Verifying Candidates Skills

Verifying Candidates' Skills

Okay, so you find a candidate with the right skills on his or her r sum . How do you confirm these skills? References are one way, but if the candidate is currently employed it might be difficult to check references without compromising his situation. If you can speak with references, due to legal concerns, most references offer very few specifics beyond dates of employment and title.

How can you be sure the candidates are as skilled as they claim to be on their r sum ? The games industry has evolved some analytical methods of assessing skills.

• Code samples: Samples can tell you a great deal about someone's coding style. Does this programmer just make the code work, or is the code "concise," "creative," and optimized. Be specific about what type of samples you are interested in seeing. The drawback here is that sometimes a programmer cannot share his best work because of intellectual property and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). If the programmer doesn't feel that he has samples available that he can share that meet your specifications, then a code test can help.

• Code tests: Code tests can be given in place of or in addition to code samples. Before a code test is devised, careful thought should be given as to what skills should be tested. Remember, the type of candidate you are looking for is a games enthusiast, dedicated to his or her project and is most likely working ridiculous hours. The test should consume the least amount of time as possible while still being able to gauge the necessary skills, or lack there of, that you are screening for.

• Math tests: Math skills are crucial to a programmer creating game worlds/environments and the virtual physics that govern them. Math tests are not as common as code tests, but there are studios that feel they are a very useful screening tool for certain engineering positions

• Demo reels: Demo reels have taken on such importance for artists in the video-game industry that virtually all development studios will not even consider an artist without one. Reels and portfolios come in various forms, ranging from VHS tape to CD-ROM. Unfortunately, some artists have difficulty assembling their best work without violating agreements with past and current employers. Avoid misjudgments by asking potential art hires to include a brief guide to their demo reel explaining what tools were used and a description of precisely what they were responsible for in the demo.

• Art tests: Art tests can be designed to ascertain artists' general skills. They can also gauge aptitude with a particular graphics package. While not yet industry wide, art tests are gaining in popularity.