As I’ve mentioned before, video game conferences are fantastic places to try and land a new job in the game industry. Some conferences make a career pavilion a showcase element of the show – GDC is the obvious one. Even if there’s not a dedicated career pavilion, conferences offer you an incredible chance to network with a high concentration of game company employees. These are inherently social events, booze is usually flowing at evening mixers, and there’s plenty of opportunities to make new contacts.
- http://www.scad.edu/events/gdx/2009/ – GDX, Savannah, GA, April 16-17. “Sponsored by the Savannah College of Art and Design and now in its fifth year, the Game Developers eXchange brings together game developers, educators and students with game development experts who share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game industry.”
- http://www.2009.loginconference.com/ – Login, Seattle, May 11-14. From their site: “LOGIN is the conference for leaders and innovators of the online game industry. This annual conference hosted in Seattle each May brings together industry leaders to discuss, collaborate, and share advancements about technology, design, business, community and legal areas of online game development.” Login is on Twitter!
- http://www.gdc-canada.com/ – GDC Canada, Vancouver, May 12-13. “The Game Developers Conference® Canada covers industry-leading methodologies in game design, production, programming, visual arts and writing for big-budget multiplatform games.”
- http://www.e3expo.com/ – E3, LA, June 2-4
- http://seattle.casualconnect.org/index.html – Casual Connect, Seattle, July 21-23
- http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/ – PAX, Seattle, September 4-6. PAX has become one of the biggest fan-focused conferences in the industry. “PAX is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers.”
- http://www.gdcaustin.com/ – GDC Austin, September 15-18
I’m sure I’m leaving out a few – I’ll post as I think/hear about more.