Gotta get my thoughts out

Just got back about an hour ago from a social gaming panel Peanut Labs (my co) hosted.
It was amazing! Here's who the panel consisted of if you wanted to know:
- Daniel James, Co-founder and CEO, Three Rings
- Wilson Kriegel, VP of Business Development and Ad Sales, Outspark
- Lisa Marino, Chief Revenue Officer, RockYou
- Mark Rose, Director of Product, Payments and Platform, Playspan
- Eric Eldon, Editor, Inside Social Games
- Jonathan Flesher, VP of Business Development, Zynga

These people are all the big guys and girl in the social gaming enviornment right now.
I especially loved what Wilson Kriegel and Daniel James talked about - how their predictions for 2010 consisted of the next step and evolution of games on facebook and how businesses must adapt and increase their revenue immensely (100-200%) to stay alive and keep the train going. James had some wild predictions like facebook and facebook gaming will peak this year (http://thefloggingwillcontinue.com/) which I have to agree with. All these games popping up virally are crap and developers know it. Whats the next type of game we'll see and let's see how fast the user will chew it up and want the next thing. Craziness i tell you!

Anyways, what was first a panel discussion turned into a networking game where the CEO of my co told me to go and meet some people and watched me the whole time lol. Hesitant at first(gimme a break its been years?) but once it got going, it became natural and tbh pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to working more and networking more at GDC this year. Turns out that we're doing a huge party too. 2010, great year so far

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I'm an intern....again

Things have been crazy since 09.
Got a job at sony, lost the job at sony (they moved dept to sd).
Moved in with Lyn and skippy to Foster City.
And now i'm interning at this place in SF, yes its ironic that now i'm further south, I find a job up here.

Its great so far, learning a ton and showing my team that I'm very capable of what they're throwing at me. I'm hoping to prove to them in the shortest amount of time that I deserve this job and can do more. The 2 week trial is almost up and after that I'll be a permanent intern for the time being. Afterwards, If I last 1 month, they'll give me a little something something to pay the bills/bart. Then, hopefully a full time job! so far I'm trying to stand out from among the interns they have here by just being more awesome. and of course i come in earlier stay later sort of thing.

Lyn commented that I'm doing so much work for them and i'm not even being paid, which she's right as Ive heard just recently one of the interns here just left for a paid gig somewhere else. Im secretly hoping they'll come to their senses and just start paying us sooner, ha, wishful thinking.

In the meantime, ill hold my ground here, take what I can and create the opportunity myself, whether its w/ them or someone else we'll see. I do like this co tho and the people are all pretty cool, minus the smelly dudes outside our office. wtf take a shower then come in to work

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QA is definitely the right track

I just peeped this craigs post for an Associate Producer, which I hope to be one day.
A lot of it consists of QA experience, bug tracking, know the software and managing it. So, looks like I'm on the right track. Ad post next page


Responsibilities

Assist in PC/Mac downloadable and online web-playable game production by way of, but not limited to:

* scheduling
* resource management
* obtaining internal approvals
* asset delivery
* other production tasks assigned as necessary
* Own the QA process by managing internal and external QA resources. Create test plans and review bug reports.
* Work closely with creative services, engineering, marketing and other departments to produce casual single player and multiplayer games.
* Work with external game development agencies to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery of projects.
* Work with marketing team to create marketing materials related to properties.
* Facilitate communication of key production aspects as determined by the Producer.
* Maintain and help manage multiple products through the entire production process including pre-production and post-production.

Qualifications

* Minimum 2 years of industry experience in production of games.
* Strong QA background highly desirable.
* Experience working on multiple projects across multiple teams, both internal and external.
* Ability to manage work plans, track status and manage team for complex product development.
* Excellent written, communication and interpersonal skills.
* Passionate gamer who understands web, casual and hardcore audiences and behavior. Strong casual games knowledge a huge plus as well as knowledge of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace.
* Must be a highly motivated team player with a good sense of leadership and strong collaboration skills.
* Strategic critical thinker with a high attention to detail.
* Proficient in MS Office (especially Word, Excel, Project, Visio) and Adobe Photoshop.
* Experience with bug tracking systems such as Jira or Bugzilla.
* Experience managing QA, both internal and external.
* Creative, with an interest in game design.
* Strong PC and MAC technical knowledge.

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QA at Sony!

I finally have a job, it's not great, doesn't pay well, and I work with a lot of idiots haha. But! It's really fun, I'm learning a ton about the game industy and how the development process works and it's a great foot in the door for my dream job.

It's basically game testing at Sony, working on uncharted 2, which kicks ass for me coz I loved the first one plus there's multiplayer which makes testing more refreshing.

Sucks I couldn't find something a bit better so I could buy a house but it's cool, might move into a new apartment soon and get away from this college town. Another plus for having a job, parents can stop bothering me about it. They'll prolly go back to me with marriage so they can get their grandkids asap.

Thinking of blogging about my successes and failures with my job search and help some peeps out

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