FAQs

A couple of the soft skills that our community recommends that you familiarize yourself with and continually try to improve in are the following:

• Interpersonal Skills such as active listening, open communication, empathy, and humility.
• Familiarizing yourself with with core UR and GUR concepts. You can find out more about them here
• Public speaking and presenting
• Be comfortable not knowing things and seeking out answers

Unfortunately, it is common to go through multiple rounds of interviews and not receive an offer. There can be several great applicants for each role, and sometimes the decision is not even up to the hiring manager but rather their superiors. The key thing is to keep applying. Even if you don’t get an offer, each interview is an opportunity to learn and improve for the next one. Don’t get discouraged and keep trying, remember that the hiring manager and recruiter will likely stay in the industry and any form of harassment towards them is not going to help your chances at all.

The answer here, especially for larger organizations, is “lots”. Make sure that when you are applying for roles, your resume stands out from the rest and crucially mentions that you are passionate about and want to work in GUR, and not that you are randomly applying for every job at company X. Hiring managers can see that.

Hiring processes can be long and arduous for all involved, sometimes taking up to 6 months or even longer. It is best practice to not apply for jobs that you cannot accept within the next 12 months. Remember that you could be competing with someone who has a 3-month notice period! The big tip here is to have your availability on your application and let the employer decide. You may get an interview for a future role as companies want to keep a pool of potential future hires and hiring managers having a handful of pre-cleared candidates can help expedite the process for future roles. Keep in mind that HR operates on its own schedule, so be patient and stay engaged with the company.

The age old question that transcends all industries! Here are some tips gathered from our community:

• To get into the games industry, start by working on your own usability and/or heuristic evaluations of games. Consider posting this on a blog or including it in job submissions to show your interest and skills.
• Reach out to local indie or solo developers and see if they would be interested in having a volunteer researcher for a one-off project. This can help you gain experience and build your portfolio.
• If you’re a student, consider joining a game development club at your university. This can provide an opportunity to work on projects and network with others who are starting off in the industry.
• Importantly for junior roles: Have a piece of work to talk about when applying for jobs. This will give the hiring manager something concrete to consider and may make them more likely to want to talk to you.
• If you’re in academia, consider doing a game-related project, even if it’s not directly related to usability and user experience. This can help you gain experience and show your passion for the industry.
• Get a mentor or have a look through the other initiatives in our Discord that we use to connect folks in the industry with new prospects.

Some of the biggest differences between academia and industry are research timelines and creating actionable insights with your work. While the methods for collecting and analyzing data may be similar, the biggest challenge is often taking the broad, abstract insights and turning them into specific, actionable steps. Keep in mind that industry folks are looking for practical solutions to real-world problems, so be sure to focus on finding actionable steps that the developer can take to improve their product. Remember that the folks you’re working with can have development cycles of as little as two weeks, so getting the findings to them fast and with good momentum is crucial.

When working in the industry you are likely to be involved in a much larger organization and you’ll need to be able to collaborate effectively with other team members and stakeholders, communicate your findings clearly and be flexible in adapting your work into the organization’s timelines and bandwidth.

Firstly, it is important to recognize that while non-game industry experience is valuable, it may not always be directly translatable to games user research. However, there are two key things you can do to prepare yourself for a transition into games research:

Firstly, it is beneficial to have experience with broader research methods. You can become familiar with Game User Research (GUR) concepts through books, online courses, and workshops.

Secondly, creating your own body of research in games is encouraged. Participating in game jams, such as the Global Game Jam, is a great way to start building your portfolio. You can find game jams on platforms like itch.io. Even if you don’t have experience with game development, you can get involved in game jams and learn from other participants. In-person game jams can be particularly useful for networking and meeting people in the industry.

It is also important to familiarize yourself with game-specific research methodologies, such as playtesting and telemetry, as well as the development cycle and timelines of game teams. Keep in mind that working in entertainment often involves a lot of secrecy, so it is crucial to handle customer data with the utmost privacy.