_

"you're a really nice guy, but..."

get used to it.

I would feel happy about the fact that they took a look at your code and answered your mail polite with tips for your future.

Albert

I would feel happy about the fact that all you would need to be the first 'outsider' to see CivIV in development is a brick or crowbar.

Edit: I ment to break in, not hit people.

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Original post by botman2 Edit: I ment to break in, not hit people.

Yea because you wouldnt want to do anything illegal like hit people.

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Original post by MrPoopypants Quote: Bill: As we note on our website, we don’t hire interns until they are at the end of their collegiate careers. Since you’re in high school I wanted to give you some feedback while reminding you of our requirements. I asked one of our programmer/designers to review your code. Here's what he said (below). I hope you find it useful and encouraging. We wish you the very best of luck in all of your endeavors. It seems like you are off to a great start! Deborah Community and Corporate Development FIRAXIS GAMES Review information for Bill Van Besien (provided by a Firaxis Programmer) What I would say to any high school student who has done this amount of work on his own is that he is on the right track. If he continues with Computer Science in college, and continues to devote some of his spare time to game development, I can guarantee that he will be able to work in this industry upon graduation. His ability to self start is the most valuable quality he possesses, and there is always a need for driven programmers. My advice for a would-be game programmer is to get active in an IGDA association in college, or find some way to experience development as part of a team of contributors. Mods of popular games such as Half-Life 2(when it comes out) and UT2004 are a great place to start. Finally, as to his code, it's a good start. I would have liked to see more comments, as we place a high value on that when programming as part of team, but it looks like he is on the right track. I'm a wee bit peeved that no one at Firaxis noticed that I said several times that I would be glad to do ANYTHING at Firaxis, not just be a development intern. I said my main goal was just to meet people (and I said I didnt need a pay check or any of that stuff). Anyway, I'm very glad she provided such a nice rejection letter. There are other game companies in the region, oh well. This place was like 10 minutes from my house and they were the ones who made all the Sid Meier games including Civ III. It would have been a stupendous was to spend the summer.

You have to appreciate that the only person benefiting if you turn up to do anything is *you*. They will have to put in a lot of effort to look after you and make sure you have stuff to do without it being of any real requirement by them. I don't think they could virtuously take you on and not pay you anything either; despite you wanting to volunteer.

Wait until you apply for a job where you are over-qualified and still get a "This isn't a reflection on what you have done but we don't want you" letter. Now that is real depressing shit!

WOW, they actually looked over your code and replied? That's a great achivement.
I've sent my resume to like 50 companies, and I got only like 3 replies, telling me that my skillset is not good enough for them, and to try again.

I was going to recommend you send them a rejection rejection letter that I saw on bbspot last week, but I can't find it.

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......I would have liked to see more comments......

If I only had a pound for every time I'd heard that mentioned I'd be starting my own GD company by now.

I'm pretty impressed that they bothered to get a designer/programmer to repy, most companies send out a standard letter (unless that is their standard letter [wink]).

Jay

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Original post by Jason Zelos (unless that is their standard letter [;)]).

LOL
That would be really funny :)

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Original post by Raduprv Quote: Original post by Jason Zelos (unless that is their standard letter [;)]). LOL That would be really funny :)

Haha! Let's run an experiment. Quick, everyone send your resume and code samples to Firaxis!!

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Original post by capn_midnight "you're a really nice guy, but..." get used to it.

You can't get used to that. I've heard it so many times, and I'm still not used to it.

I'm so lonely... *cries*

I think I am going to grab my sleeping bag, hop on a plane, and sleep outside BioWare's offices until they let me in. They are listed as one of Canada's top 100 employees, so I hope they wont let me starve on their front porch ;)

You just e-mailed them a block of code and they actually looked at it?

Sweet...*Promit runs off to find a suitable game company for "confrontation" in a month or two...

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Original post by MrPoopypants I'm a wee bit peeved that no one at Firaxis noticed that I said several times that I would be glad to do ANYTHING at Firaxis,

From my experience, telling prospective employer that you want to do anything is a very bad thing. That implies you are desperate and have no skill. You have to say what you want to do specifically.

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Original post by alnite Quote: Original post by MrPoopypants I'm a wee bit peeved that no one at Firaxis noticed that I said several times that I would be glad to do ANYTHING at Firaxis, From my experience, telling prospective employer that you want to do anything is a very bad thing. That implies you are desperate and have no skill. You have to say what you want to do specifically.

Interesting. I'll take your advice anyway.

If you say "I want to do anything", most employers will go "so what you're saying is that you have no real skills?"

Employers don't want to give free training. If you show a lot of potential, they might offer you a position, but -- you have to show enough potential to do what they feel could be molded into something more.

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Original post by Etnu If you say "I want to do anything", most employers will go "so what you're saying is that you have no real skills?" Employers don't want to give free training. If you show a lot of potential, they might offer you a position, but -- you have to show enough potential to do what they feel could be molded into something more.

But that is the point... I told them I'd do anything in addition to sending, as the programmer noted, a rather significant code sample.

I don't think that you're picking up what's being told. Saying that you'll do anythink is akin to begging. People don't want to hear you beg. If you say something like "I know I'm not the best programmer, but I keep working to improve my skills, and would like to continue honing those skills writing code for you" they're more likely to bring you on board after looking at your code sample.

It's not the sample that is important here as much as it is your "please give me a job" attitude.

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Original post by alnite Quote: Original post by MrPoopypants I'm a wee bit peeved that no one at Firaxis noticed that I said several times that I would be glad to do ANYTHING at Firaxis, From my experience, telling prospective employer that you want to do anything is a very bad thing. That implies you are desperate and have no skill. You have to say what you want to do specifically.

Agreed.