Hello everyone! Here are answers to some of the questions you had for Jesse! Thanks for participating in our first Meet the Developers feature – you can expect to see more of these in the future!
Q: With an Art History degree, how did you get into the role of a gaming developer? Do you have an additional qualification which enabled you to get into that position or was it purely from interest?
Jesse: When we interview a design candidate, college degrees are footnotes compared to your gaming pedigree, especially published games, mods, and independent projects that you’ve worked on. Looking around the studio, I can tell you that I work with many of the most talented people I’ve ever met, but I’d be hard-pressed to remember what they studied in college. I can, however, tell you what games they worked on, and which games vacuum up their free time. Knowledge, passion, and professionalism usually shine through pretty clearly during conversation, and everyone has a unique story about how they broke into the industry.
In my case, I was selected for an interview after winning a module-building contest for Neverwinter Nights, and I happened to have thousands of hours logged in MMOs going back to the 90s. That got me a junior design position. I’ve been playing and building games since before I can remember – it’s about the only consistent hobby I’ve had, since my interests range pretty widely. Game scripting is what got me into web development, game artwork is what got me into art history, and I even worked in a high-energy physics lab after being inspired by a certain crowbar-wielding physicist. If you’re interested in game design, a degree can help you, but your qualifications are only really proven once you’re in the door. Every development project is a learning experience, so the real test is how willing you are to learn and grow.
