html><body><h1><center><blink>
Er, why is this supposed to annoy? Outlook Express 4 (which I've been using
since its launch) displayed the full text. I think you have to specifically
add the "X-Mime: HTML"-type stuff in the header before any MIME-capable
reader will treat it as anything other than raw ASCII
> Look, *any*body posting in all HTML is going to get flamed on this
>newsgroup, or just about any other newsgroup. HTML does not belong in
>the middle of usenet-- it's for the WWW.
Agreed - though the original post *is* standard ASCII text. I certainly
can't see anything in the header declaring otherwise; the only 'X-' header
states that the newsreader used was Forte FreeAgent which, IIRC, doesn't do
HTML postings.
>MIME crud does not belong in
>the middle of usenet either.
BZZZT! Sorry, even the Usenet Mandarins have ratified MIME. It's unrealistic
for them not to, since country-specific, non-English-speaking newsgroups
don't have any other reasonable alternative.
MIME is a standard and has been for some time. Just because you don't like
it, doesn't mean nobody else does. ASCII is an *American* standard, by
definition (though exactly which part of the continent was involved in its
creation I've no idea). No other country is required to use it, and many of
us on these newsgroups are *not* American and will post in whatever damned
language we prefer to communicate in.
I'll agree to use nothing but the purest, unsullied ASCII-7 the day it lets
me use accented letters, the UK's own Pound symbol, and even the humble US
Cent symbol: 'ยข' (Alt keycode 155 on OE4, which makes it incompatible with
ASCII-7). For a character set that purports to aid communication, ASCII-7
makes an an incredible hash of it. You can't even use all the symbols for
your *own* currency, let alone anyone else's. Makes discussing industry
salaries here a tad awkward to say the least.
If your newsreader can't cope with MIME, get a better newsreader. It's been
ratified for over four years now so there really is no excuse to impose such
Luddite requirements.
>Binaries (i.e. "attached" pictures,
>sounds, etc) do NOT belong in usenet if 'binaries' does not appear in
>the group's name.
Agreed.
(All of the above points, incidentally, will appear in the FAQs, albeit in a
friendlier tone, of course...)
> This is just basic ettiquette, *NOT* related to the poster or the
>subject matter. It's not about a jobs posting, a troll, or anything
>else. It's strictly related to the presence of an annoyance in a
>posting that makes it damn annoying to try and read.
Which one, Nathan? Why this rant?
None of the posts in this particular thread have made any use of HTML.
None of the posts in this particular thread have included binary
attachments.
The original post to this particular thread didn't even use *MIME*, FFS!
Although some newsreaders will automatically detect correctly-formatted URLs
and display them as clickable hyperlinks; MIME is certainly not required for
this facility; merely a half-decent programmer.
> If you want to try and defend new people posting with such gunk in
>their messages, spend the time instead *educating* them to turn such
>things off.
You first.
Shouting at people doesn't help; you either scare them off, or stoke the
fires of rebellion. The former removes a potential recruit; the latter
invites flamage. Neither are constructive. (And yes, I know this is a bit
rich, coming from me.)
> Or, find the bleeping jerks who set html-postings as the
>DEFAULT in various GUI programs, and nuke them from orbit. It's the
>only way to be sure they won't foist such crud on the world again.
This I certainly agree with.
I'd also like to see (a) reasonable column widths (preferably 70 or so),
along with a decent quoting format. That said, OE5 Beta used plain
MIME-encoded text by default when I tried it out, so maybe they're finally
getting the message.
Spell-checking appears to be at the core of this problem. Newbies like
spell-checkers, so they try and keep them switched on. But spell-checkers
have a hard time coping with the myriad text-quoting formats common to
Usenet. OE4's spell-checker complains vociferously if you prefer ">
"-quoting, rather than indented quotes. Luckily (for me) I never use
proofing facilities so I can disable them, but many are not expert in their
chosen posting language.
That's a tricky UI issue. I wish M$ and Net$cape the best of luck sorting it
out.
--
Sean Timarco Baggaley
Tom Plunket
> Barbara Walter wrote:
> >With an email address like that, I am not surprised at your attitude.
>
> Let me explain my feelings...
No need, it was flame and flame on.
> First the spam... I've seen the same recruiter post to the same
> newsgroup the SAMe job offer every single day for TWO weeks.
Barbara wasn't among them, was she now?
> I DO have a problem with excessive postings though!
Sorry, your point is lost.
> As for the not giving a shit about he company they work for remark...
>
> If you apply with one of these companies, you have no idea what
> copmany you're applying at, right?
Well, to name names, Barbara has called me, and she was
quite pleasant. I don't remember if she told me the company
she was representing; in fact I believe it was more of a "I
saw your posts, you sound sharp, are you looking for a job"
kind of thing. I'd definitely give her a call when/if it
comes time to find a job.
