Starting new job, feeling nervous - need advice/anecdotes!

Professional
#1

Hi all,

I’ve received an offer from a great company, would be a huge step up for me in terms of quality of living and career development. I’m looking at it as a challenge and opportunity to become a “big boy” tech artist.

However, my experiences from my (soon to be former) employer has left me with some jitters… I’ve received very little positive reinforcement, and have been kind of lost in the shuffle with little mentorship or guidance. I’ve been my company’s only tech artist, and have been mostly left to my own devices. It’s worked out since I’m a great self learner, but has also left me with a lot of question marks about my own abilities.

At this new job, I’ll finally be working alongside other TA’s, and supporting a sizable art team. I’m excited, but… nervous. I’m worried about how useful I’ll be on day 1, and then how long it’ll take me to ramp up to being as productive as the other TA’s. I’m coming from a 3d-to-2d pipeline, and would be switching to pure 3d, which is a whole new world of challenges and puzzles for me.

My big concern is some of the skills I didn’t need to use as much before (rigging, 3d optimization and integration, shaders) I’ll need to get much better at, which I know I can do, I’m just worried about how much guidance or direction they’ll be willing to give me. I’m sure they realize that a new TA coming from a completely different pipeline will need a little training, but how much is too much?

Would love some advice or stories from TA’s who have changed companies and been presented with big challenges out of their comfort zone.

EDIT: also, this will be a cross-country move for me… so I’d really be going “all in” on this… so the thought of crashing and burning is pretty terrifying!

#2

Don’t expect to be useful the first week. You’ll probably spend the days getting setup, learning about the project, the structure, the company values, etc etc etc.

Try to take small bugs and features on your first tasks, don’t go in and be like “I want to rewrite all your pipeline”.

Try to draw parallels from what you know and how this new place is setup, it’s usually very similar (even to college productions). Just spend the time learning who everyone is and who are the experts, who to ask when you need help and who are the artists that are going to be your major consumers/beta testers.

And just be nice =) People will forgive a lot from a nice new person.

#3

Agreed. When I first started at RAD, they have a pretty cool idea for new folks: Your first week project. It could be anything, just do something cool with the current pipeline and show it off after your first week. That way you don’t feel pressure to actually be productive while you’re learning the tools.

If they don’t have something like this, then I’m guessing you’ll be reading a lot of code. a lot. So just try your best to get familiar with everything and what their process is like. Like ikruel said, most of these pipelines are pretty similar. Art -> Game :slight_smile:

My biggest piece of advice is never be afraid. If you see a task or system or get assigned one that you are completely unfamiliar with, don’t be afraid of it. Just embrace it, dig in and learn. Its like a fun roller coaster.

#4

Bring cookies, and make sure that when they send out the “Welcome ___ to the company!” email, they mention the cookies.

#5

All good points! One thing I tell new people during their first month or so is to find the smallest change that they could make that would have the greatest benefit. Not execute the change, but find it. Kind of like the first week project, it gives the newcomer a goal and gets them looking at how things are done and why. It is also valuable to me, as the director who’s been there 5+ years to get fresh eyes on the issues at hand (or discover ones we haven’t noticed).

Best of luck!

Chad

#6

I can’t give you really tips for how to get into a team as TA, as I grew into TA working in current company. Everything is about finding opportunities.
I came into current company as an apprentice 3D guy (modelling/texturing/general) and I’ve been assigned to extremely boring task. Eg. open 40 scenes change few attributes, relink some textures -> save -> send to render farm. And I had to do that 30 times. First few days I have been shy and obeyed. At the end of the week I told to myself that there should be better way of doing this stuff. I spend whole weekend looking stuff up and made a script that did all 1000 scenes next monday. Funny thing is that I was worried that if I do this in a day, they will just fire me, because I did all work I had to do for now. But they embraced my ideas and ability to adapt very quickly. From that day forward I was appointed for all technical stuff regarding pipeline/versioning/tools and I still keep growing as full-time technical artist.

Pointers for new guy? Don’t be afraid to ask others what are they doing and looking at their screen for ten minutes. Just try to get an idea how their pipeline works and if you see any improvements -> suggest them… or just put in few extra hours and present it to others next day. Everyone will be happy to see they got someone in team that has motivation and skill too see room for improvement.

#7

I agree with what’s been said, reiterating the key points I believe.

1)build a small tool to show your worth in the first week! Something simple that plagues the old pipeline, that people will “ohhhhhh” about. Even if it’s small they will realize you are useful.
2)bring beer!
3)it’s going to take a while for you to kick ass, but you can kick ass at learning when you start.
4)agree with the sentiment that don’t come in saying, “I’m going to redo the pipeline.” You woln’t know the intricacies of the pipeline for months depending on how big the place is.
5)just learn, pay attention, and for god sake, take notes.

#8

Coming from being the only TA to a team you might have an “I must solve it myself” tendency.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. You’ll be expected to do your own work of course, but Nobody will fault you for asking how to approach a problem.
I try to remind myself that I’m working with people who potentially know waaaay more than I do, and not be afraid to ask.
Generally its along the lines “I’m thinking of trying X as a solution, what do you think?”
In my experience, engineers and TAs love talking shop, explaining how they approach stuff, and how their code works.

