Internship maybe?

[Kaldaka]

Hello,
Out of curiousity does anyone know if SE-EU offers an intership or graduate program?
I thought about just emailing their HR but feel that even getting a reply would be a one in a million chance.
To be fair, I don't even know if I'm doing the right degree to even sneeze in the direction of the game interesting, but hey I can still look.

So does anyone know?
I read last month about AN intership program, but I think that may have been in the USA if it was true at all.

[Kallivis]

Check their website... there are intern openings when they're available.

To be blunt, if you feel getting a response for an intern inquiry is a one in a million chance, calculate what your chances are of actually getting a job.

Take initiative and if you want a job at Square Enix, pursue it. That involves sending e-mails to them. Not posting on a Final Fantasy XIV forum asking others who have enough trouble maintaining a proper discussion with each other.

[Abriael]

http://eu.square-enix.com/en/jobs

[Kaldaka]

General question on a General Discussion forum. They do appear from time to time.

And I posted purely to find out if it existed in Europe, asking people with a common interest is just another form of community bonding.
I've checked the EU job listing many times but never seen anything about an internship, not to mention I think I get spam filtered

Whether I persued getting a job is irrelevent. Though still a happy little dream

[Vilhem]

You can also ask your professors to find out if your school has something worked out with SE or another company to do internships. Usually, they are in the know about those kinds of things, or they will tell you who to contact in the industry.

These sorts of things, although they are sometimes posted publicly, almost always result from knowing who to talk to or which route to go up in the chain of command. And it usually starts with your professors giving you that liason.

As far as degree goes, there are several positions SE as a company can hire you for. Marketing and Relations, Translation/Localization, Special Effects (Animation), Game Development (animation + game programming), Concept and Development (preproduction, character/environment designs).

And since we're speaking about SE specifically, although it may not state so on a job posting, Japanese fluency is a GREAT thing to have on a resume, and will surely boost your odds of finding work/internship with the company.

[Kaldaka]

Thank you very much!
My lecturer was actually the one I first went to. I swear he was about to start foaming at the mouth though.
However, I actually forgot about the games department lecturer, I've only had one form of contact with him before and that was getting scared stupid since he appeared out of no where. I'm back to Uni Monday so I'll go an mooch about to see if I can find him.

Thank you for breaking it down for me
Pretty sure I'm doing something right then in terms of degree.
After all those departments are relevent to other companies too so even if there is no internship, (which there might be, but I don't know yet) I could essentially work my way up through experience gaining at other places.
(I feel like such a gamer saying such things, I just imagined myself hacking up stacks of paper with a sword)

Doesn't it normally take roughly nine years for someone to become fluent in Japanese? :S Guess I better get started, though french is normlly anothe good one to learn, isnt it? If I'm not mistaken some of the best games related universities in the world are in France, I could be wrong, just recall hearing that a few years back when I started researching where to study.

Thank you again Vil

[Vilhem]

French is a nice addition to have, no doubt about it. I don't know about 9 years to be fluent, some people do it in far less time. It all depends on how dedicated you are to learn the language (lots of outside study time vs just studying it in class). If you're passionate about something, you will seek the information until you have a good grasp of it. This is how I am handling the different aspects of animation. I entered the animation grad school program with no prior animation experience, so it's a lot of outside studying for me to keep up with the students who have an undergrad in animation.

I forgot to mention, also, that various computer/server networking positions are also a route to go. Server admins, computer hardware repair, software security...there are all these other options as well outside of actual game development.

Even if you don't land an internship with SE, Disney almost always has positions open. And yeah, people will say "lolDisney" but that shit is awesome on a resume

[Kaldaka]

I know how you feel, my degree is in animation, I had no prior knowledge before joining, and even insulted my lecturer during the interview - I didn't mean to! I Paniced since he was scary and told him his area of expertise was a dying horse because it's so tasteless. admittedly I didn't know it was his expertise til being accepted onto the course though.

I cringe at disney, they recondition you to draw to their needs @n@; that is the most terrifying thing in the world. Selling your soul to them is like selling it to Red Star(which sadly a friend did. He cries about it a lot). Though I cringe at Disney though, I have no reason to avoid working for them if it ever came down to that.
Have my graduating job placement sorted though, little company in London which seems to enjoy animating like animals...and dead ones...oh so I hope that was a fake animal or they will instantly become a conpany I want nothing to do with.

Currently doing an essay on censorship, animating three projects and working for next years film XD free time goes to sleeping, though I could always look at the rosetta stone packages, they seem to work well from what I've heard.

As far as I know, Disney kidnaps graduates, Pixar and Aardman throw graduates bones and hangs meat over the hungry pack of students before telling us to go and get experience, and game companies make us dance with a banana before telling us no.

[Vilhem]

Yup, that's the industry for ya XD

I had three animation projects this past semester (currently on winter break @_@). Motion Capture was a feat in itself. It was intense, but I had fun. Expecting to do more in the upcoming Spring semester ;D

Disney has its quirks, but there's no better company to learn the industry with, imo (for animation, anyway). I've also considered taking a class or two on game development programming, just so I can have a basic gist of how the pipeline works, but meh @ programming >_>

As payment for my consultations, I demand you hand over your French brains. I've been studying the language on and off for a few years now, and am always looking to build vocabulary D:

[Kaldaka]

"I'm going to change to games design after Y2 is over"
"Unless you want to do programming I'm not letting you leave my course. Everything you are currently doing will get you to the front door"
Or so that conversation with my lecturer went in September. He kissed my backside for a month to stop me from leaving the course, to be honest, it worked. Last year we hated each other, this year we get along great
I have no brain for code and what not. Unless it's the obvious kind then it'd be easier having a conversation with a brick wall.

Wonder whatever happened to the SE animation studio? They still around I wonder. Will have to look into that next week when back at a computer.

Unless your dream is to work for disney or one of their subsidaries, they tend to always get used as a stepping stone.
Personally I'm going for an impractical route after I graduate. Going to make a short animation and skip off towards the local festivals.

I studied french when I was very young as a lot of my homes history is french, road names, surnames. Most pre-WW2 history was french related. So they start teaching you when you're six. I couldn't even read or write English then (It was thanks to ffvii that I learned to read!) So never got into it, but often find myself chatting with a friend who lives in France and pick up on some yhings she says. So I would have a better chance at French than Japanese. Though, I think Japanese is a nice language, it is very gentle on the ears I find.
I wonder is bi-lingual is a criteria most companies ask for now adays.

Have you gotten to play with green screen yet?