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Got a degree in Psychology? Looking for a job? Valve is hiring...?

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http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/job_postings.html

"We believe that the more we know about human behavior, about how and why people do what they do, the better our products will be. All game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists. That’s why we’re looking for a experimental psychologist to apply knowledge and methodologies from psychology to game design and all aspects of Valve’s operations. We want to exploit your experience with experimental design, research methods, statistics, and human behavior to help craft even more compelling gameplay experiences for future Valve titles. We’d also expect you to research and weigh in on any and all topics that are relevant to improving the experiences of our customers, partners, and employees."
 
Should probably post this so people with BAs don't get too excited.

Requirements:
Graduate degree in Psychology (or equivalent) field
Advanced knowledge of statistics
Familiarity with one or more of the following pieces of data analysis software: SPSS, Systat, Matlab, R, (or equivalent)
Four years experience with:
Experimental design/research methods
Relevant research in cognitive, social, human factors, and related disciplines in psychology
 

BeesEight

Member
Should probably post this so people with BAs don't get too excited.

Requirements:
Graduate degree in Psychology (or equivalent) field
Advanced knowledge of statistics
Familiarity with one or more of the following pieces of data analysis software: SPSS, Systat, Matlab, R, (or equivalent)
Four years experience with:
Experimental design/research methods
Relevant research in cognitive, social, human factors, and related disciplines in psychology

Yup, they always find a way to get ya.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Not surprising at all. Valve is constantly pushing towards new ways to approach designing games.
 

JoeBoy101

Member
I majored in it - won't help because they'll probably grab someone with a master's.

This. People with a BA in Psychology are likely not working in that field. I know I'm not.

Though I will say, there is a lot of observable human behavior in gamers that could be ripe for experimentation by a good psychologist. Valve is not kidding on how they have to be armchair psychs with 'path of least resistance', 'risk vs. reward', etc. Good game design inherently brings out psychological concepts.
 
Hmm, interesting... I may shoot them my resume . My Psy.D. is more qualitative than quantitative research, but why the hell not, I live 10 min away. What do you guys think the pay range would be? I have no idea that the range is in the gaming industry.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Like VALVe needs help trying to figure out what people want to play.

They need help figuring out how people play and how to design with those play habits in mind.


Hmm, interesting... I may shoot them my resume . My Psy.D. is more qualitative than quantitative research, but why the hell not, I live 10 min away. What do you guys think the pay range would be? I have no idea that the range is in the gaming industry.

you should look into the annual Game Designer magazine salary poll. It's quite interesting, perhaps they'd pay you an entry level salary for a designer? Not sure how they would categorize this role into their company.
 
Right. I'll finish my economics degree, get several years of experience on my CV, get the job, impress people to gain some good favor, then over time manipulate the company to divert more resources towards HL3 on a brand new engine. All in all, might be able to get it out before the end of the decade. Sound okay with everyone?
 

scy

Member
Right. I'll finish my economics degree, get several years of experience on my CV, get the job, impress people to gain some good favor, then over time manipulate the company to divert more resources towards HL3 on a brand new engine. All in all, might be able to get it out before the end of the decade. Sound okay with everyone?

So it'll be out in half the time? I'm down.
 
So it'll be out in half the time? I'm down.

Okay sounds good, better than waiting twenty years at least. Now to convince them, I'll create an econometric model that shows the number of hats purchased by a person each year is dependent on the number of Half Life games they own. Valve loves hats, they'd be all over it.
 
Yup, they always find a way to get ya.

with Valve it's important to remember, they, of all companies, do not strictly follow those guidelines.

If you can demonstrate you exceed the requirements to actually do the job, even if you don't have the required papers under your belt, they will still consider you.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
If I end up getting my Masters in Industrial Design and/or Human Factors you can bet your ass I'll be applying to Valve and spinning myself as having experience "observing human response to products and designing for improvement"
 

leroidys

Member
They (game companies) hire psychologists so they can better figure out how to better appeal to people's tendency towards obsession and make you even more of a slave to their "free" to play model.
 
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