Just applied for a job in Denver (2 Viewers)

So all of yesterday was pretty good, starting with breakfast and ending with the flight home. Can't really complain about anything.

I met with folks in pretty much every area of the company, some of which I wasn't expecting such as QA & Marketing. The QA team was actually a pretty tough nut to crack as a whole and had some very awkward, silent moments initially because I've never actually had a dedicated - or even non-IT - QA team to interact with. By the time that session was over, though, I know for a fact they were one of my biggest advocates.

The first session was one with folks who would be my immediate peers, and one of them was by far the toughest to interview with. Her questions were probing and direct, and she had a soul-sucking stare the entire time. I *very* much respect that, but that's not the norm I've encountered with this company. Of all the sessions, my peer session was the one I'm least confident on. That's not to say it went poorly, but simply that I had a bit of a difficult time getting a read on them.

Server and client leads were next. The server guy had to bail about 1/3 of the way through the session unfortunately, and that's tough because there are some real wins to be had in that area that I think I can assist with. Had a pretty solid session with the client lead. I'd interviewed with both of them before, but this time we were able to go more in-depth and got a *much* better feel for each other's strengths and weaknesses.

After that I think it was time for lunch. PF Chang's FTW.

Next session was the gameplay lead and a design lead for their very first product/client. I'd met with the gameplay lead before and this was pretty much just a redux for him - he's another strong advocate for me, and is something of the Einstein of the group (not that there's just one - 80% of the company is pretty much rock stars in the industry, and the lowest performers would probably be average elsewhere). The product design lead was a new face and didn't ask many questions, but it seemed like we meshed well together personality- and ethic-wise, and my best read is that I left him with a more favorable-than-not impression.

Then the QA team. So strange. Partly because they're hipsters. Partly because I've never worked with a QA team, and their initial questions were something like, "What is your philosophy on QA? What changes might you make to help testers stay focused and fresh?" Idunno...switch the flavor of coffee every morning? Obviously my answers weren't that moronic, but that's how I felt initially. Then I pressed the "Fuck it" button and took over that portion of the interview and started asking them questions that communicated to them what they needed to know about me, and according to my inside guy all three of them left the room singing my praises and begged the decision-maker to give me an offer sheet. *thumbs up*

We ended the regular sessions with the Sr. Designer and Marketing, of which Marketing was a bit of a surprise. Great discussion. There wouldn't be a great amount of interaction between myself and Marketing, but it's certainly a non-zero amount, and what interactions would exist are of fairly critical import. The Sr. Designer and I hit it off well and for reasons I won't go into here he was uniquely qualified to speak to some of the questions I had about the company.

After all that the decision maker and would-be boss came back into the room for a recap session and a final opportunity to ask him questions, during which I received a surprise, drop-in visit from the owner. I know of the owner and his history and was glad to finally meet the man and shake his hand...I'm confident in the man.

After leaving, I was able to glean these tidbits from the decision-maker and/or my other inside contacts:

- For the department I'm applying for, they've reviewed triple-digit resumes in the past six months. They've only interviewed about 25 at all. Of those, they've brought in only 5. The total rank-and files in that department comes to 3, and even if I were to get hired they would still want three additional bodies added to their ranks.

- In the past six months, the owner has only been seen visiting with an applicant two other times. Both of those applicants are now employees.

The company is great, as is their talent. It's a place I'd be challenged and held to task, and I dig that. Folks, I can honestly say that I've given it my best shot. Even to have made it this far is an honor - they're desperate for help in multiple areas, but they refuse to hire folks that they feel are only "average" during the interview process..they're very picky. I stayed in a kick-ass place (which I later found out is said to be the most haunted building in Denver...awesome!), had a great breakfast, met with some awesome folks, had a great view of the Rocky Mountains for a day, and met with a long-time friend of mine for dinner, all on someone else's dime.

Now all that's left is the waiting. Hopefully the result is favorable.

Thank you to everyone for your support so far...I greatly appreciate it!
 
Psypher1000 said:
So all of yesterday was pretty good, starting with breakfast and ending with the flight home. Can't really complain about anything.

I met with folks in pretty much every area of the company, some of which I wasn't expecting such as QA & Marketing. The QA team was actually a pretty tough nut to crack as a whole and had some very awkward, silent moments initially because I've never actually had a dedicated - or even non-IT - QA team to interact with. By the time that session was over, though, I know for a fact they were one of my biggest advocates.

The first session was one with folks who would be my immediate peers, and one of them was by far the toughest to interview with. Her questions were probing and direct, and she had a soul-sucking stare the entire time. I *very* much respect that, but that's not the norm I've encountered with this company. Of all the sessions, my peer session was the one I'm least confident on. That's not to say it went poorly, but simply that I had a bit of a difficult time getting a read on them.

