The value of being prepared

Second season of Game Dev Diary continues with non-PM guests as I sit down to talk with Emilio Jéldrez. He is currently working at King as a Creative Lead and previously worked at companies like Behavior Interactive and DeNA for some of the biggest IPs like Star Wars and Transformers.

Emilio’s way into the games industry was quite random as he was not actively seeking a position, but he was ready to use that chance thanks to his work on the modding communities back in the early 2000s. Having a real passion for games and showcasing actual work on them helped him prove that he could be a valuable asset to a team. Of course, you always need to continue proving your worth once you’re in, but having something to display your skills will be immensely helpful to take that first step.

Since he is interviewing a lot of candidates and seeing a lot of applications for different positions at King, Emilio’s first suggestion for getting into the industry is definitely having your portfolio ready. For example, if you are a developer, your GitHub account might be really useful whereas your ArtStation profile will come in handy if you’re an artist. Each different position will have their own way of creating their portfolio, so you need to determine what suits your situation and work towards polishing it.

Another thing that you can do when applying for a position is understanding the job requirements, which may sound extremely simple but is actually vital. Job descriptions rarely tell you everything that you need to know, but they give a lot of valuable information about what the company is expecting in simplified terms. If you “do your homework” and analyze the job description and prepare yourself accordingly, it will definitely be recognized during the interview process and help you move forward.

While getting that first step is crucial and you need to do your homework to understand what you need to do, it doesn’t get easier after you’re in. Especially in an industry like games that changes continuously, understanding the trends and seeing where things are going is extremely important. You don’t have to get everything exactly right. In fact, nobody does. But if you can keep a finger on the pulse all the time, you will be able to give important career decisions when they matter the most.

And if you feel like keeping a finger on the pulse proves difficult, you can always ask for others’ help! Having mentors is a very frequently mentioned advice in Game Dev Diary and Emilio is no exception. He owes a lot to getting mentorship from people in his network throughout the years. One of the most important things about having a mentor is to really respect your mentor’s time and always be prepared for those conversations. Having questions or discussion topics ready beforehand will show that you care about the time your mentor is spending which will make your conversations even more fruitful.

There might be a lot of problems with how schools are structured today, but one thing is certain: they teach us how to prepare really well. And I think being prepared for things we want to achieve, be it a new job or a promotion or launching a game, doesn’t receive the attention it needs. Sometimes it is reading about a job description and analyzing what it means. But sometimes it is simply spending a couple of minutes before talking to someone and being ready to have a fruitful discussion. In addition to actually helping your personal growth, it will also show your good intentions that can go a long way.