On Networking

I find “go network” a vague and unhelpful directive for folks looking to break into the games industry. Networking is like any other learned skill, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to doing it — I personally have failed at it multiple times, often spectacularly, and it took me years to figure out what I was doing. So, for the purpose of this blog, let’s start at the very beginning.

What is Networking?

Networking is the act of meeting other people in our industry and possibly establishing a connection. It is what takes your application from a “cold” application (a resume/CV submitted into a pool of applicants, where no one at the company has any prior knowledge of you) to a “warm” one (where someone at the company at least has a read on your vibe), which can sometimes make the difference between a rejection and a shot at an interview. Perhaps more importantly, it’s important to get to know other developers and rely on their expertise for the health of our industry: it’s one of my most closely-held beliefs that we can reduce a significant amount of difficulty and cost if we standardize some of our processes.

There are many different types of connections you can make with folks, with different levels of trust and intimacy:

Social Media Connections: You’ve heard of or maybe interacted with this person once or twice. One of you likely couldn’t pick the other out of a lineup.
Colleagues: You interact at least somewhat regularly, but you might not know much about each other outside posts in hobby channels on the work Slack.
Teammates: You interact at least once a week towards some common goal. You have an idea of basic facts about each other, like their hobbies or how many kids they have.
Friends: If you’re lucky, you’ll genuinely connect with someone at work and become friends outside of that context! This person would help you move, hopefully.

I want to spell out these distinctions because I want to free you from two misconceptions. One, you do not have to maintain an active relationship with every single person you come in contact with. Two, every interaction you have with a person more distant than a teammate should have some sort of clear purpose.

The Function of a Network

In psychology, Ring Theory is a concept applied to crisis management. Now, I am not a practicing psychologist so I can’t speak to how sound or effective this theory is in that context, but it makes explaining the different rings in our professional networks a little easier. The core idea is “comfort in, dump out.” Simply put, your broader social circle should be able to freely support the person in crisis no matter how distant, while everyone should only vent to the next-closest layer. Applied to our professional lives, this means that we support and congratulate everyone in our broader network, but most gripes about our jobs or the state of the industry should stay within our close friend circles (who could then vent to their friends, and so forth).

These distinctions can sound a little cold, but it is critical for us to establish and maintain healthy boundaries for interaction in an industry that forces us to be at least somewhat-social (if not outright public figures), both for our own sanity and for the comfort of those we reach out to.

The fact is, the folks on the outermost rings of our network (social media connections and colleagues) will have far less impact on our careers than the ones closer to the center (teammates and friends), but it’s still important to leave a good impression. The hard truth we must all reckon with at some point or another is that there has never, and likely will never be more games jobs than there is talent to fill them. All of us are replaceable, and there is almost always someone out there with an identical resume competing for the same seat. The difference a network makes is that it offers the chance that someone on the other side of the table has had just enough experience with you to think you’d make a good teammate, and to take that chance on you over a stranger who may be just as qualified on paper.

To that end, the best thing you can do is make industry friends that are at around the same place in their career journey as you are. These will be the folks who will understand you the best, who have the most relevant experience, and with whom you can collaborate the closest.

If you do find yourself cold-calling or reaching out to someone you don’t know very well (or at all), I find it best practice to include the following things in my first message:

Who I am.
Why I’m reaching out.
How much time/effort my ask is going to occupy.

At the end of the day, asking a dev if you could “chat over coffee” or “ask some questions” is vague, but asking someone for 15 minutes of their time to ask two specific questions about their company culture is a much clearer and more accessible task. You are much more likely to get an answer if folks understand exactly what you want from them.

Social Media and Internet Safety

A lot of junior devs I talk to ask me about how to be more visible on social media, and my response is always, why do you want that? Not as a philosophical question, but truly: what would visibility do for you? What are you trying to accomplish? An unfortunate amount of these folks do not have an answer, they’ve just heard over and over again that they need to be visible and have not taken the time to interrogate why. They have been told that it’s just what devs do.

