Expanding the Network

The creative field is one of, if not the most, difficult fields to gain recognition for what you do as well as hardest to gain work. Working in the industry, one will simply not have a stable role for a long period of time (Or rarely). So how can we promote ourselves to help better our chances of recognition and employment?

Social Media is a powerful thing. We all know that websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can all aid in people gaining recognition. But if you are only new to the field or industry, how will you actually get followers? It's all well and good having amazing websites, portfolios and what not, but this simply is not enough as there are thousands more out there.

This is where creatives have to be savvy and start networking. Communication is key and we simply have to talk to as many industry people as possible. More friends/allies means more recognition and potentially a job. The industry is very much a 'who you know' structure, and this is why it pays to start early.

For me, I am fortunate that I have already started communicating and know some developers. One of my friends runs his own Indie studio (Shout out to Moresome Games) and I have discussed with him over time how difficult the industry can be. Having finally moved to Melbourne, I will be attending several regular Game Dev Meetups when the occur.

Another step I will be taking is using social media platforms such as Twitter to potentially get in contact with existing studios, be it AAA or Indie, and engage them in some sort of conversation regarding development processes and hurdles that they ran into. My goal is to try and work towards some of the smaller lesser known studios who might appreciate this type of communication.

Event's such as these are key to gaining local allies and potential employment. Through conversation anything is possible. "Oh what's that? You are looking for a programmer? Funny you say that I heard the guys over at X studio are after a lead coder. Go have a chat with them." Conversations like this occur, and all of the time.

One of the other most important things to remember is to be a person. An easy thing to do is to slip into being the robot. The kind and formal denizen of the internet that has no personality. No - what people are looking for is something interesting and intriguing. A reason to look further into why they should work with you or even promote your work. One must portray themselves how they want to be seen.

#CIU111