Server and client leads were next. The server guy had to bail about 1/3 of the way through the session unfortunately, and that's tough because there are some real wins to be had in that area that I think I can assist with. Had a pretty solid session with the client lead. I'd interviewed with both of them before, but this time we were able to go more in-depth and got a *much* better feel for each other's strengths and weaknesses.

After that I think it was time for lunch. PF Chang's FTW.

Next session was the gameplay lead and a design lead for their very first product/client. I'd met with the gameplay lead before and this was pretty much just a redux for him - he's another strong advocate for me, and is something of the Einstein of the group (not that there's just one - 80% of the company is pretty much rock stars in the industry, and the lowest performers would probably be average elsewhere). The product design lead was a new face and didn't ask many questions, but it seemed like we meshed well together personality- and ethic-wise, and my best read is that I left him with a more favorable-than-not impression.

Then the QA team. So strange. Partly because they're hipsters. Partly because I've never worked with a QA team, and their initial questions were something like, "What is your philosophy on QA? What changes might you make to help testers stay focused and fresh?" Idunno...switch the flavor of coffee every morning? Obviously my answers weren't that moronic, but that's how I felt initially. Then I pressed the "Fuck it" button and took over that portion of the interview and started asking them questions that communicated to them what they needed to know about me, and according to my inside guy all three of them left the room singing my praises and begged the decision-maker to give me an offer sheet. *thumbs up*

We ended the regular sessions with the Sr. Designer and Marketing, of which Marketing was a bit of a surprise. Great discussion. There wouldn't be a great amount of interaction between myself and Marketing, but it's certainly a non-zero amount, and what interactions would exist are of fairly critical import. The Sr. Designer and I hit it off well and for reasons I won't go into here he was uniquely qualified to speak to some of the questions I had about the company.

After all that the decision maker and would-be boss came back into the room for a recap session and a final opportunity to ask him questions, during which I received a surprise, drop-in visit from the owner. I know of the owner and his history and was glad to finally meet the man and shake his hand...I'm confident in the man.

After leaving, I was able to glean these tidbits from the decision-maker and/or my other inside contacts:

- For the department I'm applying for, they've reviewed triple-digit resumes in the past six months. They've only interviewed about 25 at all. Of those, they've brought in only 5. The total rank-and files in that department comes to 3, and even if I were to get hired they would still want three additional bodies added to their ranks.

- In the past six months, the owner has only been seen visiting with an applicant two other times. Both of those applicants are now employees.

The company is great, as is their talent. It's a place I'd be challenged and held to task, and I dig that. Folks, I can honestly say that I've given it my best shot. Even to have made it this far is an honor - they're desperate for help in multiple areas, but they refuse to hire folks that they feel are only "average" during the interview process..they're very picky. I stayed in a kick-ass place (which I later found out is said to be the most haunted building in Denver...awesome!), had a great breakfast, met with some awesome folks, had a great view of the Rocky Mountains for a day, and met with a long-time friend of mine for dinner, all on someone else's dime.

Now all that's left is the waiting. Hopefully the result is favorable.

Thank you to everyone for your support so far...I greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...


Great to hear. I'd be surprised if you don't get the gig. Rooting for you from Michigan!!!
 
I forgot to post a pic of my view for the interviews. In case it's not obvious, those are the Rockies in the background (and they 're even more awesome in person than in picture).

image.jpeg
 
They say that no news is good news. At this point, however, I have to take "no news" to mean "No thanks."

It's been four months since the process first started, and I know I won't hear from them in December. That would put it at January at the earliest. Since I haven't heard anything it's still theoretically possible that they come in at that point and ask to bring me on - I know the position hasn't been filled yet - but I told my wife that we're not going to put our lives on hold any longer. We need to be free and clear of this at the holidays and move forward. So, barring the surprise contact early next year, I'll remain in Arizona for at least the next 2-3 years.

Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes during this process..it really meant quite a bit! This was the first time I've applied for a job outside my company in about five years, and I've had quite a few sleepless nights over the past few months. Your support helped immensely.

The good news: I've got three chip racks I need to mount on the wall and load up with all your samples (about 300 or so...)!
 
Well I hope the best for you no matter.

I just don't understand how today's corporations can put people through the dog and pony show and then not even have the courtesy to give you an update. It doesn't take that much time. But that is how it is today and it is wrong.

Quick email or quick call one way or the other. I believe everybody deserves that especially how far you made it in the process.
 
nitzilla said:
....Still hoping you get it, but it's been a little long for a hiring process imo.... :(
nitzilla
Click to expand...

Yes, it's too bad. I once got an offer from a government office more than a year after my interview. Had to explain to them that during the interim, I'd received two promotions, and their offer wasn't even close to competitive. Sweet and sour...
 
I too was wondering what had happened with this. I know that a 4-month hiring process is pretty typical in my line of work. The vetting process is pretty complete, and things just don't move quickly. But yeah, seems like they should have been in contact by now! Well, I hope things work out for the best for you, whatever that may be.
 