There are some career tracks that benefit from visibility. Social media marketing and community management certainly, but also any kind of freelancer will want to have their work in front of folks who could hire them. There are also professionals who, regardless of specialty, want to be content creators associated with their field (Arin Goldsmith comes to mind as an example here, as does my friend Leyla Lacombe).

To figure out how you want to engage with social media, I would suggest asking yourself the following questions:

What do I want to get out of social media, and how will that benefit me?
How do I want social media to affect how people perceive me?
What is the outermost ‘ring’ in my network that I want my posts to reach?
Would I be comfortable if a stranger at a conference talked to me about personal information that I shared on social media?
How comfortable would I be going viral?

As an example, I am pretty publicly a LinkedIn hater and dream of the day that I can be contacted only by an intricate set of rituals involving pink Gatorade and an undignified dance. Unfortunately, I also like staying hired and getting paid, so I figured out a way to engage with social media in a way that is comfortable and healthy for me.

What do I want to get out of social media, and how will that benefit me?
– I would like the ability to notify people if I’m looking for work or if I’ve achieved some sort of milestone. I would like to be visible to recruiters and hiring managers.
– I’d also like to stay engaged with my networks; I’m pretty social at work and don’t mind keeping up with colleagues and friends.
– I’m less interested in strangers, but enjoy following artists and journalists. I do appreciate being able to connect with distant colleagues whose work I respect.
How do I want social media to affect how people perceive me?
– I am a big believer in being up-front and honest about my personality and mannerisms. I would not be able to pretend to be anything else for a significant amount of time, so when I post it’s usually all-lowercase and I am very casual in my use of language. I don’t mind if this turns some people off or cuts me off from certain opportunities.
What is the outermost ‘ring’ in my network that I want my posts to reach?
– I wouldn’t mind strangers seeing some of my posts, but I would like to be able to control who can repost or view certain things.
Would I be comfortable if a stranger at a conference talked to me about personal information that I shared on social media?
– Probably not.
How comfortable would I be going viral?
– It has happened once or twice, and I didn’t like it at all. All those notifications stress me out.

So, what this means for me is that I have few accounts and am pretty aggressive about engaging with my privacy settings. I am very specific about what I post for public consumption (and on which network), and what stays in group chats or DMs (and most things should).

This is also step one to staying safe online, which unfortunately is a necessity in the world we live in. Aside from engaging with your platform privacy settings, here are a couple of tips for making sure that your online presence doesn’t put you at risk:

Don’t post photos of yourself in any location while you’re actively at that location.
Block liberally. You do not owe anyone your time and attention.
Use a password manager to generate and store secure passwords to any accounts that are public-facing or store sensitive info.
Use a VPN to mask your IP.
Consider a data removal service to remove your personal info from online databases.

Professionalism, and You

By all standard definitions, professionalism is about carrying yourself with integrity, performing your work with adequate skill and timeliness, and respecting your colleagues. Unfortunately, professionalism can be co-opted by people in established power structures in order to put unfair standards and expectations on workers outside of some sort of cultural norm. This becomes even trickier when navigating a very globalized, multidisciplinary industry.

Being professional is not about creating some sort of secondary persona for yourself, but about understanding your audience and enforcing those healthy boundaries we talked about earlier in this post. The further out someone is on those network rings, the more selective you need to be with the details you communicate — for your sake and theirs.

In my opinion, the three pillars to effective professional communication are:

Kindness: There is a difference between being nice and being kind, and being kind involves setting boundaries. You are aiming to create a safe zone for you and the other person.
Confidence: Confidence is not about projecting ego, confidence is being equipped with the tools to manage situations that may be outside of your comfort zone.
Authenticity: People can tell when you’re faking it or reading from a script. Be honest in what you want, and reasonable in what you’re asking from others.

