[game_edu] game_edu Digest, Vol 105, Issue 5
Joshua Higgins
thugginthiggins at gmail.com
Wed Mar 6 14:36:10 EST 2013
placement as in job search?
On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 2:33 PM, <game_edu-request at igda.org> wrote:
> Send game_edu mailing list submissions to
> game_edu at igda.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> game_edu-request at igda.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> game_edu-owner at igda.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of game_edu digest..."
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> IGDA Education SIG
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: [Help request] game_edu Digest, Vol 105, Issue 4
> (Daniel Hettrick)
> 2. Re: Placement problems (Peter Border)
> 3. Re: Placement problems (Ian Schreiber)
> 4. Re: Placement problems (Martin Murphy)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 08:20:50 -0700
> From: Daniel Hettrick <danielhettrick at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [game_edu] [Help request] game_edu Digest, Vol 105, Issue
> 4
> To: game_edu at igda.org
> Message-ID:
> <CAGXEEJcuoTvZy2OJG9zf=9E9BVbmuu3BhpZcOY9H3AA5Mv=+AQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I have a similar issue regarding the 2008 IGDA Leadership forum;
> specifically Curtis Creamer's presentation on "Applying User Testing During
> Development". The content is linked from this page on the IGDA site:
> http://www.igda.org/leadership/archives/2008-forum-archive/2008-content-index/but
> the video link leads to a YouTube video which is marked as private. =(
> (YouTube link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cktm23sYQ_U&feature=gv&hl=en).
>
> This used to be accessible as I have shown it to students in past
> semesters, but now has been switched off. This is frustrating as it was
> publicly promised by a member of the IGDA Board at the conclusion of the
> 1st Leadership Forum in '07, that low-rez archives of the Forum
> presentations would be permanently kept online for IGDA members.
> I left a phone message at the IGDA office back in January regarding this,
> but no one ever bothered to return my call. If anyone has access to this
> video, I would certainly love to show it to my students.
> Thanks.
>
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 8:00 AM, <game_edu-request at igda.org> wrote:
>
>> Send game_edu mailing list submissions to
>> game_edu at igda.org
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>> game_edu-request at igda.org
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>> game_edu-owner at igda.org
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of game_edu digest..."
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> IGDA Education SIG
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Help Request (Suzanne Freyjadis)
>> 2. Re: Help Request (Sheri Rubin)
>> 3. Game devs passing near some of you (Ian Schreiber)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 17:20:12 -0600
>> From: "Suzanne Freyjadis" <freyjadis at austin.rr.com>
>> Subject: [game_edu] Help Request
>> To: <game_edu at igda.org>
>> Message-ID: <016f01ce19f7$fca19ef0$f5e4dcd0$@austin.rr.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-7"
>>
>> Hello Amazing SIG Members!
>>
>>
>>
>> I need your help. I was contacted by a fellow member who is looking for a
>> video that seems to have gotten lost on that crazy internet. Here is his
>> message. Please let me know if you can help.
>>
>>
>>
>> "I was using the 2007 IGDA video by John Farnsworth in my class and it just
>> vanished from YouTube. I contacted IGDA to see if they had it archived but
>> they didn't. They contacted Google/YouTube about the broken link but to no
>> avail. I contacted Farnsworth and he doesn't have it.
>>
>> I know it's a dated video but the content is rich and relevant. Do you or
>> someone you know have a copy (dvd) of it? That would be a great help
>> because
>> I have watched many IGDA and GDC leadership videos and that's the most
>> applicable one for my students. The title of the presentation is Leadership
>> Lab. Thanks for your assistance!"
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Suzanne
>>
>>
>>
>> Suzanne Freyjadis
>>
>> Freyjadis at austin.rr.com
>>
>> M: 512-619-4151
>>
>> Skype: suzanne.freyjadis
>>
>> Come to the Dork Side
>>
>> We have ?
>>
>>
>>
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20130305/1664cb56/attachment.html
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:22:23 -0600
>> From: Sheri Rubin <sheri at designdirectdeliver.com>
>> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Help Request
>> To: game_edu at igda.org
>> Message-ID: <51367E2F.5040403 at designdirectdeliver.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
>>
>> Was this from the IGDA Leadership Forum?
>>
>> Sheri
>>
>> On 3/5/2013 5:20 PM, Suzanne Freyjadis wrote:
>> >
>> > Hello Amazing SIG Members!
>> >
>> > I need your help. I was contacted by a fellow member who is looking
>> > for a video that seems to have gotten lost on that crazy internet.
