IT

soggygrits · 08-08-2007, 02:43 AM

Hey everyone! I figure this would be a better place to ask my question here. I am an animation graduate with job experience in information technology (LANs, WANs, databases, etc..) I've been in IT for three years now, and got my master's in IT management. I was wondering if the game industry are looking for people who are artists with technical experience like myself. I figure testing can't be the only way to get into game dev. I could use my IT experience to get myself in the game industry. I love video games and animation. I'm trying to switch careers from where I am now to either game or animation development.

jillduffy · 08-08-2007, 07:34 AM

Hey SoggyGrits. There is a job title known as technical artist as well as technical director, though the former is probably a little more up your alley. Game Developer magazine (www.gdmag.com) has an article in the August 2007 issue explaining what a technical artist does and why more game studios should hire them. They are people who speak the language of artists and know a lot about art, but can also be the liasion with programmers.

Anyone else have insight on what a technical artist does?

soggygrits · 08-09-2007, 02:37 AM

Hi Jillduffy, thanks for the reply. I have that Gamedeveloper issue about the technical artist, I will have to read up on that to see if I fit the profile. I'll have to improve my programming to get there. What about network administrators, or desktop support techs? I reckon that they will need someone to manage their files and support their LAN.

TheGreenDragoon · 08-28-2007, 08:54 PM

Hey soggy,

If your looking to get yourself into the game industry you might want to take a look at LucasArts. Just a thought for you mate.

jillduffy · 08-29-2007, 05:06 AM

Soggy,
I found a couple of job ads on Craigslist SF under the categories systems/network and technical support. I also looked at the job ads on Gamasutra but noticed that many of the jobs in those categories were improperly listed for the category.

Perhaps because game companies need to hire IT people with IT experience, they don't recruit from the game channels (i.e., Gamasutra job board).

Here are three links to a few very different jobs that I thought you might want to browse; by looking at the requirements, you might form a more concrete idea of what kind of job you want.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sad/390628627.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sad/408274846.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/tch/394080457.html

soggygrits · 09-07-2007, 03:36 AM

I appreciate it, fellas! Sorry for the late reply.