How you get to these goals is entirely up to you, and will take a lot of trial and error.

On Social Anxiety and Negative Self-Talk

If you’ve only met me in the last three years, I think it’s fairly easy to believe that I came out of the womb a fully-formed public speaker and social person. This is funny to me, and deeply untrue as I have brought such greatest hits to the world as seeing one of my favorite artists of all time in person, and instead of saying, “Hi, we talked on Twitter last night for a few minutes, thanks so much for being here!” stammered out, “I tweeted at you.” This immediately forced this artist into the uncomfortable arena of having to justify how many notifications they get, and how they could miss something. This happened six years ago at the time of writing in 2024. My stomach still lurches at the thought. I have a feeling I’m going to get a screenshot of this paragraph and the message, “Leyla, you couldn’t waterboard this out of me.” Again.

There are a lot of things that can affect the way people socialize, from various neurodivergencies to cultural differences to upbringing. It is completely normal to be nervous in groups, or in front of people we admire. For some, these feelings are much harder to overcome than for others. As a lifelong anxious person, here is the framing that helped me bust through some of these challenges:

I am the only one that lives inside my head.
Because I am aware of all the memorable mistakes I’ve ever made, I am my own harshest critic.
Folks I meet will probably not notice the things I am self-conscious about. Every new person is a new opportunity to present myself as the best version of myself.
I get to control the way I present myself to the world, but not how people interpret that presentation.
All I can be is my best.

I’m also a big believer in the power of preparation as an antidote to anxiety. The more I can arrange my circumstances so that the fewest possible things are making me uncomfortable in any given situation, the more mental energy I have to spare on being social, upbeat, and pleasant to interact with (hopefully). These prep steps include:

Planning comfortable, confidence-boosting outfits and makeup looks.
Having allergy medicine and ibuprofen on-hand.
Planning breaks so my social battery has time to recharge.
Carrying a little snack, because like Brennan Lee Mulligan, my body is also a machine that requires constant almonds.

The other thing that greatly affects the way we act and are perceived in public is negative self-talk. While some folks feel that this type of self-deprecation and ironic detachment makes them more approachable, it is actually just uncomfortable and often puts the onus on the audience to negate it with some sort of comfort or compliment.

Not to mention, negative self-talk can and will affect the way you see yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to overcorrect and become an egomaniac — instead, try for neutral or constructive language.

Instead of, “Sorry my portfolio sucks,” try “I’m still working on some of my portfolio skills, so I would love some feedback to help me prioritize my time.”
Instead of, “Our game jam game sucked,” try, “We learned a lot from the challenges during our game jam.”
Instead of, “I’m not very good at this,” try, “I don’t have a lot of practice doing this.”

As an end note, some professional situations require us to leave our comfort zone. Sometimes these moments are opportunities for growth, and sometimes they are simply opportunities to grin and bear it. That being said, there is a thick, bold line between allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable in a situation, and feeling unsafe. Please make sure you’re checking in with yourself and removing yourself accordingly, especially when it comes to in-person events where alcohol may be involved.

Finding Hubs and Introducing Yourself

Generally speaking, networking happens any time you are talking to colleagues. If you’re seeking out opportunities to talk to working professionals, you could try the following:

Follow studios on LinkedIn — sometimes the bigger ones have recruitment panels or Q&As.
Find communities on Discord, like the Game Production Community (GPC) for producers. Some of these have entry requirements, so please be mindful of communities’ rules.
If you’ve already had a job in games (no matter how small), you could try Games Industry Gathering (GIG) or for gender-marginalized devs, Save Point Gathering.

Finding places to chat is generally the easy part; the tricky bit is figuring out how to interact with these spaces in a way that works for you, which almost always starts with introducing yourself.

The old adage about only having one chance at a first impression is, unfortunately, true. The way you introduce yourself will vary slightly based on audience, but no matter the circumstances it should answer the question, “What should people in this group know you for?”

