Zedia Zhane
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Posted - 2011.03.01 14:25:00 -
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Reading through the feedback on glassdoor.com, it sounds like CCP is about average for a game development company.
I'm a software professional, I've looked extensively into working for a game company before.
Game companies are very different from business software companies. Attitudes are a lot more laid back, and a focus on keeping a 'casual, fun atmosphere' is typical. Rigors of things like software documentation and bug tracking are ignored in favor of this. Game companies are constantly pursuing the hottest new thing and trying to incorporate the coolest new feature into the game. That sort of scattered pursuit of multiple, rapidly-changing goals cripples management communication in any system, including gaming. When the project goals are constantly changing, coders frequently find themselves to have spent the last month working on something that is no longer important to the end product.
So the sort of feedback on glassdoor is what I'd expect from any gaming company. As someone pointed out, Blizzard isn't much different.
(There's a good reason software games are thoroughly riddled with bugs. Having tried WoW, I can say that for all the bugs in Eve, WoW is far worse.)
As for comments on promotion being based on friendship rather than competence and a preference being shown for Icelanders... Several items: 1) Someone ****ed off over being passed over for promotion is much more likely to post on a site like glassdoor than a satisfied employee. So you an expect to see a fair amount of disgruntlement. 2) It is normal in any company for promotions to be based on trust just as much, if not more, than on competence. The company has to know you are motivated to do the job and not about to leave for greener pastures. Trust is built by political social interplay in the office. Or, as one commenter put it, 'making people laugh.' Similarly, a native Icelander is much less likely to quit to go back home or because of a work visa issue. And I'm sure that being native to Icelandic culture (including things like being a native speaker of the Icelandic language) really helps make the personal connections in the company that help get you promoted.
As they say, it is what it is. If you are going to work for a company where all the executives are native speakers of Icelandic, expect your chances of promotion to be seriously crippled if you quite literally can't speak their language.
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