Just showed up. Got to play Fable 2 pre-release, tour the studio. Kinda crazy tbh

Thanks! I've applied! Would be a bit of a dream tbh

Haha amazing! There is a high probabilty I watched one at some point.

What is true is that following your passions, being part of a community and seizing the opportunities that present themselves are all still important and vital parts of starting and mantaining a career.

When I started, I didn't really know anyone in the games industry. Very few studios are able to host work experience ( I don't think it lasted long after I did it). Everyone's path into the industry is different; mine doesn't even exist any more.

I also got a lot of help from Charlie Edwards who was a designer at the time and now runs Pixel Count. He would check up on me from time to time.

When the SEGA job ended a few years later, I ended up at Ninja theory. The lead there Rob was ex-Lionhead and I was recommended by the Lionhead folks.

After the two weeks the QA folks said they weren't hiring until next year and they'd be happy for me to apply. They also gave me a list of nearby places who were hiring QA.

Two weeks later (!!!) I had gotten my first QA job at SEGA Europe.

Small aside, when I told the B&B I was staying at what I was doing the owner said:
"Oh Linhead, sometimes they pay us to put new employees up. The last time I went there someone was skating in the corridor."

They had a post on the forums that said you could do work experience at the studio. I e-mailed in and initially heard nothing back. I followed up and discovered they'd pencilled me in.

I spent a lovely two weeks largely based with the QA dept, though folks from other depts went and spoke to me.