How can I get hired at Epic Games?

Steven Batchelor · 2014-06-27T23:00:10

When I say hired I mean even as a janitor. As a child I happened to play all of the games made by Epic MegaGames. Jazz the Jackrabbit and Jill of the Jungle were in fact the first two video games I played. I started learning to program at 7 to imitate these games and made a pretty neat side scrolling game with a level editor which I later lost due to hard drive crash. In my teens I played countless hours of Unreal Tournament and later Gears of War. These games among others inspired me to start developing a game engine. I realized that Epic games was located in Cary, NC which was close to where I lived, that they were the developers behind the games I played so much as a child, and that they were the developers behind the Unreal engine which happened to be one of the most popular commercial engines. Instantly wanted to work there after realizing all of this. Parents home schooled me and failed to do the proper paper work for me to graduate. Mainly as a result of my ex telling them that I didn't believe in god which lead to them kicking me out and cutting all ties with me. Had to get a GED which in turn means I had to go to a Community College. Community college advisor tells me to take computer programming in order to transfer to NCSU for computer science. Completely wrong, I wasted 3 years to be left with a useless degree and 15k in student loan debt. Not to mention that I put my game engine on the back burning for those three years to focus on school and work. Doubt I have enough years of financial aid left to go back for a general science degree in order to transfer or to finish a computer science degree from scratch even if I were accepted into NCSU. Lost the shitty job I was working at for the past 7 years recently due to a schedule conflict with my classes and am now jobless. I felt the best I could do was move to Cary in order to be closer to Epic Games and NCSU. Now I'm 25, living in Cary, jobless, still have to take community college classes so I don't have to pay back student loans, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to ever achieve my goals. I just want to get my foot in the door because I'm tired of working for years towards this goal and making practically no progress. I would stop at nothing just to get a job there no matter what they have me doing.

Buster2000

4,310

June 23, 2014 07:56 AM

Epic has a general policy that they don't hire programmers unless they have several years of experience in the industry.

I only wish this were true. I have two ex collegues who now work at Epic Games and they can barely program. They got head hunted for basically being forum whores on the Unreal tech forums and on moddb. Neither of them have ever worked on a full game or shiped any of the mods they were supposedly working on.

frob

46,300

June 23, 2014 09:49 AM

Epic has a general policy that they don't hire programmers unless they have several years of experience in the industry.
I only wish this were true. I have two ex collegues who now work at Epic Games and they can barely program. They got head hunted for basically being forum whores on the Unreal tech forums and on moddb. Neither of them have ever worked on a full game or shiped any of the mods they were supposedly working on.

Interesting.

I haven't worked there, but I have talked with some of their bosses who explained the policy. Their biggest feature is that Unreal Engine is heavily licensed. It is easier to take people who are trained elsewhere using the engine and then pick and chose among those with demonstrated skill. You pay a premium for it, but you also don't need to pay to train people up from novice college graduates.

Probably more likely it is just that those specific individuals slipped through the cracks because of forum participation and they took a risk assuming they were better than they were --- which is the very reason to have the policy in place to begin with.

Hodgman

52,718

June 23, 2014 10:20 AM

Is huge part of an interview is just an implicit personality test. If you don't have an instance rapport with your colleagues-to-be, it'll be much harder to be hired.

I know one guy there, and despite fitting in perfectly at Epic, he'd been let to from a previous company during the probation period for... having a conflicting personality... To put it nicely.

From what I hear, Epic have a hiring party at GDC, where potential recruits can mingle with staff, like a big interview-orgy.

To come at it from another angle though --
companies change; the reasons for wanting to work there may no longer be true. Epic Megagames is likely worlds apart from Epic of 2014.
Also, your experience there would also differ depending on your experience -- working there as a vet may be completely different than as a junior.
And as a janitor... really? I know some companies go as far as to include the janitor in the credits, ever ahead of the CEO... But at most companies I've been at, the cleaners are ignored at best, and invisible at worst. Do you really want to be a low-caste sycophant, rather than an actual dev at a different company, which may actually be a better fit than this company. Love isn't always objective, and finding the depressing truth behind that infatuation can often lead to heartbreak ;-)
Better to try to have a whole career, than just blindly love one office.

. 22 Racing Series .

Dcoder

155

June 26, 2014 05:18 PM

Hi Steve, I've been a lead programmer and hiring manager at places like NCsoft and Disney Interactive (where I worked on the Epic Mickey games).

Here's how entry level type dudes made an impression on me and eventually got hired ...

Example programs. This is more important than a Comp Sci degree IMHO. I want to be able to download something "cool" from your website/blog and run it. It needs to run without crashing and work without me having to fiddle too much. I want to see source code too. Your code should compile without errors or warnings and to the best of your ability be easy to understand and follow. If you're going to get hired at Epic your work must be in C++ and should have something to do with the Unreal Engine.
Be super cool and friendly.
Be modest. When you are asked, "How would you rate yourself on C++?", give yourself a low score. It's a trick question. I've been programming AAA video games for 15+ years and I wouldn't give myself anything higher than a 7.

Also, you have a tinge of desperation in your post. Leave that at home :)

And be okay with taking a job at some other studio while you build your Xp. Epic isn't going anywhere soon. You can always apply in a couple years time (hopefully with a shipped game under your belt) if you're not ready yet.

Best wishes,

Seanba

ISDCaptain01

1,499

June 27, 2014 11:00 PM

Hi Steve, I've been a lead programmer and hiring manager at places like NCsoft and Disney Interactive (where I worked on the Epic Mickey games).

Here's how entry level type dudes made an impression on me and eventually got hired ...

Example programs. This is more important than a Comp Sci degree IMHO. I want to be able to download something "cool" from your website/blog and run it. It needs to run without crashing and work without me having to fiddle too much. I want to see source code too. Your code should compile without errors or warnings and to the best of your ability be easy to understand and follow. If you're going to get hired at Epic your work must be in C++ and should have something to do with the Unreal Engine.

Be super cool and friendly.

Be modest. When you are asked, "How would you rate yourself on C++?", give yourself a low score. It's a trick question. I've been programming AAA video games for 15+ years and I wouldn't give myself anything higher than a 7.

Also, you have a tinge of desperation in your post. Leave that at home

And be okay with taking a job at some other studio while you build your Xp. Epic isn't going anywhere soon. You can always apply in a couple years time (hopefully with a shipped game under your belt) if you're not ready yet.

Best wishes,

Seanba