I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Capital Games in Sep 2017
Interview
It was a phone screen that lasted about 30 minutes. I was interviewed by two of the team leads. There were a lot of technical questions about their game's mechanics to see how familiar I was. Prior to the interview, I had to submit a screenshot of my progress in their game and answer some questions about my interest in video games. These questions were repeated during the phone screen.
Throughout the interview, they were quite "clinical" and not very warm. I could tell the interviewers were very serious about what this job can be and were possibly tired of interviewing people. Be upbeat, but stay focused on their questions. Be specific as possible. They didn't seem responsive to humor at all. Two things that stood out as important to them was finding someone with a good personality fit and someone that is inherently competitive. If brought on, I don't believe there will be much hand-holding, so you have to be prepared to get up to speed on your own.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
Tell us who your least favorite character in the game is and why. Tell us how you could improve that character.
I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Capital Games in Aug 2016
Interview
itial phone screen was with a recruiter at the parent company Electronic Arts. Basic questions about experience with systems, virtual system management and AWS.
Second interview was with the hiring manager. A little more technical but not heavily so.
Third interview was on site and consisted of four back-to-back one-on-one interviews. Team members, hiring manager and technical director. Some technical questions but mostly problem solving hypothetical situations and questions to determine what level of maturity I was at as an engineer.
My overall sense of the studio that it's a positive place to work and that the technology and support processes are up-to-date or advanced. AWS knowledge is pretty critical. Work-life balance seems to be ok which was a concern of mine since EA has a reputation for overworking people. The studio is in a good location, work atmosphere seems fun and the people seem pretty likable and good at what they do.
The one negative is that there was no follow-up. I emailed the following day thanking them and expressing my strong interest. 2 weeks later I hadn't heard anything so I enquired by email to the recruiter and one other. No response until I asked again almost a week later.
The recruiter finally replied that I wasn't the fit they were looking for. That's fine but four hours is a pretty big investment of my time not to receive some sort of decision or feedback. I suspect that the recruiter being with EA instead of with the studio caused them to drop the ball.
