With just two weeks to go until GDC Online, event organizers have detailed the show's Game Career Seminar, a one day event targeted at students, graduates, and other individuals looking to build a career in the games industry.
Taking place Wednesday, October 12, the Game Career Seminar will allow attendees to network with industry professionals, and listen to HR representatives and top developers as they share their insights on what it takes to break into the games business.
This seminar will run as its own dedicated track alongside the Main Conference tracks at the show, which cover Business & Marketing, Customer Experience, Design, Production, and Programming, as well as a sponsored track on Monetization.
Unlike the other tracks at GDC Online, the Game Career Seminar is open to those who purchase the special one day reduced-price Game Career Seminar Pass, as well as All-Access Pass holders. Those who purchase Game Career Seminar passes will also gain access to a keynote from PopCap co-founder John Vechey. To register for a GDC Online pass, please visit the official GDC Online website.
Here are the all the sessions to be announced so far for GDC Online's Game Career Seminar:
- As game education programs become more prevalent, it's important that students understand the challenges and requirements these programs present. In "Surviving an Education at a Game School and Graduating Employable," the Academy of Interactive Entertainment's Christopher Erhardt will go over the essential facts on game education programs, covering the pros and cons of online versus brick-and-mortar classes, what employers look for in graduates, and more.
- As with most professional careers, creating a good resume is key to nailing your dream job in the games industry, and Obsidian Entertainment's Jim Rivers will offer some useful tips and guidelines in, "What to Do Right on a Resume, Cover Letter and Website." Rivers serves as Obsidian's hiring manager -- effectively making him one of the gatekeepers for new developers in the industry -- and he will use his expertise to help attendees improve their resumes, cover letters, and websites.
- Elsewhere, in a panel dubbed, "How NOT to Get a Job in the Game Industry," Foundation 9 global staffing manager Dino McGraw and 38 Studios corporate recruiter Lindsey McQueeney will point out the worst mistakes applicants make when applying for a job in game development. The pair will go over common pitfalls and provide real-world examples to help attendees better prepare for the application process.
- Closing out the day is a panel titled, "Breaking into the Game Biz - Ask the Pros!," in which several renowned industry veterans will answer audience questions and lay out what it takes to truly succeeds in the games industry. Panelists such as indie dev Randy Smith, Pixelsea Entertainment's Tess Snider, and Playdom's Gordon Walton and Raph Koster all have extensive experience working in game development, and can offer some great tips on breaking into game development.
For more details on these or other GDC Europe sessions, please check out the show's official Schedule Builder.
In addition to the above Game Career Seminar sessions, GDC Online organizers recently debuted new sessions within the show's Main Conference, featuring Playdom on the convergence of games and social media, NCsoft West on making City of Heroes free-to-play, and a panel of notable speakers on the future of cloud gaming.
In addition, GDC Online revealed its Student Outreach and Games & Tech programs, which offer free Expo Passes to students and working industry professionals, respectively.
GDC Online will run from Monday, October 10 through Thursday, October 13, 2011 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, and will continue as the leading worldwide event dedicated solely to discussing the development and business trends surrounding connected games -- including casual titles, MMOs, virtual worlds, and social networking games.
For more information on GDC Online as the event takes shape, please visit the official GDC Online website, or subscribe to updates from the new GDC Online-specific news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC Online is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb.
