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* Careers in video games industry
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* Careers in video games industry
* Engineering career…
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Tolga Tekin reposted thisCome join us! Our project in Riot R&D is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to oversee our core audio technology and pipelines. You’ll be working closely with me and my team, alongside some other awesome developers on a game I’m really proud to work on. Please note that this is not a sound design or technical sound design position, and check the posting for more info! https://lnkd.in/gEg2Hspx Staff Software Engineer, Audio - Unpublished R&D Product | Riot GamesStaff Software Engineer, Audio - Unpublished R&D ProductStaff Software Engineer, Audio - Unpublished R&D Product
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Tolga Tekin reposted thisTolga Tekin reposted thisI'm looking to hire a Software Engineering Manager for our Match Services team. This team is responsible for the matchmaking and skill progression that keeps VALORANT the most competitive game in the world. There is so much more for this team to do - if you have experience building matchmaking or meta systems and managing strong senior engineers, I encourage you to reach out or apply! If you're unsure or have questions, I'll respond to any DMs. Good luck on your games! https://lnkd.in/gTMpQqh5Manager, Software Engineering - VALORANT, Competitive, Match ServicesManager, Software Engineering - VALORANT, Competitive, Match Services
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Tolga Tekin reposted thisTolga Tekin reposted thisHello friends! I have an exciting opportunity to share: Riot's MMO team is looking for a Principal UX Designer! Unreal implementation experience is a big plus for this one. You would have to relocate to either Washington or California for this role. There is no mandatory office attendance. If you have additional questions, feel free to message me. https://lnkd.in/gB3hQh-b
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Tolga Tekin reposted thisTolga Tekin reposted thisYour #Worlds2024 anthem and music video are here. “Heavy is the Crown” ft. Linkin Park is out now: riot.com/4dmcv1nHeavy is the Crown - Linkin Park - Worlds Anthem and Music Video 2024Heavy is the Crown - Linkin Park - Worlds Anthem and Music Video 2024
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Tolga Tekin reposted thisTolga Tekin reposted thisApplications are now open for 2025 software engineering internships at Riot! https://riot.com/3sGKzUi
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Tolga Tekin posted thisRegarding CrowdStrike social media is filled with takes that IMO misses the mark: * “A null pointer was the issue. CS education should be made a priority” - some CS professor (Side note: The null pointer issue was debunked later) * “<Insert some Linux distribution> should be used everywhere” - some Linux fan * “We should build our own OS in our country” - some nationalistic billionaire and their followers * “Memory managed languages should be abondoned, use <some other language> from now on” - some other language lover Etc… Look, I don’t remember working on a software that doesn’t end up with bugs. In real world perfect architecture, language, systems don’t exist. New OS’es, new languages, more CS education, more careful developers, nations building their OS’es etc… will not change that fact. There are 100s of OS’es available out there already. They are not preferred by major IT departments for many reasons, missing capabilities, their staff’s unfamiliarity, trust to the operations and support of the OS developer etc... And a lot of these are massive hurdles OS manufacturers need to deal with. Sure there is some trust wobble now towards Microsoft, but IT departments will not change their OS over night even with this incident. Most IT departments have deep investments to their OS choice. (And I’m writing this as primarily a macOS user) Ok, If all these takes are poor, what’s my take? I’m actually surprised no one is talking about the real root cause - improper testing and release processes, specifically; * Not using representative hardware in testing * Not having an incremental rollout for release * Not having proper rollback process Bugs will always exist, but their risks need to be properly managed by early detection, by making their surface area smaller, and by quick/easy incident response. These are not new or novel ideas. All of these approaches are used in top high tech companies. Not sure why that wasn’t the case at CrowdStrike. But that’s the area they will have to focus on. So what will happen next? My prediction is: * Disasters are great catalysts for culture and management changes. CrowdStrike will start investing in better release processes. * Disasters also cause us to overreact. There might be some downtrend in MS’s OS popularity (but not an overnight massive change) depending on how quickly MS and CrowdStrike can rebuild trust. But I have a feeling 6 months later folks will not remember this incident while continue to utilize Windows machines. What are your thoughts?