>> > Here is his message. Please let me know if you can help.
>> >
>> > "I was using the 2007 IGDA video by John Farnsworth in my class and it
>> > just vanished from YouTube. I contacted IGDA to see if they had it
>> > archived but they didn't. They contacted Google/YouTube about the
>> > broken link but to no avail. I contacted Farnsworth and he doesn't
>> > have it.
>> >
>> > I know it's a dated video but the content is rich and relevant. Do you
>> > or someone you know have a copy (dvd) of it? That would be a great
>> > help because I have watched many IGDA and GDC leadership videos and
>> > that's the most applicable one for my students. The title of the
>> > presentation is Leadership Lab. Thanks for your assistance!"
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Suzanne
>> >
>> > *Suzanne Freyjadis*
>> >
>> > Freyjadis at austin.rr.com <mailto:Freyjadis at austin.rr.com>
>> >
>> > M: 512-619-4151
>> >
>> > Skype: suzanne.freyjadis
>> >
>> > *Come to the Dork Side*
>> >
>> > *We have **?***
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > game_edu mailing list
>> > game_edu at igda.org
>> > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
>>
>> --
>> *Sheri Rubin*
>> Founder and CEO
>>
>> *Design Direct Deliver*
>> Website: http://www.designdirectdeliver.com
>> Email: sheri at designdirectdeliver.com <mailto:sheri at designdirectdeliver.com
>> >
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20130305/fb5509f2/attachment.htm
>> >
>>
>> --
> Best Regards,
>
> Daniel Hettrick, PMP, CSM, CSPO
> 646.408.6611
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20130306/630a502f/attachment-0001.htm>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 09:41:34 -0600
> From: Peter Border <pborder at msbcollege.edu>
> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Placement problems
> To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>
> Message-ID:
> <58F0FCE57E8B574686CF5742D5D5BA0E4223A258AC at BOUVIER.msb.priv>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hello game educators:
>
> I have a topic I would like to open up a discussion on: placement. Frankly this is my biggest worry. I teach at a career college
> in Minnesota, far from both coasts, and there just is not a whole lot of game industry going on here. We do have a large
> QA facility for Activision and I push that heavily on my students. We have been blessed (there is no other word) with a very active IGDA
> chapter which I also push heavily. But aside from those two, it's all small shops and the local indie game designers. They all do great stuff but
> there just isn't a lot of hiring that happens at a 3-person shop.
>
> Career colleges have some advantages over regular colleges- they move MUCH faster, for instance. However the emphasis is completely on
> getting people into jobs and if your program doesn't do that it will be cancelled. So I have to get people into the game industry or else.
> Luckily, my program is basically about teaching people to be game programmers rather than artists, with skills that transfer into many high
> demand areas like databases or web applications, so it's certainly not hopeless. Still, it would be nice to place more students into game
> industry jobs than we have been.
>
> Is anyone else out there in a similar state? Does anyone have any hints? Maybe I'm missing something, but I think there are a lot of
> programs hitting this same wall. Game design is pretty sexy and recruitment is easy, but the other end of the pipeline can be a problem.
>
> Happy equinox!
>
> Peter Border
> Game and Application Design Chairman
> Globe University/Minnesota School of Business
> 1401 West 76th St
> Richfield, MN 55423
> pborder at msbcollege.edu
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 09:05:28 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Placement problems
> To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>
> Message-ID:
> <1362589528.82019.YahooMailNeo at web160705.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Given how competitive the game industry can be even in the best of times (it is a glamour industry, after all), I've never made ANY promises to students about getting a job there - in fact I tell them to have a "plan B". And right now it's not even the best of times; studios are closing left and right, the whole industry is in a transitional period, overall it is just not a good time to be looking for work, even for experienced devs. Meanwhile, our schools keep pumping out the same number of graduates every year, regardless of industry demand. So, no, I don't think there's a simple solution here. Even if you personally discovered some magic formula that made your students all high-demand, that would just mean that other schools in your position would have an even harder time because your students would be hogging all of their slots :)
>
> Obviously you can do everything possible to help your students find jobs. Try to figure out if you're having more trouble with the "it's what you know" or "it's who you know" side of the equation. In the game industry, that means making sure they've got solid skills, ability to work well in an interdisciplinary team, and ability to present themselves so that their resume and cover letter don't get auto-filtered; and then make sure they network, attend local game dev meetings but also larger conferences like GDC (on that note, if you have truly excellent student work to show, have you considered getting a booth at GDC in order to promote your students as good hires to the industry? If you're heading to GDC this year, I'd encourage you to take a walk around the expo hall and career area at some point, and just see the difference between the school booths that are primarily recruiting students, those that are recruiting faculty, and those that are just
> there to get industry visibility for their current students).
