Seattle Video Game Industry Job Conference

Well, the ... job fair with the oppressively long name ... is over now, and it was a roaring success. Over 600 attendees, well over what The Game Initiative had anticipated, and it's now a possibility that we might end up getting a full-fledged game conference out here, like the one they hold in Austin.

I made some great contacts, learned a few tricks to giving my resume a boost in the eyes of hiring managers, gave some advice to those still looking to get into the industry, had lunch with some great folks from Monolith and Sony Online Entertainment, and chatted with some nice people from Valve, Mobliss, and Mary-Margaret.com.

Most valuable was the session on transferrable skills. I kept forgetting just how much actual industry experience I have (it's fairly impressive considering how many people there don't have a single game credit ... I have four), but I also have a lot of other skills over my 10+ years in the job market that are applicable if I just capitalize on them. Strangely enough, I found that my resume, while great for the types of jobs I've had previously, was holding me back to some degree in my industry, so I added a simple section to be beginning to get those specific experiences into the "10-second window". We'll see how that works out.

Overall, I had a great time, and I would definitely consider it money well spent.