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Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

ballardgames.com

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Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#51

Post by rockyj »

lone-cloud wrote: post #40

This sounds like an incredibly toxic hiring process and not a company I'd ever want to work for. So you apply for a job and in response they (maybe) email you back asking for your expected salary (great way to filter out anyone worth hiring btw) and if you're cheap enough they then ask you to do work on a take home assignment. Everyone here thinks that this is okay and they want to be interviewed this way? "Since we…

I assume you have never seen the German software recruitment process. 6+ rounds spread over 3 months (with no ghosting in the middle if you are lucky). Here is the current process -

- Apply online

- Initial screening with recruiter if they like your resume (book a 45 mins slot)

- Take home assignment or online assessment (2 -4 hours)

- First technical screening interview (1-1.5 hours)

- Second technical interview (system level, deep dive, 1.5 hours)

- Product manager interview (1 hour)

- Senior leadership interview (1 hour)

- Final offer

Between all these rounds, you need to book meetings and it usually takes 1-2 weeks between rounds.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#52

Post by ludicity »

TrackerFF wrote: post #30
doppp wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who was it? And what game was it?

Skald: Against the Black Priory

Wow, I didn't buy this because it seemed a bit grim for my tastes, but it looked very impressive when I came across it a few months ago. Wild that it's one person's passion project.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#54

Post by meheleventyone »

bob1029 wrote: post #26

I am impressed with the extent of the effort here. I struggle with the notion of working with just one other person on a game. Building an entire hiring pipeline and documenting it seems like something that would immediately kill the dream for me at this scale. There is something that feels very cursed to me about a team of size 2~10 for game dev. At this point I'd much rather go solo or join a team of 100+. Zero str…

Having worked on games in giant teams and small teams my own preference is actually on the smaller end. Ten people feels like a comfortable limit. I'm very much a generalist though and love contributing to all the different bits and pieces of a game. As such I generally find larger teams overly bureaucratic, slow to move and stifling. Solo dev requires a lot of mental fortitude because there is no one else to carry the momentum.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#55

Post by patja »

lone-cloud wrote: post #49
supriyo-biswas wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few paragraphs below, the article answers that the company can't afford to pay as much as some others; I assume if you are being already being paid way over the market rate you should keep working at the place you're at. As for the take home, I'd take it or any other kind of non-conventional question that allows me to show me my skills, rather than the usual interview where your interviewer gives you an algorithm o…

I might be a masochist, but I actually enjoy system design interviews and they're quite formulaic. Resources like "System design in a hurry" are great for narrowing down the formula. Where I live (BC, Canada) actually has a law requiring all employers to list the position's salary range, which is great for cutting down on the "expected salary expectations" dance. I don't like take homes as it's (highly likely) a one…

Washington State (where this company is based) has the same law about including salary ranges in job postings

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#56

Post by zerr »

dainiusse wrote: post #8

Curious about "no-AI" policy. From my experience interviewing lately AI is allowed,but the task is usually big in a small time window. So you quickly spin up the project but I see most of work in QA

Does it also mean no-Googling? Because the first result is usually LLM-generated. Should you skip to the next page and read only Experts Exchange pages?

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#57

Post by supriyo-biswas »

lone-cloud wrote: post #49
supriyo-biswas wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few paragraphs below, the article answers that the company can't afford to pay as much as some others; I assume if you are being already being paid way over the market rate you should keep working at the place you're at. As for the take home, I'd take it or any other kind of non-conventional question that allows me to show me my skills, rather than the usual interview where your interviewer gives you an algorithm o…

I might be a masochist, but I actually enjoy system design interviews and they're quite formulaic. Resources like "System design in a hurry" are great for narrowing down the formula. Where I live (BC, Canada) actually has a law requiring all employers to list the position's salary range, which is great for cutting down on the "expected salary expectations" dance. I don't like take homes as it's (highly likely) a one…

If the system design interview is designed in a sane manner, which most of them are, thankfully for now.

Unfortunately, some interviewers ask questions that they themselves have not thought through properly, which leads to "interesting" discussions followed by a disqualification. While I've not had to face that issue first-hand as an interviewee, I've seen interviewers who wouldn't have been able to pass their own interview, for example.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#58

Post by TrackerFF »

ludicity wrote: post #52
TrackerFF wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skald: Against the Black Priory

Wow, I didn't buy this because it seemed a bit grim for my tastes, but it looked very impressive when I came across it a few months ago. Wild that it's one person's passion project.

Here's his dev blog: https://www.skaldrpg.com/

So it's been in the works for quite some time

EDIT: And for that mater, the YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/@HighNorthStudios/videos

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#59

Post by stakhanov »

supriyo-biswas wrote: post #46
lone-cloud wrote: post #40

This sounds like an incredibly toxic hiring process and not a company I'd ever want to work for. So you apply for a job and in response they (maybe) email you back asking for your expected salary (great way to filter out anyone worth hiring btw) and if you're cheap enough they then ask you to do work on a take home assignment. Everyone here thinks that this is okay and they want to be interviewed this way? "Since we…

A few paragraphs below, the article answers that the company can't afford to pay as much as some others; I assume if you are being already being paid way over the market rate you should keep working at the place you're at. As for the take home, I'd take it or any other kind of non-conventional question that allows me to show me my skills, rather than the usual interview where your interviewer gives you an algorithm o…

I wouldn't do a take-home unless they do an interview first, to signal they value my time and are acting in good faith. (HR people don't count).

Then, when they give me the take-home, I would ask how many other people are in the stage with me. If it's 20, with only one candidate getting hired, forget it. My expectation in such situations would be that they won't be able to trim the pipeline as much as they will need/want to by applying purely objective/rational criteria, and I'd end up getting rejected on grounds of "inability to mind-read subjective preferences".

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#60

Post by meheleventyone »

ludicity wrote: post #52
TrackerFF wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skald: Against the Black Priory

Wow, I didn't buy this because it seemed a bit grim for my tastes, but it looked very impressive when I came across it a few months ago. Wild that it's one person's passion project.

It's a really great game FWIW.
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