So You Want to Work at a Game Company?

How many spanish-language calls do you deal with?

In the last 4 years its been somewhere between rarely and never. Though that is not to say that being bilingual would not be a useful skill.

The real question is how many Klingon-language calls do you deal with?

donato wrote:

How many spanish-language calls do you deal with?

In the last 4 years its been somewhere between rarely and never. Though that is not to say that being bilingual would not be a useful skill.

I bet you get more in Abyssal. :)

Sara Marie wrote:

donato wrote:

How many spanish-language calls do you deal with?

In the last 4 years its been somewhere between rarely and never. Though that is not to say that being bilingual would not be a useful skill.

I bet you get more in Abyssal. :)

Aklo.

Lithovore wrote:

Jessica Price wrote:

As people have said, there are other channels (see Sara Marie's link above). You can write for third-party publishers, you can answer the open call for Pathfinder Society scenarios, or you can simply begin publishing your own material using the Compatibility License.

This last statement intrigues me beyond measure, I assume that "Compatibility License" is not in reference to the standard OGL? If this is the case could you perhaps link the terms of said license, Pretty please with sugar and faeries on top?

If you want to break into RPG writing I can give you some help. I have some suggestions, links, and I may have the ear of a 3PP if you are good enough. Send me a PM and we can talk about what to do next.

Persistence is a quality that can help you, but beware: too much can hurt you.

are you still here?

CalebTGordan wrote:

Lithovore wrote:

Jessica Price wrote:

As people have said, there are other channels (see Sara Marie's link above). You can write for third-party publishers, you can answer the open call for Pathfinder Society scenarios, or you can simply begin publishing your own material using the Compatibility License.

This last statement intrigues me beyond measure, I assume that "Compatibility License" is not in reference to the standard OGL? If this is the case could you perhaps link the terms of said license, Pretty please with sugar and faeries on top?

If you want to break into RPG writing I can give you some help. I have some suggestions, links, and I may have the ear of a 3PP if you are good enough. Send me a PM and we can talk about what to do next.

Persistence is a quality that can help you, but beware: too much can hurt you.

are you still here?

We don't need to derail this thread. It is about the four job openings, not how to write for RPGs. Look at the top of the page for a little envelope symbol. It should have a number, probably a 1, next to it. I sent you a PM so we can move the conversation somewhere else.

Much appreciated, Caleb. :-)

Wow Lithovore! For your first 7 posts ever on these forums (all 7 of which seem to be in this very thread) you certainly have made a splash!

I had meant to reply back sooner but the browser gave me a flashback to the golden days of chat when I used to lose connection often during a chat. Never-the-less, I intend on making a VERY big splash, but I may have to wait a while. I have no intention of giving up though! Victory shall be mine! (hopes marc is even still on)

Paizo has hired a number of people who weren't local to Seattle at the time of their hiring. Rob moved from Prague; I moved from New York; John and Mike both moved from Atlanta; Adam moved from Austin. It's ideal for an employee to already live here so that they can start as soon as possible, but if you're the right candidate for the job and you aren't local (but could be), then go ahead and apply. Just know that if you can't actually make the move, there aren't remote positions available.

You guys are making this more and more tempting for someone who's been looking to make a change in geography and social climate for a while now.

Haven't been up in Washington for many years now, but I always did enjoy visiting there when I did.

I am signing off this blog topic(as per request), but first I wanted to thank everyone for their generous gift of information. Live long and proper... or isn't that how it goes?

** spoiler omitted **

No! I demand more flumphs, or at least another half of one so we can technically have one whole one.

We won't announce who it is until we have a signed Offer Letter in hand. Hopefully very soon!

-Lisa

Thanks, Lisa. Please open more editor jobs. :)

I'd be all over software development, but sadly I live on the east coast.

If Paizo ever needs a cell biologist or herpetologist, let me and Tanith know. ;)

*cough-cough*

If Paizo ever needs someone to invent unspeakable names with lots of sh, ch, g, j and I offer thirty years of experience in using Polish language. I can even promise I won't smuggle in hidden vulgarities.

Cthulhudrew wrote:

Gar. Time to move up to Washington.

Good grief NO! I live in NY and want to get away from the snow / ice / cold, so my wife and I are moving to FL in a couple of years.

Thank goodness I am retired, and she is retiring in June 2014.

-- david

Heh, and I love cold and snowy winters, because I've lived most of my live near the Arctic Circle (in Northern Finland). Florida (and pretty much every Southern state in US) would be too hot for me.