#9

Having moved between companies with traditions for TA’s (and who employ more than one) and companies without, I would say that you are likely to have a better and easier time at the company the has multiple TA’s. Double true if you are the type that like’s to stand on the shoulders of others and not re-invent the wheel the whole time. As has been said, most all TA’s are a pretty laid back bunch, that are happy to share their knowledge.

Finally no employer is going to expect you to be very productive in the first week or two (at least not for something as broad as tech art at a games company), unless they make you solve a clearly defined task, they know is within your comfort zone and that can be solved without knowing much of the surrounding pipeline.

So take it easy :slight_smile:

#10

Btw. I would suggest that you make sure that all the practical stuff surrounding relocating and starting work in a new country is sorted. Like a place to stay, telephone, bank account, necessary registrations and papers to be filled, tax consideration (issues with double taxation) and so on. Some of this you cannot do before leaving home, but at least you need to have time to deal with it when you arrive and potentially some assistance.

If it’s a permanent position, the company should ideally provide you with relocation services that help you with all of this, before you leave home and for a while after you get settled in (a 3. party company could be preferred depending on the HR department and their experience/engagement). They should also offer some kind of temporary accommodation. If not permanent, try to get them to sort you out anyway or consider paying for a relocation service yourself.

Nothing worse than wanting to perform at your new job, while everything outside work is chaos, that you don’t have time to deal with, cause you are working you new job… Having previously taken a 1 year contract abroad, I was being asked to start working on day 1 of arrival, a week after landing the job, with no practicalities sorted at all. Thus I learned the hard way :slight_smile:

#11

All good feedback. We have close to 15 TA’s in house and generally when we hire someone they don’t come in guns a-blazing. We expect them to take some time and get familiar with the pipeline, current tools and code. I think playing in the area you are most familiar with or interested in is quite handy and the “find-something” idea is quite useful overall. The ask questions part I’ve seen a fair amount of discussion over. I for one am totally fine with new folks asking plenty of questions, and taking notes :). However, others find it distracting and burdensome. I can’t say I agree particularly if there isn’t a great deal of “useful” documentation for pipelines and processes.

A big pet peeve of mine. If you are going into a new studio and you came out of lets say “Dave School” and you are completely in Love with Lightwave, complaining about the studio using another piece of software exclusively is not very becoming. If you are an artist or tech artist picking up new tools and processes is just part of the game and hearing, “it’s so much better in this or that” time after time can be exhausting. It very well may be better or faster but just upgrading software is an undertaking let alone considering to change an entire software tool set. Not saying you will do that but something to keep in mind for others reading. If you don’t care for the software a studio is using don’t accept the job. If you consider it a learning opportunity and a challenge then booyah, you win!

[QUOTE=lkruel;22092]
And just be nice =) People will forgive a lot from a nice new person.[/QUOTE]

Also, this. I would hope the folks you will be working with will be nice as well.

#12

There’s 6 people here in the team where I work and asking questions is a really great advice! Team work is soooo important in a field as wide as tech art, and nobody can know everything. During probation I really look for how well new TAs interact with the team because we have projects and tasks where people just need to work together. Asking questions also makes you appear interested, and if you really feel that something existing could be improved, ask about it rather than demanding a change and coming across as a know-it-all wiseass. Also, keep your eyes open - as newcomer you have one big advantage - you’re still untainted by any corporate blindness and may see things the locals don’t notice. Just be diplomatic when pointing stuff out :wink:

Usually the first week is just getting settled down, getting our tools set up, getting familiar with tech. Then its mostly smaller support tasks so you see the studio, get to know the people, projects and tech. With juniors or people who do not 100% fit in skill wise it’ll also show me where interests and strengths lie.

The other good advice here from Randall, don’t be a software evangelist. Software are tools that let us do our job and there’s tons of awesome tools! Choose the one that is best for the job. See new tools as a chance to learn something, not as an obstacle.

Also focus on getting to know the team dynamics and their work styles. Also get to know what your boss expects from you in terms of independence, feedback, etc. Working in a team can be a quite different experience. You may have to check with other people more than taking a “just do it” approach, although it was the right thing to do when you were all alone. Often you cannot just go ahead and fix things on your own - you have to work with a team and keep people updated. Keep in mind you don’t have to do everything yourself any more - if a task is outside your expertise then it may be more efficient to check with your boss and see if someone can help you or take it over (work smarter, not harder :wink: ). Yes there’s glory in solving something super difficult, but as a company we also care about man hours spent on the task.

Randall also mentioned this, which is my personal pet peeve: I want to see everyone with a notebook and a pen! It really irks me when people aren’t even prepared to take notes. How do you know before a meeting, or before checking a problem at someone’s desk, that you’ll remember it all? Be prepared! (it’s important, and it makes you look professional :slight_smile: )

Good luck!