>
> You can also encourage students to start their own studios, which is a more viable path now than it used to be given the relatively low bar to entry for mobile games and some other areas. I don't know if that counts as getting "hired" if they hire themselves, but you can certainly work to establish a startup incubator in your area (or if there already is one, establish or strengthen a pipeline to get your student teams to go into there). This would probably also mean additional coursework in entrepreneur-type business topics, and an overall culture that fosters this kind of mentality - didn't someone from USC give a talk at the Edu Summit at GDC just this last year or two about how they basically only hired professors who had started their own studios in the past, and how that and some other things translated into an entrepreneurship culture? And hey, if you've got a decent number of indie studios local, I certainly hope you're taking advantage of that
> resource, bringing in some of those people as guest speakers to talk about how and why they went indie.
>
> Also, I suppose the other option is just to reduce the slots in your program and be more selective in who you let in, if that's possible for your school. If the industry only has enough open slots to hire ten of your students each year, then you shouldn't be letting twenty into your program. Yeah, I know, that's not an option, your Dean will break your kneecaps just for suggesting "fewer butts in seats" as a solution to anything, I'll shut up now.
>
> - Ian
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Peter Border <pborder at msbcollege.edu>
> To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Placement problems
>
> Hello game educators:
>
> I have a topic I would like to open up a discussion on: placement. Frankly this is my biggest worry. I teach at a career college
> in Minnesota, far from both coasts, and there just is not a whole lot of game industry going on here. We do have a large
> QA facility for Activision and I push that heavily on my students. We have been blessed (there is no other word) with a very active IGDA
> chapter which I also push heavily. But aside from those two, it's all small shops and the local indie game designers. They all do great stuff but
> there just isn't a lot of hiring that happens at a 3-person shop.
>
> Career colleges have some advantages over regular colleges- they move MUCH faster, for instance. However the emphasis is completely on
> getting people into jobs and if your program doesn't do that it will be cancelled. So I have to get people into the game industry or else.
> Luckily, my program is basically about teaching people to be game programmers rather than artists, with skills that transfer into many high
> demand areas like databases or web applications, so it's certainly not hopeless. Still, it would be nice to place more students into game
> industry jobs than we have been.
>
> Is anyone else out there in a similar state? Does anyone have any hints? Maybe I'm missing something, but I think there are a lot of
> programs hitting this same wall. Game design is pretty sexy and recruitment is easy, but the other end of the pipeline can be a problem.
>
> Happy equinox!
>
> Peter Border
> Game and Application Design Chairman
> Globe University/Minnesota School of Business
> 1401 West 76th St
> Richfield, MN 55423
> pborder at msbcollege.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_edu mailing list
> game_edu at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20130306/6b4efd9e/attachment-0001.html>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 13:42:00 -0500
> From: Martin Murphy <mmurphy at c.ringling.edu>
> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Placement problems
> To: Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com>, IGDA Game Education Listserv
> <game_edu at igda.org>
> Message-ID:
> <CAKOiQXcMGX1zd71UQ_vhJRzsOBK0sXRmV4Sgw7CTzrPBSLi-XA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hey All,
>
> Thanks Ian for your consistently thoughtful contributions to game
> development and game education community.
>
> I agree that students starting their own studios could be viable path of
> self-sustaining income. Early this year I read an article about an
> incubator at University of Miami, The Launch Pad. Its a service offered
> through the career service center. I find that solution very appealing
> because not all students are interested in being entrepreneur and some may
> not be ready to think about starting their business at an ealier stage of
> their career. If the incubator was a program offered to interested current
> students and grads its seems like it could be mutually beneficial offering
> to the community, college and learners.
>
> http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110401/best-courses-2011-the-launch-pad-at-the-university-of-miami.html
> http://www.thelaunchpad.org/about-us
>
> Ringling College of Art + Design will be at booth 402 at GDC.
> http://www.gdconf.com/pdf/floorplans/GDCSF_2013/northAndSouthHalls_3-4-13.pdf
>
> For those who might be interested, we are also hiring multiple full time
> faculty positions.
> https://ringling.simplehire.com/postings/481
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Marty
>
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 12:05 PM, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Given how competitive the game industry can be even in the best of times
>> (it is a glamour industry, after all), I've never made ANY promises to
>> students about getting a job there - in fact I tell them to have a "plan
>> B". And right now it's not even the best of times; studios are closing left
>> and right, the whole industry is in a transitional period, overall it is
>> just not a good time to be looking for work, even for experienced devs.