Three years ago we moved 700 kilometers south, and it's not as cold here, usually only -5 to -10 celcius on an average winter day. This winter has been different and unusually warm, though; +5 celcius for the last three months, and raining all the time. But today the first snows fell on the ground and it's pleasantly chilly outside. Maybe we'll get at least a few cold months before the spring, at least I hope so. :)

I'd love to apply, but the only one I could do is the Customer Service, and I don't think there would be a lot of relocation assistance for an hourly position :)

This sounds like my best shot at grabbing my dream job, but I'm just a college graduate with no hard experience or body-of-work portfolio. Would the application of an inexperienced digital designer get any serious attention at all for the Digital Products Assistant or the Graphic Designer positions?

If the answer to the above question has to be no, then how about this: What is the specific projects and examples you'd be looking for in an applicant's portfolio? I want to get working on them, so they'd be in my portfolio the next time Paizo is looking to hire.

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Is the rent as ridiculous up there as it looks on google? 'Cause I'm really interested in escaping Florida again, and Washington sounds rad.

If I could figure out how to transport myself up there, I'd apply for CS in a heartbeat :))

Rent is indeed crazy in Redmond. You can trade off some of the cost by paying for it in a longer commute (Renton, Bothell, etc) although you'd want to bear in mind that Seattle has epic traffic issues when weighing the pros and cons.

Two bedrooms are particularly in demand and almost just as much as three bedrooms in some cases.

As we've hit the deadline I had set for taking resumes for the customer service post, I've taken down the CS posting. Now the fun of sorting through resumes begins.

Rent is indeed crazy in Redmond. You can trade off some of the cost by paying for it in a longer commute (Renton, Bothell, etc) although you'd want to bear in mind that Seattle has epic traffic issues when weighing the pros and cons.

Two bedrooms are particularly in demand and almost just as much as three bedrooms in some cases.

Or you can try with the no commute option by getting a place very close to the Paizo offices, that way no travel expenses.

As we've hit the deadline I had set for taking resumes for the customer service post, I've taken down the CS posting. Now the fun of sorting through resumes begins.

I was in retail management for several years, and looking through the applications and resumes of the college-aged kids that wanted to work for me was sometimes the most hilarious part of my job :)

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Digital products assistant is production?

What an odd title to give a production position.

I was actually going to ask if Paizo employed any actual producers.

As we've hit the deadline I had set for taking resumes for the customer service post, I've taken down the CS posting. Now the fun of sorting through resumes begins.

Tried to click through into the Customer Service link but it's pointing back at Paizo's mainpage now, so I continued reading the comments to see if it had been bug-reported in-thread. Might be worthwhile to disable the hyperlink entirely, or note that it's closed.

I was interested in seeing the job requirements as I do have some work experience on an email-based helpdesk for a website and in a tech support call center for a broadband service provider. I don't have the means to relocate right now, but CSR openings might crop back up.

Gary Teter wrote:

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Digital products assistant is production?

What an odd title to give a production position.

I was actually going to ask if Paizo employed any actual producers.

The term "producer" means something different at each game company, and gets used interchangeably with "project manager" a lot (some companies use both titles -- we did at Microsoft -- but the differences between them are pretty nuanced). So technically, yes, Paizo has a producer: me. But I work primarily with the editorial, development, design, and art departments.

Given that we're a small company, outside those departments, a lot of people function as their group's producer/PM even though there's no one designated as a PM for that group. At other companies I've been at, similar positions to the Digital Products Assistant were called "release managers." Or "production assistants." Games job titles really aren't standardized. :-)

Sara Marie wrote:

donato wrote:

How many spanish-language calls do you deal with?

In the last 4 years its been somewhere between rarely and never. Though that is not to say that being bilingual would not be a useful skill.

I bet you get more in Abyssal. :)

Those are routed to my phone.

Ahhh, sadly no opening for in-house counsel. I shall wait patiently...

Fight you for it! Unfortunately, my expertise is not in IP, corporate contracts, or other such things that publishers generally find useful...

Gary Teter wrote:

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Digital products assistant is production?

What an odd title to give a production position.

Yeah sorry, that's probably a usage that's idiomatic to my own background more than Paizo. Way back in the long ago, I worked for newspapers, and there was "editorial" (reporters, copyeditors etc) and "production" (design, typesetting, layout/pasteup etc). So when I say production I mean "taking materials and turning into finished product" (in this case bits rather than camera-ready art).

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Gary Teter wrote:

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Digital products assistant is production?

What an odd title to give a production position.

Yeah sorry, that's probably a usage that's idiomatic to my own background more than Paizo. Way back in the long ago, I worked for newspapers, and there was "editorial" (reporters, copyeditors etc) and "production" (design, typesetting, layout/pasteup etc). So when I say production I mean "taking materials and turning into finished product" (in this case bits rather than camera-ready art).

