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The Valve Employee Handbook

J

Jintor

Member
Seems legit!

Poking through it now, but it looks like it might have some explanation of Valve's insane desks-on-wheels organisational structure.

Also, some great illustrations.
 
V

Vilam

Maxis Redwood
Matches up with what I've heard. We haven't gotten more Half-Life for awhile now because nobody is especially interested in working on it.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Ok goddamn it. something is going on. theres just too much Valve news lately.
something is going on. goddamn it.


wait i just remembered how theyre hiring. you thing valve hiring is enough to just word of mouth about their very existence going so much stronger than usual?
 
R

Reno7728

Member
Page 22

9XTxk.jpg
 
E

Emitan

Member
There are lots of stories about how Gabe has made important decisions by himself, e.g., hiring the whole Portal 1 team on the spot after only half of a meeting. Although there are examples, like that one, where this kind of decision making has been successful, it’s not the norm for Valve. If it were, we’d be only as smart as Gabe or management types, and they’d make our important decisions for us. Gabe is the first to say that he can’t be right nearly often enough for us to operate that way. His decisions and requests are subject to just as much scrutiny and skepticism as anyone else’s. (So if he tells you to put a favorite custom knife design into Counter-Strike, you can just say no.)
Click to expand...
Amazing.
 
I

IceMarker

Member
I really got a kick out of that, I especially like the Glossary at the end. Now I finally know what Shitty Wizard in DOTA 2 refers to.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
I just had the strangest thought. How are we going to explain that look of intimate familiarity, should one be drawn from our ranks?
 
J

Jintor

Member
I can't help but wonder if they'll ever release like a huge glossy book with this explanation, their cabal system, concept art, etc. Or if we'll ever get a "Masters of Doom" style book for ValveCorp.

Of note is the "valve press" label...
 
M

Mechazawa

Member
Empty Shelf on Fifth Floor—Place we’re planning on putting all those awards for Ricochet once the gaming world finally catches up with it.
Click to expand...

I'd be pretty alright with a Ricochet reboot.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Ponies—The animals most beloved by those away from their computers,
and most despised by people who prefer to hear jokes just once.
Click to expand...

So the Portal team is working on a MLP game. Great news everybody!
 
B

Bowdz

Member
Sounds like an absolutely amazing place to work. All credit goes to our lord Gaben for the vision he set out with.
 
A

Acosta

Member
Billychu said:
If I was hired by Valve I'd be terrified they had made some horrible mistake and I'd be worthless.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much. I can figure that even incredibly talented people will feel quite anxious with that structure in their first months.
 
V

Vilam

Maxis Redwood
JaseC said:
Gabe debunked this theory in a recent podcast.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give it a listen.

Admittedly, nothing I've ever heard was directly saying that Valve employees weren't currently interested in working on the next iteration of Half Life. Everything else written in that guide matches up almost exactly though, from project selection to peer evaluations. Going from there, the speculation why we haven't heard from HL in forever seems like a natural conclusion... but like I said, I'll check that podcast out.
 
C

criesofthepast

Member
Seems like heaven to work for a company like this. You gotta have a real type of special people working in this kind of environment to not make shit go south very quick. No rules. No bosses. Could spell trouble. Somehow Valve seem to be making it work. They got a damn good team of people over there if this handbook accurately describes how things truly work there.

Hiring process must be tough as shit.
 
S

Sober

Member
Q: If all this stuff has worked well for us, why doesn’t every company
work this way?

A: Well, it’s really hard. Mainly because, from day one, it requires a
commitment to hiring in a way that’s very different from the way most
companies hire. It also requires the discipline to make the design of
the company more important than any one short-term business goal.
And it requires a great deal of freedom from outside pressure—being
self-funded was key. And having a founder who was confident enough
to build this kind of place is rare, indeed.
Another reason that it’s hard to run a company this way is that it
requires vigilance. It’s a one-way trip if the core values change, and
maintaining them requires the full commitment of everyone—
especially those who’ve been here the longest. For “senior” people
at most companies, accumulating more power and/or money over
time happens by adopting a more hierarchical culture.
Click to expand...
Probably one of the more important parts in the handbook.
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Oh god, the Glossary is amazing:

Manager—The kind of people we don’t have any of. So if you see one, tell
somebody, because it’s probably the ghost of whoever was in this building
before us. Whatever you do, don’t let him give you a presentation on
paradigms in spectral proactivity.
Click to expand...
Parking Garage Elevators—Autonomous hostage-taking devices with a will
of their own. Beware.
Click to expand...
(Un)weighted Companion Pillow—The thing Erik Wolpaw carries around
with him and covers his mouth with after others have sat on it
Click to expand...

And so on.
 
Z

Zaptruder

Banned
These guys get it. They get it to the nth degree.

They're a cabal of freethinkers that don't take authoritative dogma, that don't kowtow to plebian democracy, that just lets their people be the best people they can goddamn be.

And they have fun, and make money doing it. They work and live, hand in hand; a place where you work because you really believe in what you're doing - and one that helps you get paid, allowing you to do the things you believe in.

But this is an elite company - you couldn't structure society like this without significant changes. There just aren't enough people with the right mindset to get it to this degree. It would be good if there was, and it's really as awesome as it gets. But it is a good model to drive culture and society towards.
 
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