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Tolga Tekin posted this“AI will replace all software developer jobs” In my career I have heard this so many times for so many technologies. * “No-code / low-code platforms will replace developers” * “Serverless architecture will replace backend developers” * “Simplicity of React and Angular over jQuery will kill frontend jobs” * “Code completion will make software engineers faster, in turn we will need them less” * “WYSIWYG editors will kill jobs…” * “With Unreal engine, we won’t need programmers anymore. Anyone will be able to make games” * “Automated test generation will kill QA jobs” Etc… A lot of folks are forgetting how fast the underlying complexity is also changing. * The amount of frontend code we need for a website exponentially increased from 90s to now * The amount of code a software depends on is growing everyday. * As games hardware getting a lot more capable, we need a lot more content created and increased code complexity * As backend hardware is getting cheaper we can build a lot more complicated and harder to maintain services Without some automation and developer efficiency, it is impossible to keep up with the complexity and the needed developer demand. Imagine writing today’s software with punch cards… We would need a couple of order of magnitude of more developers. “But with the past advances didn’t the developer jobs required skills to change?” Yes! We needed to master new tools, work with higher abstractions, think about different problems and adopt to new practices. Folks that couldn’t adopt did indeed end up irrelevant. And the story will continue. Folks will learn to utilize AI, use it as an abstraction. But given how fast the capabilities and demand are increasing we will still need more developers. One thing I’m expecting, AI will lower the barrier for simple software needs. More non-CS folks will be able to solve some simpler but interesting problems. (Kinda reminds me of introduction of Excel and VB) But I’m not expecting it to lower the demand for complex SE jobs anytime soon. Not until we have major advances in general AI which are IMO decades away. But then all jobs (lawyers, doctors etc…) will be replaced, probably by folks coding and maintaining that said AI… “But companies are laying off folks in droves due to AI? Didn’t AI layoffs already start?” The reasons for layoffs are a lot more complex than this sentence. * With Covid we had one of the biggest tech booms of all time. Many companies doubled/tripled in size. This wasn’t sustainable. * Now things are cooling down, companies start to focus on cost optimizations. High growth times just mean unoptimized growth, you postpone cost optimizations due to opportunity cost. But eventually spiraling costs become hard to ignore. * There is indeed major investing and focus toward AI. But this just means some restructuring towards AI development. IMO this is just a correction. Once the spike corrects itself, things will get back to its normal course.
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Tolga Tekin shared thisCover letters get a bad rep, but I agree with Jordan Mazer. They are a good way to stand out if done well. I would recommend applicants to use them. In general, my rule of thumb for hiring is to use information that doesn't create any bias and showcases some relevant skills for the position. (eg: -quick rant- I don't care if someone uses the "open to work" flair or not on LinkedIn. Using it as information for hiring is bias-inducing, and using/not using it doesn't showcase a skill...) Cover letters do showcase communication skills, research the candidate put towards the company and the position, understand the company's needs and market, motivations & excitement, personal advocacy, reflect their strengths & weaknesses, and how well they think they match the position. I think one problem is, that many hiring managers have seen many poor cover letters and we don't expect much from them. Copy-paste, just talking about themselves, very long, generic points that have nothing to do with the company or position they are applying to, a repeat of their resume etc... And these types of cover letters just get ignored. Great ones that stand out answer these two questions; * Why you are excited about the position and the company * Why do you think you are a match specifically to that position? And that's it, there should be nothing else in there. It should be short, exciting, and sweet.Tolga Tekin shared thisApplying to a job and want to stand out? Don’t be lazy, write a cover letter 😤😤😤 ❌ A cover letter IS NOT ❌ --> Your life epic --> Multi-page --> Multi-paragraph >> No one reads THAT version of a cover letter << ✅ A great cover letter IS ✅ --> 3-4 sentences --> resonant --> specific It should take 5 minutes to write. Will every recruiter read it? Of course not. But some will read it, and those 3-4 sentences could be what sets you apart from 10 other qualified candidates and land you an interview. In a market where hundreds or thousands of candidates are applying for the same job, small advantages can prove invaluable. Don’t leave the low-hanging fruit to rot. Don’t be lazy. Write 4 sentences to give yourself an edge in an increasingly crowded candidate market.
