Opinion - Video Game Developer Graduate Training is Poor

I’m typically passionate about making sure our beloved games industry is well stocked with talented, passionate individuals and we’re not going to get them by just sitting back and waiting.

I’ve been actively involved in the promotion of graduate recruitment for years now and I spotted this post that I prompted me to comment, but my comments were removed! So, I thought I’d share them here.

Now, I’m an avid support of Train2Game because they’re trying to do great things but I feel there’s more to be done.

Over the years, I’ve interacted with Universities, talked with students, attended graduate recruitment fairs and encouraged graduates I’ve employed to re-connect with their old universities all to try and improve everyone’s chances.

Soul Destroyers

I’ve sadly also witnessed some failings of the people who have wrongly influenced graduates and polluted their minds, lowering expectations and just plain told them the wrong things. A couple of culprits spring to mind, one ‘industry legend’ patrolled a number of courses telling them that the only way to get into the games industry was to just get into QA. How soul destroying is that? I know from experience that if I’m looking for a talented programmer, one of the last places I’m going to look is in QA.

I’ve also witnessed dogged, tired, jaded ex-game developers teaching graduates how to do things in ways that were old when they last touched the games industry.

Yesterday is old

We work in an amazing industry that’s constantly on the bleeding edge of entertainment and technology. Principals and methods of programming, artwork, design and production change at a scarily short frequency. Graduate courses have to reflect this dynamic world we live in and try and give graduates the best chance of finding employment when they pop out of the other end.

Missing Core

I appreciate that there’s a lot to teach graduates over their course but they need to understand some basics too, they need to be aware of how to learn, how to take notes, how to communicate, how to stand out, how to self-promot, where to start on the road to employment.

They need filling with hope and passion for the job they long to have, not be left in limbo heading towards QA.

The Way Forwards

I’m convinced there’s loads of Game Linchpins out there who would be very happy to help out (I can name one) and really make a difference in peoples lives.

Opinion - Video Game Developer Graduate Training is Poor

Soul Destroyers

Yesterday is old

Missing Core

The Way Forwards

Further Reading