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Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi - hire ear

Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi - hire early, usually before people even finish uni, and then get them up through the ladder. It promotes career growth, loyality, personal development and job satisfaction - I'm literally surrounded by people who have been here for 15+ years(29 is the record currently) - personally I'm at 8 years, went from intern to junior to intermediate to senior to lead in that time, and I have no plans on going anywhere really. >>I read and heard from managers they prefer to recruit externally for management positions. That's absolutely not the case for us, in fact I'm struggling to think of examples when this happened recently.

orthoxerox 5y ago
> Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi Interesting, because the public perception of gamedev companies is opposite: "hire-crunch-downsize-repeat"
- gambiting 5y ago
  Because it's true for a lot of places. We do have an extremely strong anti-crunch culture and value work life balance a lot. In those 8 years here I worked maybe like.....2 weeks of overtime? Around launch of one of our biggest games, I stayed in longer to make sure things were running smoothly. But like outside of that? 8am till 4pm every day. Never worked weekends or anything like that, and I don't know anyone who has. (well, that's not strictly true - I know from those old timers that 20 years ago that was pretty much bread and butter and people lived in the office more or less. But that was before I ever started here).
  - xiphias2 5y ago
    Which company? I mean if you say so good things about your employer, I guess it won’t get angry of you naming it :)
    - vshade 5y ago
      I was going to ask the same, specially if the company is in Europe
      - gambiting 5y ago
        Ubisoft - just(disclaimer) keep in mind that we have studios in (almost) every European country and all of them can approach this differently. Here in UK the policy is what I explained above.
        MailleQuiMaille 5y ago
        Clearly depends of where you work, and what you do Inside Ubisoft. My rule of thumb is that the closer you are to the game itself (Dev, gameplay designers, sound designers...) the more you will crunch and the less you get paid. As if the labor was a perk in itself.
        gambiting 5y ago
        Again, only talking about my own experience - I'm a programmer myself and I don't crunch, and no one in any other team that I know does. Programmers also tend to be most well compensated out of everyone(in my experience).
        oblio 5y ago
        I'm not 100% sure about Ubisoft, but I think Gameloft is part of the same group. At least in Romania, Gameloft definitely does not have a good reputation concerning overtime and such.
        maccard 5y ago
        "reputation" is a hard thing to assess. In a company with 20k employees, there are goign to be teams and offices that differentiate from the norm, in both good ways and bad ways.
        5y ago
technothrasher 5y ago
> 29 is the record currently There are some old school companies left in the world. Almost everyone at my company has been here at least eight years. I'm currently at 28 years myself, there are several who have been here almost 40 years, and the longest run employee we've got currently is at 51 years (although, to be fair, he's the founder, and at 83 years old now only works a few hours a day, a few days a week).
- gbear605 5y ago
  To be fair, the company is probably younger than those 51 years if it’s a AAA video game company.
  - frosted-flakes 5y ago
    Well, Nintendo is 133 years-old, so it's not impossible.

orthoxerox 5y ago

> Obviously it's just an anecdote, but I work for a large(one of the largest) AAA video games companies, and that's literally our entire modus operandi Interesting, because the public perception of gamedev companies is opposite: "hire-crunch-downsize-repeat"

gambiting 5y ago
Because it's true for a lot of places. We do have an extremely strong anti-crunch culture and value work life balance a lot. In those 8 years here I worked maybe like.....2 weeks of overtime? Around launch of one of our biggest games, I stayed in longer to make sure things were running smoothly. But like outside of that? 8am till 4pm every day. Never worked weekends or anything like that, and I don't know anyone who has. (well, that's not strictly true - I know from those old timers that 20 years ago that was pretty much bread and butter and people lived in the office more or less. But that was before I ever started here).
- xiphias2 5y ago
  Which company? I mean if you say so good things about your employer, I guess it won’t get angry of you naming it :)
  - vshade 5y ago
    I was going to ask the same, specially if the company is in Europe
    - gambiting 5y ago
      Ubisoft - just(disclaimer) keep in mind that we have studios in (almost) every European country and all of them can approach this differently. Here in UK the policy is what I explained above.
      - MailleQuiMaille 5y ago
        Clearly depends of where you work, and what you do Inside Ubisoft. My rule of thumb is that the closer you are to the game itself (Dev, gameplay designers, sound designers...) the more you will crunch and the less you get paid. As if the labor was a perk in itself.
        gambiting 5y ago
        Again, only talking about my own experience - I'm a programmer myself and I don't crunch, and no one in any other team that I know does. Programmers also tend to be most well compensated out of everyone(in my experience).
      - oblio 5y ago
        I'm not 100% sure about Ubisoft, but I think Gameloft is part of the same group. At least in Romania, Gameloft definitely does not have a good reputation concerning overtime and such.
        maccard 5y ago
        "reputation" is a hard thing to assess. In a company with 20k employees, there are goign to be teams and offices that differentiate from the norm, in both good ways and bad ways.
      - 5y ago

technothrasher 5y ago

> 29 is the record currently There are some old school companies left in the world. Almost everyone at my company has been here at least eight years. I'm currently at 28 years myself, there are several who have been here almost 40 years, and the longest run employee we've got currently is at 51 years (although, to be fair, he's the founder, and at 83 years old now only works a few hours a day, a few days a week).

gbear605 5y ago
To be fair, the company is probably younger than those 51 years if it’s a AAA video game company.
- frosted-flakes 5y ago
  Well, Nintendo is 133 years-old, so it's not impossible.