Tomorrow marks my 6 months at Valve, crazy. Gathering some thoughts to talk about my time here so far. Folks seemed really interested in hearing about my experience as a new hire back in May, so I think I'll post some updates tmrw?
I guess I'll just thread off yesterday's tweet which people seem interested in. To start, these were some of my thoughts from my first week in May
the TL:DR version of my 6 month update is that I could have written that first week thread in any other week since because I still feel like I'm learning so much every day, and that I look forward to be at my desk at 9 and by 5 I'm always like "how is it 5 already?!"
Again I'd like to emphasize this is just my personal experience, and if you ask even other Campo folks that started with me, they will likely have a very different perspective. But all I can share is my own thoughts from my seat and hopefully that's enough for anyone reading
My primary expertise is 3D environment art, and I try to focus most of my day on it. For the first couple of months, I spent a lot of non-art time actually just talking to people in various disciplines, and everyone have been supremely generous with their time and attention
Pretty early on I signed up to be part of hiring, to learn how to interview candidates. Hiring at Valve is very cross-disciplinary, and if you're a "Learner", you're paired with "Expert" during the process. Through that I've met a lot of other Valve folks and absorbed a lot
I feel like I've had many really meaningful conversations with artists, animators, programmers, hardware folks, game designers, product designers, our psychologist (yup!), business folks etc about what kind of person tend to succeed at Valve, and what that success can look like
Outside of hiring, I've had really in-depth chats with folks in localization, legal, support, our economist (yup!) over lunches/coffees, which I really treasure. In no other time in my career have I been allowed, let alone encouraged, to learn from so many ppl "outside my lane"
During the summer, the whole office made a trip to visit our off-site (but still local) hardware R&D area, full of incredible CNC machines, laser cutters and other insane contraptions that we're again, not only allowed, but encouraged to learn how to use (spouses can use too)
Nobody here has ever made me feel like I don't belong. If people recognize that I'm new, it's only been to say how excited they are about what I'm bringing to the company. At every meeting I've ever been in, I sit at the table just like someone who's been here over a decade
Speaking of meetings, there isn't a lot of that here at Valve, but there are some I choose to attend. There is a big meeting room near the cafeteria nicknamed the Fishbowl because anyone can see who's in it, and the intent is that anyone curious about it can find out and/or join
I have started sitting in the Steam Biz lunch meetings where a lot of big business issues are discussed with the group. Gosh I have learned so much about Steam and the industry in general. Every time it's like "holy shit how am I in this room" but of course this is the Valve way
My most cherished meeting though is the weekly Thursday Designer meeting. Think product design (visual communication), not game design for this in particular. To me it is singularly the most creatively collaborative workshop time I've ever experienced, I absolutely LOVE it
I love it because designers from every part of the company can share/talk about what they're working on and the problems they need help with. It's just a masterclass in creative critique. From typology, web design, branding, packaging, logos, the International, jfc everything
Sometimes it's very easy to forget that Valve is a company of ~360 ppl, and lots of teams are 20-30 ppl or fewer. If you own something, you own it. There is no committee on that decision. Often it's YOUR creative choice, and you have to find consensus, collaboration & feedback
If that sounds terrifying, it kind of is! But so far I have found folks at Valve to be incredibly supportive, and every discussion I've had, even ones I have disagreed with, to be constructive and in good faith. In these times that's not a given, and I don't take it for granted
Another non-art thing I've chosen to spend time on is Indie outreach. In the last couple of yrs I think Valve has done more specific outreach like hosting/sponsoring roundtables at dev events to gather thoughts and feedback from indie developers. I think that's really valuable.
In Oct I traveled with a few Valve folks to Austin TX to be at Fantastic Arcade to meet with some mid-sized partners and also to meet with indie devs. Even tho I was part of the indie community it was rare that I heard about folks' business concerns, I learned so much
The crazy thing about being at Valve is that, there is SO much to do, but if you do choose to do something, often the barrier to getting it done is very low. If you want to make a change, you advocate for it, ask around, and you can often get something done within a few days.
Anyway, I should probably wrap this up. If you want to ask me questions in private, my DM is open.
By the way, if you're wondering how many times I've rolled my desk, it's only been once so far. CS:GO needed out of their sardine can so we gave them our Mt Rainier view heh.
By the way, if you're wondering how many times I've rolled my desk, it's only been once so far. CS:GO needed out of their sardine can so we gave them our Mt Rainier view heh.