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Tolga Tekin posted thisRecently I am reviewing a lot of resumes to help my unfortunate friends that are laid off. The most common mistakes I see are; 1) Talking about what you did more than your accomplishments and impact Statements like these: “developed an application in Java, implemented features, project managed, was a scrum master” etc…, makes HMs get curious about these questions: “But were you successful? How did you measure success? How did you do according to this measurement? With that work what kind of value your company gained?” etc… HMs care about measurable accomplishments more so than just doing things blindly. Accomplishments make the resume standout more and a lot more impactful. I’m not saying every statement needs to be an accomplishment, but you need some accomplishments mentioned. There are many articles online about this, “X-Y-Z formula” is a common technique to use. 2) Not tailoring your resume to position you are applying The first step in recruitment process is almost always a resume review, which involves someone, potentially not in your craft, to compare the resume to the position requirements. So make sure your resume showcases all the things they are looking for very clearly. Relevant experiences with technologies and skills they care should be mentioned. If this requires you to have multiple resumes, even one per job, so be it. You want to standout among the competition. 3) Using big paragraphs instead of bullet points Bullet points might sound a bit mechanical but they make the resumes very easy to read. Big paragraphs just frustrate the resume reviewers. 4) Not keeping things simple and readable I don’t remember a single case where an applicant was preferred due to a fancy resume. Content and readability are a lot more important. 5) Lots of typos and grammar mistakes Gives an impression of lack of attention to detail and sloppiness. There are many online tools to check typos and grammar. 6) Too long resume No resume reviewer will be happy to go through a 10 page resume. Focus on recent and relevant experience more. HMs don’t care that much the details of your job or school projects from 10+ years ago. For folks that are fairly new in the industry (5- years) I would say a single page resume is enough. For more experienced folks, don’t pass 2 pages. What do you all think? Am I missing anything?
Tolga Tekin replied to a comment
2mo
Jordan Mazer If your post's argument was all there was in the promo doc, I would say it would be light.
You are talking about them working harder, being more productive, having extreme motivation, not burning out. Which are all performance arguments.
Not rowing in the wrong direction, or compressing the timeline, or them achieving 2x in the same timeframe can be proficiency, but it smells also like performance. These also can be achieved by someone putting a lot of hours.
Your manager is clearly giving you push back, so something didn't land. Your post has no discussion about the scope increase, or increased risk or bets they take, or multiplicative behavior, or simply high tier impact they generated. Examples of those behaviors are more important for a promo in general.
Tolga Tekin replied to a comment
2mo
Jordan Mazer
That would make sense to me.
But the argument I would like to see from the manager in that case is more about "here are the examples of proficiency change, bigger scope work they successfully completed, or decision making in ambiguous spaces where they had to make bets" etc...
and less about "They did a lot of hard work over the weekends, work output was high, but scope of the individual work was still the same scope with their current tier"
Former is promotion, latter is bonus in my mind.
Tolga Tekin commented on a post
2mo
One concern here is, in my experience long work hours and being able to work over the weekends can be a temporary thing. Might last a couple of years, but folks change. They don’t burn out? Great. But would they be able to keep up the same pace if their life had changed? A wife and a kid? Or sick parents? Some injury?
This is the main reason “working hard” is considered high performance, (and not high proficiency)
and should be awarded with high performance applicable rewards like high bonuses. (And not high proficiency rewards like raises or promotion)
I’m a big fan of asymmetrical bonuses, that might actually excite them more. Eg: 10% promo raise vs 2x the bonuses.
If you were making an argument, “with hard work they also increased their proficiency and even if their personal life had changed they can operate at a higher tier” - that would be a fair promotion argument.
Regarding the working hard, we should treat folks as adults. They might be enjoying working hard. I don’t see an “unfair” situation here. As long as they weren’t probing the team after hours and causing them to also work hard/burn out, I don’t see an issue. And those behaviors can be managed separately. Not a high bonus/promotion concern.
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Tolga Tekin liked thisTolga Tekin liked thisExcited to see a bunch of new and old faces at Unreal Fest 2026 in June! I'll be presenting session "Game Feature Plugins for Live Service Games at Riot". Come check it out if you can! Session link: https://lnkd.in/ghBMgufU
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Tolga Tekin liked thisTolga Tekin liked thisI’m happy to share that I’m now a Senior Software Engineering Manager at Riot Games! 🥰💖 thanks for all the incredible people and great support around me ✨
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Tolga Tekin reacted on thisTolga Tekin reacted on thisI started my dream job last week! I'm happy to announce I'm a UX Director on Diablo IV at Blizzard Entertainment. As a young gamer, Blizzard was my gold standard. When I was a college student, working for Blizzard was the dream. It's been a very long journey through the twists and turns of the game industry to get to this point. I've met so many amazing people and worked on many incredible projects, but now it feels like I'm returning to what made me want to make games in the first place. My family and I will be moving to the Irvine area in July. For those who know me well, yes, I will be getting Disneyland season passes. :D Thank you, everyone. Whether we made games together, helped one another land jobs, learned something from one another, or simply provided words of encouragement, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.
