Send them CVs any way. Make sure you have a good demo. Games companies often don't advertise junior roles -- they have a queue of people already waiting to join them.

Go to job fairs, talk to people there.

Find the developers, talk to them in the pub.

Get recommended by friend who already works there.

Join to do something other than development -- retaining good testers is a nightmare and most companies are always looking for more.

All the game studios I've looked at have a requirement of 3 years professional experience. What exactly does that mean? How can you get into the industry if all the jobs require you to have already worked in the industry?

Please go read the Breaking In forum FAQs. Several of them address your question in different ways.

Put simply, studios don't need to do much hunting for entry level positions.

Studios get unsolicited applications all the time. When they actually do need someone, they post internally that they need some good programmers or artists or whatever, and the current workers can give a long list of friends and friends-of-friends that they can vouch for as being competent workers.


Generally when they ask for someone with 3 years of professional experience, that's what they want. They aren't looking for an entry level worker. You can submit your name, but don't be surprised when you either never hear back or hear a rejection.

Ideally they want someone who has shipped one or two or three titles already. Someone who understands what it means to final a game, go through the cert process, and so on.

If it doesn't specifically say game industry experience, they will generally consider people who has worked in a related industry, such as broadcast software, or advertising, or phone/mobile development, or embedded systems development, or whatever is a reasonably close fit.