Heh, yep. I've worked in printing and publishing my entire adult life (including a number of years in newspapers) so seeing "production" made absolute sense to me. It actually didn't even occur to me that it could also mean something else some some folks until I saw that post :)

Language is a heck of a thing, huh? :)

Language is a heck of a thing, huh? :)

Sometimes I consider what a miracle it is that we can communicate at all.

I keep hoping you guys will post a QA System Analyst position at double (or at least) my current salary. I'm not complaining about any quality issues on your system, I would just love to work for Paizo.

Curmudgeonly wrote:

Gary Teter wrote:

Digital products assistant is basically production, no design work really. If you've been responsible for shepherding a lot of projects through a graphics production pipeline, you'll know if you're suited for it.

Digital products assistant is production?

What an odd title to give a production position.

I was actually going to ask if Paizo employed any actual producers.

The term "producer" means something different at each game company, and gets used interchangeably with "project manager" a lot (some companies use both titles -- we did at Microsoft -- but the differences between them are pretty nuanced). So technically, yes, Paizo has a producer: me. But I work primarily with the editorial, development, design, and art departments.

Given that we're a small company, outside those departments, a lot of people function as their group's producer/PM even though there's no one designated as a PM for that group. At other companies I've been at, similar positions to the Digital Products Assistant were called "release managers." Or "production assistants." Games job titles really aren't standardized. :-)

Understood :)

Well, if there's ever any PM / Production positions, color me interested :)

I'm applying for the Digital Products Assistant position, but I'd be commuting in from Portland. Does anyone at Paizo make a commute like that?

I'm applying for the Digital Products Assistant position, but I'd be commuting in from Portland. Does anyone at Paizo make a commute like that?

...That's like a 3 1/2 to 4 hour commute on a good day. So I would say no.

I was wondering if the these positions were still open, and when you were planning to fill them. I sent in my resume a few weeks back and am just making sure i didn't miss something.

Also is it normal to not get a "Thank you for applying" or something back after emailing your resume in? Just wanting to make sure that I actually did apply.

Working for you folks sounds like a blast, but I've become too used to bartender $$$. At least it affords me the income to buy lots of Paizo stuff :D

Also, I'd hate to give up my swell SF apartment@ a mere 1711/month (Current market over 2800...ha! I have been here 17 years and all).
Oh, West Coast...you so cray-cray. #RentsInAbsalomAreWayTooMuch

Working Paizo full time and bartender part time with give me a discounts on two of my favorite pastimes.

Maybe too much of a good thing...

-MD

Working Paizo full time and bartender part time with give me a discounts on two of my favorite pastimes.

Maybe too much of a good thing...

-MD

Working as the official Paizo Bartender now THAT's a dream job. I'm sure several Paizo employees who read this will think to themselves Yeah,we should have one of those.

Working as the official Paizo Bartender now THAT's a dream job. I'm sure several Paizo employees who read this will think to themselves Yeah,we should have one of those.

Bartender/Barista would be the winning combination there.

Reckless wrote:

Working as the official Paizo Bartender now THAT's a dream job. I'm sure several Paizo employees who read this will think to themselves Yeah,we should have one of those.

Bartender/Barista would be the winning combination there.

Why not get both?

I was wondering if the these positions were still open, and when you were planning to fill them. I sent in my resume a few weeks back and am just making sure i didn't miss something.

Customer service is no longer accepting applications. I'm currently in the review/interview process. As far as I know the other positions have not been filled and I would say, as long as their job posting is still up, resumes are being accepted.

Also is it normal to not get a "Thank you for applying" or something back after emailing your resume in? Just wanting to make sure that I actually did apply.

It depends on the position as they are being reviewed and hired by different department managers. I can't speak for other departments, but for the customer service position, I tried to reply to each resume I received to let the applicant know I had received their resume.

Thanks Sara, sad to hear that you don't just use some sort of auto reply from the jobs email, as the majority of people would come through there I would assume.

Is there any other way to make sure that my resume made it to the appropriate people? (i applied for 2 positions)

I'll be going through the tech team resumes tomorrow or Monday (the week slipped away from me). Until I do they're still piling up in the inbox.

Muad'Dib wrote:

Working Paizo full time and bartender part time with give me a discounts on two of my favorite pastimes.

Maybe too much of a good thing...

-MD

Working as the official Paizo Bartender now THAT's a dream job. I'm sure several Paizo employees who read this will think to themselves Yeah,we should have one of those.

Jason Buhlman is familiar with my craft... He failed a few Saves vs. Whiskey a year or two back, when he visited the club where I work in San Francisco. Goodtimes...

Do you need any old fat smelly guys to simulate a RL gamer to test your products on?

I doubt you need an Audio/Visual/IT guy, but you should. >.> Then I could apply.

Do you need any old fat smelly guys to simulate a RL gamer to test your products on?

I am not smelly!