Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!
So, after more than two weeks and the abandonment of all hope, I receive a phone message from Michelle at FlyingLab Software.
FlyingLab Software is a very small development house located in Seattle. They are currently creating a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game. MMO's are a genre I really don't like for an entire host of reasons and, after my last stroll through EverQuest, I'd sworn off for good until something new came along.
That something new is Pirates of the Burning Sea, their current project. And, while it doesn't attend to all of my issues with the game type, it certainly takes care of a few; enough to have me interested in the game. So interested I'd been visiting the website almost daily, reading up on archived devlogs, creeping the forums, actually improving my knowledge of the historical time period with extra-cirricular books and websites.
I'm really excited about this game.
And then, one day, a new news item: FlyingLab is hiring!
Could...could it be!? I'm desiring to move to Seattle and, what do I find, but a job opportunity working on something I'm ALREADY excited about? A job that would pay remarkably better than anything else I'd likely find?
Ah, but do I qualify?
I am quite critical of my programming abilities and I rate myself as competent at best. I'm no star; the stuff doesn't come easy to me as I know it does for some. Sure, I have an Associate Of Science degree in Real-Time Interactive Simulations (programming, essentially), but I don't put much stock in that. Therefore, when I see programming jobs, I generally gloss over them, because I don't feel I am qualified for the position. Indeed, many times I am ACTUALLY not qualified; most of them do require a Bachelor's Degree, something I am about four semesters away from. And since I'm not currently attending school, I won't be finishing those four semesters any time soon.
BUT.
FlyingLab posted not just a programming job, but a Mission Designer position as well as a SOFTWARE TEST ENGINEER. Mission Designing, while something I would DEFINITELY be interested in (design is the whole reason I went to DigiPen to begin with; programming was a means to an end for me), they were looking for someone with actual experience designing, which, sadly, I have very little to none.
I began to grow dispirited, but I actually did technically qualify for the Software Test Engineer position. Technically. I have no experience in the real world on this sort of thing, but they doesn't specifically say completed projects CAN'T be school projects. They require a year's worth of experience with bug tracking software. phpBugTracker, what we used for Thelema is TECHNICALLY a bug tracker. It's certainly not on par with anything they might be using, but it is still bug tracking.
So I sent them my resume, along with a little thing in the cover letter saying how excited I've been about the project and, if they didn't want me for the STE, I'd still be excited to work on the project in any capacity. A very subtle suggestion at requesting a part-time beta tester position, or consideration for the public beta rumored to start later this year.
A week, and no response.
Another week. The hiring page is still up, but no word. I'm not sure when they're planning on filling these positions, but it's gotta be soon; the project isn't that far from being finished. Hope is lost. I consider changing my cell phone message back to the awesome yodeling in Focus' Hocus Pocus.
Yesterday, they called and left a message.
They want to do a phone screening IN A HALF-HOUR OR HOUR, and could I please call them back. Sadly, I was at work at the time and thus missed their call. The last time I missed a phone call from a game company, I never heard back from them, even though I left three messages on the guys voice mail as well as sending three emails. So I wasn't expecting too much.
But, I called, talked to Michelle, set up a phone screening for Thursday (that's tomorrow!) before I have to go to work. Hopefully, I won't make an ass out of myself and I can come off as quite competent.
We shall see...
FlyingLab Software is a very small development house located in Seattle. They are currently creating a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game. MMO's are a genre I really don't like for an entire host of reasons and, after my last stroll through EverQuest, I'd sworn off for good until something new came along.
That something new is Pirates of the Burning Sea, their current project. And, while it doesn't attend to all of my issues with the game type, it certainly takes care of a few; enough to have me interested in the game. So interested I'd been visiting the website almost daily, reading up on archived devlogs, creeping the forums, actually improving my knowledge of the historical time period with extra-cirricular books and websites.
I'm really excited about this game.
And then, one day, a new news item: FlyingLab is hiring!
Could...could it be!? I'm desiring to move to Seattle and, what do I find, but a job opportunity working on something I'm ALREADY excited about? A job that would pay remarkably better than anything else I'd likely find?
Ah, but do I qualify?
I am quite critical of my programming abilities and I rate myself as competent at best. I'm no star; the stuff doesn't come easy to me as I know it does for some. Sure, I have an Associate Of Science degree in Real-Time Interactive Simulations (programming, essentially), but I don't put much stock in that. Therefore, when I see programming jobs, I generally gloss over them, because I don't feel I am qualified for the position. Indeed, many times I am ACTUALLY not qualified; most of them do require a Bachelor's Degree, something I am about four semesters away from. And since I'm not currently attending school, I won't be finishing those four semesters any time soon.
BUT.
FlyingLab posted not just a programming job, but a Mission Designer position as well as a SOFTWARE TEST ENGINEER. Mission Designing, while something I would DEFINITELY be interested in (design is the whole reason I went to DigiPen to begin with; programming was a means to an end for me), they were looking for someone with actual experience designing, which, sadly, I have very little to none.
I began to grow dispirited, but I actually did technically qualify for the Software Test Engineer position. Technically. I have no experience in the real world on this sort of thing, but they doesn't specifically say completed projects CAN'T be school projects. They require a year's worth of experience with bug tracking software. phpBugTracker, what we used for Thelema is TECHNICALLY a bug tracker. It's certainly not on par with anything they might be using, but it is still bug tracking.
So I sent them my resume, along with a little thing in the cover letter saying how excited I've been about the project and, if they didn't want me for the STE, I'd still be excited to work on the project in any capacity. A very subtle suggestion at requesting a part-time beta tester position, or consideration for the public beta rumored to start later this year.
A week, and no response.
Another week. The hiring page is still up, but no word. I'm not sure when they're planning on filling these positions, but it's gotta be soon; the project isn't that far from being finished. Hope is lost. I consider changing my cell phone message back to the awesome yodeling in Focus' Hocus Pocus.
Yesterday, they called and left a message.
They want to do a phone screening IN A HALF-HOUR OR HOUR, and could I please call them back. Sadly, I was at work at the time and thus missed their call. The last time I missed a phone call from a game company, I never heard back from them, even though I left three messages on the guys voice mail as well as sending three emails. So I wasn't expecting too much.
But, I called, talked to Michelle, set up a phone screening for Thursday (that's tomorrow!) before I have to go to work. Hopefully, I won't make an ass out of myself and I can come off as quite competent.
We shall see...