It’s Who You Get to Know

Darius Kazemi (President, Orbus Gameworks)

“It's not what you know, it's who you know.” Sound familiar? Everyone hears this quote at some point in their lives, because it's so true. Once when I said it to my Grandfather during a conversation he came back at me with “it's not who you know, it's who knows you”. That one gave me pause for a second. It's important to remember that networking goes both ways. Not only are you meeting people to gain contacts in the industry, the people you are meeting will also be adding you to their contacts.

Darius has used networking to his advantage since college. He read a book that included a passage about Linden Johnson, when he was just starting as a secretary for congressmen. In the dorm where the other page boys lived, his first day he took 4 showers, and the next morning brushed his teeth 5 times. He did this so he could meet with as many other page boys as possible and start to get ahead, which he said was the same as meeting as many people as possible. Then he went on to become president of the United States. Darius took this story to heart and spent three hour dinners in the college cafeteria during freshman year – by the time he was a sophomore he knew everyone in his class.

Where do you meet people?

The best place to meet with other game developers are conferences like GDC, or consumer shows like PAX. If you can't afford the cost of travel and passes, a more local option may be a chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). They have chapters all over the world in addition to many states and cities in the US. Darius' first job, with Turbine, was obtained through a Boston chapter member that he knew who offered him the QA position before it was even posted on the market. This is something that happens very, very often. In fact, the majority of game positions are filled without posting anything to the job market. If you attend a chapter meeting, don't bring your resume or accost people asking for jobs. Chat and be social, hand out your card and they'll see you're a student or freelancer.

If you don't have a local chapter in your area, start one! Alternatively you can leverage the web by creating a personal website or blog that you can use to attract people to you or your project. Also go out and find blogs of other game developers to read. Leaving insightful and helpful comments on their posts can bring attention to you as well, be sure to link back to your own blog if you have one. It's harder to distinguish yourself if a lot of people are posting as well, so be sure to appear knowledgeable and concise.

How to meet people?

When people are out at conferences, Darius finds that most of them chase after the luminaries, the well-known developers. The problem with this is that they're well known, which means everyone else will also be chasing a moment of their time, they're most likely not going to remember you (I've re-introduced myself to Warren Spector three times over the years – but who can blame the guy?) and they usually don't have a lot of time to talk. However, if you do manage to get some extended face time in a more informal setting, like perhaps knowing a friend at Maxis who knows Will Wright and invites you out to dinner with Will and several other Maxis employees – that's not an opportunity to pass up.

The best thing to do is get to know other attendees at a conference or chapter meeting, as there are tons of other developers with just as much game experience as Dave Perry but without the well-known persona. Also, there's no reason not to become friends with other students and industry hopefuls as well. You may think they don't have anything to offer you, but this short-term thinking is very bad. Eventually these people will also have industry positions, some maybe before you, and you can then turn to them for help in getting your own industry position.

Parties and other events can be awkward for people who aren't very out-going. If you're shy and at a social event, the first thing to do is find the person in the room who looks even more uncomfortable then you. Go over and try to strike up a conversation, they'll probably be surprised at first that someone is talking to them but are no doubt hoping someone will at the same time. Sometimes groups of people cluster in a loose circle that you can sort of edge into. It's perfectly acceptable to stand off and just listen, see who's a part of the conversation and what it's about. If you have something you can add that is beneficial to the discussion, do so. If the circle of people is tight and secluded, you can generally assume it's a private conversation.

If it's your turn to talk to someone, make sure you have a quick pitch about yourself – nothing longer than 10-15 seconds or 2-3 sentences – that describes who you are and what you do. Make sure you don't ramble on and give the other person or persons plenty of time and opportunity to talk about themselves as well.

At the end of the day many people (like me) like to go home and make notes on the business cards they collected as to who they met, where, why, and any other random facts. Darius liked to do something similar, but a bit more involved. He would write down in a notebook the person's info like name, title and company, where they met, how they met, and anything key things he could remember from their conversation, like whether they were married, about to publish a new product, had kids, looking for work, interested in a new tech coming out, etc. This also helped him to train his mind into remembering important things like names and titles.

One of the most important things Darius stressed is not to wait until you're ready to join the industry to go out and start meeting people. You want to have contacts in place already so that you can turn to them for help in getting your first job. Darius attended the GDC when he was still a sophomore in college, three years out from getting a job. When he graduated, his industry contacts helped with lots of advice in landing his first position.

Coverage by Drew Sikora

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