Career advice needed - 3D Artist wants to join tech company
Hi, thank you for stopping by this post! I am a 3D Artist working in the gaming industry, and I am looking for advice for my next career move. Here's a bit of my professional background and story... (sry for my English in advance since it's not my mother tongue) I have been working in the AR/VR/Gaming field in the US for six years. I specialize in modeling and texturing with immense expertise in environment and prop creation. Other than my specialties, I also have general knowledge in all aspects of 3D production, including lighting, rendering, animation, physics, and particle. My experience ranges from the low-poly prototype for the mobile game to AAA-level assets creation. Since 2018, I have been fascinated by Facebook's(now Meta) social VR and am eager to join their team and explore more. I have been applying to Meta/Facebook since 2018 via several referrals every year without any luck to land an interview. Last year, I finally got the phone screening, passed different interview stages, and was informed that they would like to bring me to the virtual onsite interview. I was extremely excited and elated by this news, but unfortunately, I could not get my interview date confirmed for more than one and a half months. I followed up with the recruiter every one to two weeks, but it seems to me I cannot expect it will happen soon. This has affected my mood recently, and I want to take some time to reflect on my consistent failed attempts to join tech companies. Other than Meta, I also kept applying to Apple, NVidia, and Roblox for years but could not land any interviews. I also apply to AR/VR and metaverse-related startups. I was on the last stage interview last year with an AR platform unicorn startup I am interested in joining but didn't get the offer. I got an offer from a metaverse-related startup, but I decided to stay with my current employer after careful consideration. I once asked an Apple engineer for suggestions; he suggested picking up scripting and learning technical art. So I am learning shader scripting (which is also helpful for my current work) and procedural modeling in Houdini. It seems to me my skillset or portfolio is not enough for tech companies to consider me as a potential employee. And I need to work on that. So anyone in the AR/VR/metaverse-related companies, would you mind giving me some advice regarding what skillset you are looking for in a 3D artist/designer role? Is learning scripting is a good approach to enhance my skill? If you would like to chat with me via dm or information interview (either phone or zoom), it would be highly appreciated. Thank you for following the post for this far. I'm grateful for any input. Thank you!
You can try Tech Art at MSFT Mixed Reality
Thanks for the suggestion! Definitely interested in the MSFT Mixed Reality
Amazon hires 3D artists.
Hi, thanks for the suggestion I'm currently looking for tech company in the bay area, I do see some openings for Amazon, but not in bay Maybe in the future I'll try Thanks again!
Hi op, I'm in the same boat... did you hear any update from meta?
Hi, I finally had my virtual onsite interview with Meta in early March I feel very positive about the team and project I've done the parts I could do, now fingers crossed and waiting for the results
haha what a coincidence ... I had my virtual onsite interview a few days earlier than you did and waiting for the result for almost 3 weeks now.. it's been radio silence since and then I saw your post. Good luck to you. can you let me know when you hear any updates? so I don't have to wait and just move on :)
also applied meta , did you hear back DM if you want : )
DM
IMVU is a nice metaverse company that is constantly hiring 3D artists.
Of the companies you mention meta is the only one i see fits with your skills, other places build the tools that you use, they do not make the actual art, maybe you need to apply to different batch of companies, because making 3d artwork is not the same as writing code for Maya
Thank you so much for pointing it out! Based on my interview experience with Meta, it seems to me I have the expertise and skill they are looking for. Apple, NVidia, and Roblox, I do see some positions regarding to environment artist, tech artist or real time artist etc. But high possibilities like you said they mostly looking for people to build tool not making visuals. I'll do more research, thank you again!