For me:

To Mentees: Mentees should see me as a helper, and someone with experience in art pipelines.
To Coworkers: Colleagues should also know me as a helper, and as someone to loop in about pipeline questions.
Out-of-industry: Acquaintances should know me as someone who works in tech.

Once you understand your audience, you also have to understand the context in which you are going to be speaking to them, which will tell you how much information they need. In order to be prepared (antidote to anxiety!), there are a few different types of introductions I recommend you keep in your back pocket.

One-sentence elevator pitch.
Moderated group intro.
Long-form.

I think it’s easier to edit down, so let’s talk about how to compose these from the longest first.

Any time you’re presenting anything to other people, keep in mind that you need to create a hierarchy of information. The most important things should be showcased first, then anything of secondary importance, then bonus material. So when we’re talking about long-form professional intros, consider:

Identifying information (name, pronouns, title, where you’re based)
Key role information (what you do, why you are having this conversation)
Something fun (what you do outside of work, a Fun Fact™, something for folks to remember you by)

To prevent the fun fact dread, I recommend having a selection of 3–5 fun facts that you can dispense locked and loaded for when you’re prompted. A good fun fact is concise, identifying, and mundane.

So, with all that in mind, here’s what my long-form introduction looks like (ripped directly from my LinkedIn at the time of writing):

“Hello! My name is Leyla (LAY-luh) and I am the Cinematic Pipeline Manager at ZeniMax Online Studios. Previously, I was the art/cinematics producer on the Webby and Emmy-award winning SILENT HILL: Ascension (2023) at Genvid, and the tech art lead on both seasons of Amazon’s Undone (2019) at Minnow Mountain.

My eclectic skillset has been built around creating strong pipelines for creatives, and troubleshooting embattled ones. Facilitating strong team relationships, providing mentorship and education, and creating safe and sustainable workspaces are core pillars in the way I view my career. Put simply: I’ve made a living out of being a friendly pedant.

Outside of my full-time work I can be found lurking in Discord-based production communities or the woods. Beyond my professional life I am an illustrator, musician, and writer. Happy to chat about opportunities to speak to student groups. Not interested in any opportunities in the web3 space, or working extensively with generative AI.”

When we talk about a moderated group intro (or, how you’d introduce yourself when in a meeting or some other sort of group setting), it’s just a game of whittling down. So when I get a new coworker, I tend to introduce myself like this:

“Hi! My name is Leyla and I’m the Cinematic Pipeline Manager here at ZOS. Before this, I was the art and cinematics producer on SILENT HILL: Ascension, where I learned a lot about building pipelines for produciton and live-ops. You’ll probably see me post a lot about communications stuff, and my cat Toulouse will probably come to some meetings.”

The nice thing about these middle-length intros is that it’s usually to a group that you have at least some pre-determined purpose in talking to. Elevator pitches usually happen to strangers, and therefore are the hardest and most dependent on audience. I use several variations:

“Hi! My name is Leyla, I’m at ZOS working in Cinematics.”
– Casual, would probably use this with fellow industry folks or ZMI folks.
“Hi, I’m Leyla Mamedova and I’m the Cinematic Pipeline Manager at Zenimax Online Studios, working on an unannounced IP.”
– I would use this in a more formal setting, or while speaking at an industry event. It’s descriptive, and gives you some understanding of my expertise and why I’m here. It also calls attention to me working in AAA.
“Hi, I’m Leyla. I’m a production specialist for cinematics.”
– Keeps my company ambiguous but gives some idea that I’m in project management. It very purposefully does not call attention to me working in AAA.

Conclusion

Networking really does take practice and trying out a bunch of different things until you figure out what works and is comfortable for you. Give yourself grace and space to experiment a little bit, and just keep in mind that the goal here is for people to at least have a good impression of you and what you might be like as a teammate. Games is a team sport, and we’re all just trying to make art together.