This story makes me wonder if the company decided to cut costs and leave the position open for a while. If so, there might be good competitive reasons not to say anything, even the insiders might not know the problem is weak financials. This late in an economic expansion I would not have expected tight money to be an issue since finding the right people can prove very difficult right now. But the gaming industry can be vary a lot from firm to firm, it could be just them in a tight spot.

Not much more you can / should do. Assume the deal is canceled but do not be shocked to see it roar back to life -=- DrStrange

PS and if the issue is money, they are doing you a favor by letting things settle out before making an offer. There are plenty of stories about people switching jobs, moving and then getting laid off a few weeks later.
 
Sorry to hear that you haven't gotten any news. Have you sent a follow up to the interviewing manager to inquire if you are still being considered? If you know the position hasn't been filled, it couldn't hurt! If anything it could show your continued interest in the position.
 
I was thinking the same thing. Wanted to ask you but wasn't sure.

Fwiw, I think you should get in touch by email with the senior-most person you met and reaffirm your interest. At this point, it couldn't hurt and it might just show them that you are still extremely interested--if they are postponing for any reason (budgetary, etc), it might be enough to show that you're the right candidate and that they should act rather than lose you.

Either way, sorry for the limbo--I've been there several times myself and it's hard.
 
Limbo sucks, but there's still hope...

Last summer, Nashville Fire put a bunch of candidates through the hiring process. As a bunch of firefighters from my community look to make the jump (more pay) to Nashville we've been in a quandary (we cannot approve vacation time requests until we know how many people will still be working here). So we reached out to Nashville to see if they filled the slots, but simply did not hire any of our guys. Their response:

From November to December, we have a hiring freeze. People move from all around the country to take a position here, and we're not going to ask anyone to pack up and move during the holidays. Even though this is our busiest time of the year, there is no way we can get people trained up and ready to hit the ground running when we're all in "Holiday Mode" (holiday mode is firehouse speak for we're not training this month, it's cold, we're lazy, and I just wanna take a nap). Expect to lose your guys in mid-January to early February.

I'm not saying that a buisness and a government entity work the same way, but I can easily see this particular logic carrying over into the private sector.
 
In my industry, the months leading to hear end are extremely busy and while hiring processes may start then, moves aren't usually made until the new year starts. You may find that to be the case in this situation, which is why showing that you are still very interested is key.
 
I had been wondering where this was at, but also didn't want to say anything. Like others have said, I don't think it would hurt to send an email. Ultimately, wishing you and your family the best. Regardless of what happens, you know you have friends in CO!
 
I know they have a hiring freeze in December so I won't engage the company at all until the 2nd week in January, leaving time for the holidays and recovery therefrom. Unfortunately the only email I have ever been allowed to have is for their HR department, which is also the executive assistant - which is to say, the department is one person. I snail mailed the hiring manager once; that's all I'll do there.

DrStrange said:
if the issue is money, they are doing you a favor by letting things settle out before making an offer. There are plenty of stories about people switching jobs, moving and then getting laid off a few weeks later.
Click to expand...
This happened the first time I ever interviewed with a game company (and I didn't know I was interviewing at the time...they just flew a few of us in for a tour & discussion, and never announced a position was available). Turns out their CFO was embezzling money from the company to the tune of about $7.9M, including draining the retirement fund, and even drained into his niece's trust fund which was set aside to pay for her bills from leukemia treatment. Most of my friends were laid off about six weeks after Dawn was hired; Dawn was laid off five months after that. Would have been a completely wasted trip to Virginia, so yeah, very glad that didn't happen.

While the delay *could* be money related, it wouldn't for lack of revenue/profit, but rather a temporary cash flow issue. They signed a contract not long before I was flown in there to lease the rest of the floor & some significant cash outlays had to be made for the new lease + significant build-outs. They may just be waiting for the next payment or three from their clients. I know the owner of the company, though, as well as his track record & the general financial status of the company. They're doing quite well.
 
Kyle said:
Quick email or quick call one way or the other. I believe everybody deserves that especially how far you made it in the process.
Click to expand...

It's pretty striking how far little courtesies like this can go toward leaving a positive impression. I never understand why someone wouldn't bother making a tiny effort when it can have such a large return.

Hoping for the best for you, Scott. If it goes any other way I'm sure it will have nothing to do with you.
 
Last edited:
Psypher1000 said:
......While the delay *could* be money related, it wouldn't for lack of revenue/profit, but rather a temporary cash flow issue. They signed a contract not long before I was flown in there to lease the rest of the floor & some significant cash outlays had to be made for the new lease + significant build-outs. They may just be waiting for the next payment or three from their clients. I know the owner of the company, though, as well as his track record & the general financial status of the company. They're doing quite well.
Click to expand...

This make sense if their fiscal year is calender year. everyone gets careful in December.

BTW I recognize the neighborhood from your pic. around 1,000 block of Broadway? At least you have plenty of great places for lunch nearby.......
 

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