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I think I have set some kind of world record. Since being laid off in
January, I have applied for almost 300 jobs. From those, I received
about 20 followup calls, phone interviews, and programming tests. I
have had only 2 face-to-face interviews. The result: until yesterday: 0
jobs.
This should really be no big surprise. According to some
reports, over 5000 people were laid off in the game industry alone in
2008. There were 10,000 layoffs from Microsoft alone. The result is
that the job market for both game programming and general IT has been
flooded with job seekers. Employers have pretty much had the ability to
hand-pick each position from tens, if not hundreds, of applicants.
This
knowledge made it a little easier to accept 300 rejections, but I have
to admit I was feeling pretty discouraged. In less that 1 year my game
programming career seemed to be over! I figured this was another world
record: world's shortest game career.
Of the 300 positions,
about 75 were for general programming positions in IT. As much as I
wanted to stay in the game industry, I needed a job even worse. So, I
figured I would have to go back into the world of business programming.
One
thing that surprised me is that I did not receive a single inquiry
regarding any of the general programming jobs I had applied for. All of
the followup I received was for game-related jobs. I expected it to be
the other way around. As it turns out, being a game programmer
apparently has the advantage of being a specialty. There are far more
general programmers out there to fill IT positions, which probably
explains why I didn't get a single bite for any of those jobs.
However,
game programming is a specialized field, and this means that there are
fewer game programmers out there to fill those jobs. So, even though I
kept getting turned down, at least I was getting interviews!
Well,
the GOOD news is that my persistence finally paid off. Yesterday I
received a job offer from Other Ocean Interactive, a game company in
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Those of you who have been
following my blog may recognize the name of this company--it is the
same company my son works for. So, there's probably another world
record: the first father-son programming team working for the same
company in the game industry!
Having my son working at Other
Ocean was either going to work for me or work against me...it all
depended on what the company felt about hiring family members. But one
thing is for sure...I got this job not only because I was qualified,
but because of who I knew. So, yes, I am still a strong believer in the
power of networking. I have tried to keep track of everyone I met or
talked to during my job hunt because this surely won't be the last time
I need to find work!
So, the adventure begins again! I start
work at Other Ocean as soon as I can get my Canadian visa, which will
probably take about a month. Stay tuned for the further adventures. If
you're out there and still trying to find a job, keep the faith and
keep hammering away. If possible, don't compromise and hold out for the
job you love instead of the job you have to settle for.
Wow!! I too think that the network is the powerest thing in the world. Of course that you have to be a good professional too, but without someone else to 'talk about you' it is almost nothing...
Contragts!