Our annual Meet & Greet event is one of the absolute highlights for the second-year students at Futuregames. In preparation for their six months of internship we invite big and small game companies to interview students for open internship positions, as well as taking part in an open mingle. This is where most of our students get their internship spots and make contacts before heading into the industry. For the companies this is a great opportunity to fill their need of talent with skilled junior developers and take note of individuals for future openings.
Crackshell, creators of Hammerwatch and Serious Sam’s Bogus Detour, is one of the companies visiting us today. Last year they took in their first intern from Futuregames. Today they’re back for Meet & Greet 2018 looking for a level designer. “When we take in an intern, our goal is always to employ the person after the internship ends. It’s a big investment for us to train someone and to introduce them to the way we work at Crackshell”, says Victor Ankarberg, Game Artist at Crackshell.
At the interviews the students present their portfolios, introduce themselves as professionals, ask questions and discuss together with the company representatives. EA DICE is one of the largest game companies in Sweden, famous for the Battlefield, Mirror’s Edge and Star Wars Battlefront series, and are always interested in meeting new students. “People sometimes have the idea that you need to be the best in the world in your field to work at DICE. We are all human and we want to coach people to become the best developers they can be”, says Terri Kim Bell, Senior Recruiter and Mikael Hellberg, Content Craft Manager.
At Paradox Interactive, the studio and publisher behind games such as Europa Universalis and City Skylines, the goal today is to promote internships that need to be filled as well as promoting the company to spread understanding and knowledge about who they are.
As for what the companies expect from the students, preparation is key. “We understand that it can be nerve-wracking to talk to a big company”, says Carima El Houri from Avalanche Studios. When being asked about what they expect from the students at the interview, Carima replied “We expect them to have a good overview of what they want from the meeting and showing finished portfolios. It’s great when someone has practiced what key things they want to discuss”.
Best of luck to all our second-year students today and we hope to see a lot of internship contracts being written in the near future.
Applications for International Students are open until May 16.
Antonio Obeid is a Lebanese student attending Futuregames Warsaw remotely, due to difficult times.
Meet Fredrik Borg, to learn more about the Game & UX Design education and what it's like to study in Skellefteå.