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Tolga Tekin reacted on thisTolga Tekin reacted on thisFour years ago I joined Riot- and tomorrow I join Riot again! Being a Senior Manager of Game Design on an R&D project at Riot Games was a dream come true. I met so many wonderful folks- from my reports, to my peers, to my leaders. I hope to carry those connections with me no matter where we all go. One of my proudest accomplishments during my previous tenure was mentoring and assisting two engineers on their (successful) quests to transition into the field of game design- little is so meaningful to me as helping someone accomplish a goal of theirs, and if it happens to coincide with exploring the wonderful field of game design then so much the better. Riot has an incredible amount of support and continuing education for managers; I learned so much and have so many more tools for helping people be their best selves at work than I ever had before, as well as learning some fantastic ways of looking at the work of design in a more holistic context. The course I took in last November- Customer Centric Product Strategy- was particularly enlightening, and has given me a vocabulary that will be useful no matter where my path takes me. I’ve been on a short hiatus for the last two months- very stressful for the first few weeks, and then, with a new role signed, much more relaxing for the last three. Tomorrow, on the four year anniversary of joining Riot, I join them again- on a new R&D project and in a new role that calls back to a lot of things I’ve done prior in my career… and outside of it! New challenges, new wonderful peers, and new opportunities to increase my knowledge and mastery of game design, and bend it to the purpose of bringing delight and joy to (fingers crossed) millions of players across the world. To say I’m excited to begin is an understatement! Or, as the objectively best champion in League of Legends (Teemo) would say: “Armed and ready!”
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Tolga Tekin liked thisTolga Tekin liked thisToday I discovered that if you give AI a single piece of bad information in the prompt, it might fight you over that and not do any of the prompt. If you correct your mistake and continue, your result will be poor quality. Instead if you reprompt from scratch with no mistake, things are a lot better. Context management applies to more than just token usage.
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Tolga Tekin liked thisTolga Tekin liked thisIf you are a software engineer with networking experience, our team is hiring. :) https://lnkd.in/gJidXDwK
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Tolga Tekin reacted on thisTolga Tekin reacted on thiscalling all audio programmers! come and work on an extremely cool R&D project at Riot https://lnkd.in/gPdYwJPJSenior Software Engineer, Audio - Unpublished R&D ProductSenior Software Engineer, Audio - Unpublished R&D Product
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Tolga Tekin reacted on thisTolga Tekin reacted on thisAfter 14 years, my time at Riot Games has come to an end with the recent wave of layoffs in the past weeks.. Riot was my first and only job, I joined as one of the first people through the doors of the Turkish office, with nothing but a lot of passion for games and the communities that form around them. My career took me through many parts of publishing: standing up local esports and amateur scenes, all things community, international operations and R&D publishing operations. All roles that were very different on paper but always came back to the same thing for me: being close to players and making sure their voices were heard and acted upon. Seeing the impact I made on at least two generation of gamers in the region was quite emotional for me. The outpouring of love and support to the news on socials was crazy.. I'm proud to be the person players think of when they think Riot and that they feel like they can come to me with any random thing even if it's not game related because they know they would be heard and have someone who would simply try for them. That trust was never given but it was built over years of honest, transparent, consistent communication and genuinely caring about the community I served. Losing the role doesn't seem to have changed that, as I'm still getting spammed by requests lol, and I don't take it lightly. It's now time to chase after the next opportunity. I'm looking for a company that puts real weight behind player trust and community, where that philosophy shapes decisions from the inside out. Passion is what drives me, and I need to be somewhere it's shared. If that sounds like your team, or you know someone building something like that, please hit me up!
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Tolga Tekin reacted on thisTolga Tekin reacted on thisEarlier at GDC, a few of you mentioned that my appearance had changed. That change was intentional. Over the last six months, I’ve been running a personal experiment and applied the same continuous improvement (kaizen) principle we use in product development to my own transformation. I wrote about how that worked in practice so far here: https://lnkd.in/gZRUdKCF A lot of this thinking goes back to my time at Riot Games, where we practiced kaizen in depth on LoL's personalization team. I also want to call out Theron James as one of the people who shaped how I think about continuous improvement well beyond software product. Some lessons clearly stick, Theron:)
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