>> Meanwhile, our schools keep pumping out the same number of graduates every
>> year, regardless of industry demand. So, no, I don't think there's a simple
>> solution here. Even if you personally discovered some magic formula that
>> made your students all high-demand, that would just mean that other schools
>> in your position would have an even harder time because your students would
>> be hogging all of their slots :)
>>
>> Obviously you can do everything possible to help your students find jobs.
>> Try to figure out if you're having more trouble with the "it's what you
>> know" or "it's who you know" side of the equation. In the game industry,
>> that means making sure they've got solid skills, ability to work well in an
>> interdisciplinary team, and ability to present themselves so that their
>> resume and cover letter don't get auto-filtered; and then make sure they
>> network, attend local game dev meetings but also larger conferences like
>> GDC (on that note, if you have truly excellent student work to show, have
>> you considered getting a booth at GDC in order to promote your students as
>> good hires to the industry? If you're heading to GDC this year, I'd
>> encourage you to take a walk around the expo hall and career area at some
>> point, and just see the difference between the school booths that are
>> primarily recruiting students, those that are recruiting faculty, and those
>> that are just there to get industry visibility for their current students).
>>
>> You can also encourage students to start their own studios, which is a
>> more viable path now than it used to be given the relatively low bar to
>> entry for mobile games and some other areas. I don't know if that counts as
>> getting "hired" if they hire themselves, but you can certainly work to
>> establish a startup incubator in your area (or if there already is one,
>> establish or strengthen a pipeline to get your student teams to go into
>> there). This would probably also mean additional coursework in
>> entrepreneur-type business topics, and an overall culture that fosters this
>> kind of mentality - didn't someone from USC give a talk at the Edu Summit
>> at GDC just this last year or two about how they basically only hired
>> professors who had started their own studios in the past, and how that and
>> some other things translated into an entrepreneurship culture? And hey, if
>> you've got a decent number of indie studios local, I certainly hope you're
>> taking advantage of that resource, bringing in some of those people as
>> guest speakers to talk about how and why they went indie.
>>
>> Also, I suppose the other option is just to reduce the slots in your
>> program and be more selective in who you let in, if that's possible for
>> your school. If the industry only has enough open slots to hire ten of your
>> students each year, then you shouldn't be letting twenty into your program.
>> Yeah, I know, that's not an option, your Dean will break your kneecaps just
>> for suggesting "fewer butts in seats" as a solution to anything, I'll shut
>> up now.
>>
>> - Ian
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Peter Border <pborder at msbcollege.edu>
>> *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:41 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Placement problems
>>
>> Hello game educators:
>>
>> I have a topic I would like to open up a discussion on: placement. Frankly
>> this is my biggest worry. I teach at a career college
>> in Minnesota, far from both coasts, and there just is not a whole lot of
>> game industry going on here. We do have a large
>> QA facility for Activision and I push that heavily on my students. We have
>> been blessed (there is no other word) with a very active IGDA
>> chapter which I also push heavily. But aside from those two, it's all
>> small shops and the local indie game designers. They all do great stuff but
>> there just isn't a lot of hiring that happens at a 3-person shop.
>>
>> Career colleges have some advantages over regular colleges- they move MUCH
>> faster, for instance. However the emphasis is completely on
>> getting people into jobs and if your program doesn't do that it will be
>> cancelled. So I have to get people into the game industry or else.
>> Luckily, my program is basically about teaching people to be game
>> programmers rather than artists, with skills that transfer into many high
>> demand areas like databases or web applications, so it's certainly not
>> hopeless. Still, it would be nice to place more students into game
>> industry jobs than we have been.
>>
>> Is anyone else out there in a similar state? Does anyone have any hints?
>> Maybe I'm missing something, but I think there are a lot of
>> programs hitting this same wall. Game design is pretty sexy and
>> recruitment is easy, but the other end of the pipeline can be a problem.
>>
>> Happy equinox!
>>
>> Peter Border
>> Game and Application Design Chairman
>> Globe University/Minnesota School of Business
>> 1401 West 76th St
>> Richfield, MN 55423
>> pborder at msbcollege.edu
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_edu mailing list
>> game_edu at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_edu mailing list
>> game_edu at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
>>
>>
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20130306/f139ebf1/attachment.htm>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_edu mailing list
> game_edu at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu
>
>
> End of game_edu Digest, Vol 105, Issue 5
> ****************************************
More information about the game_edu
mailing list