Joining EA

Sorry for not updating you guys on my situation...well there is no excuse :-)

Ok so basically after my last 2 interviews with EA (Burnout and EA Tech) they came back to me with an offer to join the Burnout team at Criterion and I gladly accepted it!

I can't wait to start! It is an honour to know that I will be working at Criterion and on the Burnout series!

Now I just have to wait for Home Office to grant me leave to remain in the UK and a new work permit. In the meantime I'm coding a bit on my personal projects and catching up on games I have missed out on.

Ideaworks3D

I went for an interview at Ideaworks3D today in Central London. They are primarily in the mobile game market specializing only in 3D games. I must admit I was quite amazed to see what they can pull off on cell phone.

The interview lasted about 2 hours, 1 hour just talking about my skills, what I have done etc. And the other hour was a test walkthrough. This was the first time that I was not given a test to actually write the answers for and then it gets marked etc. But instead there was a programmer present to which I had to explain or solve the questions to.

To be honest the tests I have done so far for my interviews was actually quite nice. There wasn't any irrelevant questions (things like stuff you will never even use in game programming) or questions that are out the make you look stupid (the kind that the test's author can't even answer). Also it helped that afterwards I was required to walk a programmer through my answers and explain why I did it this way or stuff like that.

I still need to go for 2 more interviews at EA and one interview with a company in Coventry. Lionhead will also be getting back to me either on Wednesday or later in the week.

4 interviews in one day!

Oh boy! I have never had to do more than one interview in a day and today I did four. Not only was it four interviews but it was four of the biggest ones of my career.

I travelled down to Guildford early this morning since my first 3 interviews was with Criterion Games and Criterion Software (aka EA Tech). My first interview was with the team that created Black. Second interview was with the Burnout team. I must say it was a great honour to visit Criterion studios, let alone being interviewed by them for a position. I have always admired Criterion.

After the Criterion Games interviews I was interviewed at the EA Tech department which used to be known as Criterion Software, or "the guys that developed RenderWare". I was a bit pushed for time since I had another interview at 14:30, so they couldn't really ask me too much questions...which is probably a good thing since I was a bit tired at that stage and started getting a headache.

So as the story continues...I hopped into a taxi and off away to Lionhead studios. Well to be more exact, Lionhead CTG (Core Technology Group). The CTG department is a newly formed part of Lionhead that is currently mostly working on the technology side of things that the other game studios would be using. This was also a very nice bunch of people.

To be honest (hell this is becoming a regular sentence with me on the blog) it will be a very hard decision for me to make if I get offers from both of these companies. So to all my friends, family, blog followers...hold your thumbs that I get a job offer from one of the above mentioned teams.

PS. Guildford is very nice. It is not metropolitan like London but more a bit country-side-ish.

Stay tuned as the drama of my life unfolds...hehehe as if many people is reading this.

Ciao

Interview at EA Chertsey

Wow! Wow! Wow! That is all I can say about the Chertsey offices. It is absolutelty the most stunning game development studio I have ever seen. The offices are huge!

It consists out of 3 floors. On the ground floor is the reception area (it also includes a couple of "game stations" where visitors can play the latest EA games), game library, canteen and the EA University.


Second floor is mainly just the publishing side of the company. Third floor is the game development teams. Very snazzy!

There is also a river going right past the offices and if you look carefully in the photos you can actually see the wooden deck.

They also have their own gym and recording studio.

The server room is massive!

I was suppose to be interviewed by two teams but in the end there was no time.

So tomorrow will be another big day as far as interviews go. I will be interviewed at Criterion by the Burnout and Black team. Then just across the road I will be interviewed by the EA Tech team (i.e. RenderWare).

To be honest I hope one of the EA teams will make me an offer. I think despite all the crunch horror stories you hear, I will love to work for EA.

Time to brush up a bit

Yikes! Response have been good so far. Four teams at EA (2 in Chertsey and 2 in Criterion) is intrested in interviewing me. I will be going for a programmer test and 2 interviews at EA tomorrow and on Thursday I will be going for an interview at Lionhead.

Man! I am stressing my eyeballs out. So I am now just brushing up a bit on 3D math again.

The job hunting ball is in motion

So folks, just a quick update on whats been happening.

I got a call this morning from a guy working at EA and he is going to put my CV through to two of their studios asap. PS. The one studio is none other than Criterion! Oh boy I would love to work on the new Burnout, Black or even on RenderWare itself. So hopefully that comes through, at this stage I'm the most keen on the EA openings.

I'm working through Datascope and they have send my application to a number of studios.

So far I have one confirmed interview with a company in the country side, Coventry.

So things are not all gloom and doom, I must say when you are at least in the UK, then at least the ball rolls a bit faster, than if you were still back in Africa.

Anyways my peeps, keep your fingers cross.