I've also (recently) had recruiters calling me looking to
hire me into a company. They told me not only the name of
the company but the exact title of the project that they
were hiring for.
> They don't tell you, because they want their commission.
> Now obviously you'll know what the company is whe they call
> you.
I think that there's some contract usually in place that
prevents this from happening. I have to admit, it's funny
when recruiters ask to speak with the lead character of our
game, though! :)
As someone else pointed out, the industry is so small that
if you talk with a recruiter you more than likely know
people at the company that they're hiring for, so it doesn't
kill them to let you know who it is... In fact, the most
recent recruiter called me about a project twenty minutes
after I recieved an email from the project lead on the same
title! :)
-tom!
--
Tom Plunket plu...@eidetic.com
video game/3D Studio geek http://www.eidetic.com
What do you mean, it doesn't work? It worked fine yesterday...
Roar Flolo
>I've also (recently) had recruiters calling me looking to
>hire me into a company. They told me not only the name of
>the company but the exact title of the project that they
>were hiring for.
This makes perfect sense since people in the game industry are drawn to 1)
Cool projects that they would like to work on and 2) Cool companies that
they would like to work for.
Roar
Bob Nipple
>
> Companies pay our fee.
which leaves the companies less money to pay the employee.
Walter & Company
They don't pay fees unless they hire, and they don't hire unless they
consider the recruiters' candidates better quality than they can find
on their own.
Barbara Walter
David Matiskella
> Walter & Company wrote:
> >
>
> > Companies pay our fee.
>
> which leaves the companies less money to pay the employee.
If the company does its own recruitment it also cost money ( and just
as important time). If you don't want to use a recruiter fine. But to
bitch about 1 or 2 posts a week seems pointless.
Ron Levine
of the reasons companies use outsider recruiters is that the very
information that they are hiring heavily for particular kinds of
projects is regarded as sensitive proprietary information not to be
freely shared with competitors.
Still, any ethical recruiter should identify the company to individual
candidates before submitting any particular information on the
candidate to the company.
******************************************************
Dorian Research, Inc.
http://www.dorianresearch.com
Everything should be made as simple as possible,
but not simpler.
--Albert Einstein
*****************************************************
Walter & Company
-a company wants to hire a specfic individual but prefers for
confidentiality and other reasons to have initial contact made by a
third party (recruiter)
-ditto when a candidate who is currently working, wants to move to a
specific company
-a company has someone already in the job who is not working out and
wants to replace him/her (I know, it sounds grim, but you don't tell
your boss your're leaving until you accept another offer...the process
works both ways)
One more point. If some of you posters have had less-than-favorable
(OK, rotten) experiences with recruiters, I'm sorry. But *not all
recruiters are the same*. A very few game programmers have given me
headaches by their behavior, but that doesn't make me think that all
game programmers are jerks..just those few.
Barbara Walter
r...@dorianresearch.com (Ron Levine) wrote:
>I'm not sure how true it is in the games industry, but in general, one
>of the reasons companies use outsider recruiters is that the very
>information that they are hiring heavily for particular kinds of
>projects is regarded as sensitive proprietary information not to be
>freely shared with competitors.
>
>Still, any ethical recruiter should identify the company to individual
>candidates before submitting any particular information on the
>candidate to the company.=20
>
>
>******************************************************
>Dorian Research, Inc.
>http://www.dorianresearch.com
>
> Everything should be made as simple as possible,=20
Jerome Jahnke
<bob...@nocanmeat.co.jp> wrote:
> Walter & Company wrote:
> >
>
> > Companies pay our fee.
>
> which leaves the companies less money to pay the employee.
This is just plain stupid here. You think that in house recruiting is cheaper?
Jer,
Tom Plunket
Wow, interesting point. :) I could think of some uses of
that...
> A very few game programmers have given me headaches by
> their behavior, but that doesn't make me think that all
> game programmers are jerks..just those few.
Don't let 'em fool you. We game programmers are all just a
bunch of arrogant, egomaniacal, primadonna geeks...
-tom!
--
Tom Plunket plu...@eidetic.com
video game/3D Studio geek http://www.eidetic.com
"...'cause I'd only ever want to be a toilet or a tree
for a very brief period of time." -King Missile
Bill
> As someone else pointed out, the industry is so small that
> if you talk with a recruiter you more than likely know
> people at the company that they're hiring for, so it doesn't
> kill them to let you know who it is... In fact, the most
> recent recruiter called me about a project twenty minutes
> after I recieved an email from the project lead on the same
> title! :)
>
> -tom!
Yes, small biz it is! ;)
Actually, fromhellsheart secretly loves recruiter postings
because it makes him feel wanted...
-b
--
******************************************************
* The above response is my own creation and does not *
* in any way represent 989 Studios *
******************************************************