If you’ve been through Romania recently you’ve probably seen the “We hire!” signs by King (especially in Vama Veche, nice move!). The studio in Bucharest has been in a hiring spree in the last year or so and I assume it’s not really easy to find good people. And it’s not related to King as a company (they are one of the gaming company I really admire), but I think it’s related to the availability of talent in Romania.
While there are some great gaming companies in Romania, I really don’t think there’s enough workforce in the country right now with the right skills, at the right level to be hired in the gaming companies. Anybody that wants to create a team that’s bigger than 10 people has to train juniors at some point to get all the skills it needs (I might be wrong, but this is my feeling as someone deeply involved with the industry for the last year and a half).
And I remember meeting someone at the Hamburg Casual Connect earlier this year that was the Dean of the Gaming studies at a university in Hamburg. I mean, they have a curricular, you can actually choose gaming as a career and use the 4 years of college to get prepared for that.
I wonder, what should be done to do something similar in Romania? I have no idea right now, frankly, but I was thinking about it as I saw that a dental company in Romania (Dentestet) decided to create a school of dental technicians just because they need the skills in their company (link here in Romanian, and translation in English).
MavenHut is still a small company, but we might actually try to do this in the years to follow: create our own courses just to train new possible hires (you see the plans for MavenHut, right? :D ).
On the other hand, why wouldn’t art universities had a course of gaming art? Or the tech universities have a course of gaming programming? Or, even more surprising, economics universities should have gaming project management courses (and every studio head in Romania cringes right now).
I am not proposing something (at least not yet), as it’s something I was thinking about and I wish I knew what your opinion on the subject is.
Later edit: apparently, “the Ion Mincu Architecture University in Bucharest has a course on Level Design for several years now”, so it can be done (thanks, Claudiu, for the tip)
Later later edit: a good thing with this post was that I found more on the subject, like the class on Game Design at the Ion Mincu Architecture University.
P.S.: in the meanwhile, later tonight (Thursday, October 10th) you can attend a great panel on indie game at TechHub (how to create them, how to promote them, what results can you expect aso). Maybe these meetups are the seeds we need to get to the Gaming University of Romania. I would love to attend some classes there :D
Mihai
daca n-ai priceput pina la virsta asta cum ‘functioneaza’ femeile, too bad for you, mr. cea-mai-buna-sursa-de-informatii-IT&T-pe-o-raza-de-300km !! (sa-nteleg ca si Bulgarii conteaza pe ajutorul tau?)
Bobby Voicu
=)) ma speriasem, vazusem in dreapta un comment scris de “JustMe”, si stateam si ma gandeam cand am facut eu asta aici…dar daca totusi e un comment al “tizei” mele (ar fi culmea numele real sa fie la fel ca nick-ul) hai sa comentez si eu, ca tot vroiam sa fac asta pe tema asta…asa zisele fete “independente”, care nu cer ajutor, sunt niste fraiere dupa mine, ce e prea mult strica, nici sa fii prea nesimtita sa ceri mereu ajutor, cum mai fac eu uneori, dar daca nu am descurc asa bine si vreau sa invat ce vreti, dar nici sa stai saptamani in sir sa iti bati capul cu lucruri pe care singura nu ai cum sa iti dai seama de ele. Oricum ar fi, fata sau baiat uneori e bine sa ceri ajutor. Ma uit la mine cate am invatat in ultima perioada despre net si alte chestii cerand ajutorul…si apropo’ de asta azi o voi face iar, voi cere ajutorul pentru un program de instalat cu linux la un prieten care le stie foarte bine. Drive safe u all…
Claudiu Gedo
@get a grip, respira… usor… si du-te la scoala sa inveti la gramatica gradele de comparatie (sa vezi ca poti sa spui “foarte bun” si folosind exagerari) ;
@just me: multumesc 🙂 good luck with linux 🙂 eu am facut trecerea de vreo jumatate de an si nu m-am uitat inapoi 🙂
Bobby Voicu
@bobby: ai dreptate, dar daca accepta mana de ajutor nu mai poate sta imbufnata toata seara si la cele treijde intrebari ale lui pe tema:” ce-ai patit, iubito, de ce esti necajita?”, sa ii raspunda uitandu-se urat:” N-am nimic!”. Si cand il simte ca ajunge la disperare, sa-i curga lacrima pe obraz si sa-i marturiseasca ca: “avea dreptate mama, nu-ti pasa de mine, m-ai lasat sa ma chinui cu rucsacul/programul x, ce daca am zis ca nu vreau ajutor, trebuia sa simti ca o zic doar asa…”
Misterul feminin, deh 🙂
Marcel
^:)^ negreanu is history….Bravo varuu :D/
Dragos Geornoiu
ai scapat… la tancuri sau la graniceri 🙂
Bobby Voicu
numai bine, tot trebuie sa imi schimb permisul :)) sa nu ma mai caute astia cu arcanul 😀
Dragos Geornoiu
Suna a Fight Club doar ca are mai putina violenta.
Insomniac :).
Bobby Voicu
bah, nu tin minte sa fie vreo intrebare cu colanti, dar eu stiu ca am zis ca port push-up bra :))
Marcel
unde bem? cand bem? 😀
Marcel
Costin, te-a bagat la spam, scuze pentru intarziere 😀
Multumesc de informatie #:-s
Acum pot sa imi schimb si eu adresa din buletin linistit :))