Ryan McBride: What to Look For In New Employees

Ryan McBride has been in the game industry since 1995. So he has been in the business for 18 years. He has had experience on with working as a QA manager, designer and programmer. During that time, has also helped with the hiring process. McBride shared what he looked for in a new employee.

                First and most importantly McBride would ask himself, “Can I work with this person?”  If you are going to make something as big as a game that requires a lot of interactions with others, it is important to be able to work with those people to make meaningful progress. This question also answers how well the person can communicate.  Communication is key because game making is a collaborative project. You need someone that will be able to talk to other parts of the team and be able to explain what they want. Talking to others is also important when asking for help. You are more valuable getting a feature done in a day with help rather than getting that feature done months later with no help.

                The next thing McBride would do is figure out how to you think. Learning how somebody thinks is important because you will figure out if you are right for the team. Also learning how somebody thinks is more important to learning what the person already knows. You could teach the person the specifics of what they need to know for the job, but it is harder to teach people how to critically think. This process also shows how a person solves a problem.

                After he checks for both of these factors he looks at their projects, schooling, and code. He sees the person’s portfolio and seeing how good their work is. It is important to have you projects publicly viewable. This way employers can see it at any time. Also have the code viewable so they could see how you work. And it is important to have experience in working in groups and with some sort of revision control. And do not be afraid to move in order to find a job.