''10:30 PM Wednesday''
It is the day before your interview with the company, MoveForward.
[[You are preparing.]]This is your latest interview, and checking the initial email you find that this position is for an internship role as a Unity 3D Game Artist. The ad mentions virtual reality and emphasizes photorealism, but is otherwise devoid of details.
You’ve applied to internships with the reckless abandon of male salmon fertilizing their eggs, and have almost no idea what this company actually does.
[[You better find out.]]You are online with your friends. Casey, Thomas, and Alex and are scouring MoveForward’s website together.
[[You are looking for their philosophies, an about page, or anything that might clue you in to what, and who, they need you to be.]] Their website’s front page pictures the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset with a single button labeled, “Discover.”
You click it, revealing the blurb beneath:
“We at MoveForward believe in making a difference. Our team is dedicated to providing mobility and safety, which we believe is essential for the progress of society and humanity itself. MoveForward’s services ensure exceptional safety and efficiency, reliability and experience. Our customers include many of the world’s major carmakers, social media entities, and automotive suppliers.”
This is followed by their company’s name and tagline:
“Move Forward: Moving Forward”
[[They have 1.3 stars on Glassdoor->“Move Forward: Moving Forward”]]By the end of your investigation, you gather that they are associated with travel, Japan, drivers, apps, and safety. The language of the site wavers between unintelligible corporate speak and barely intelligible corporate speak.
Your guess is that it is a company developing a virtual reality app to train Japanese truck drivers how to drive more safely on the road.
Your friend, Casey disagrees saying that he thinks it’s an app that plans a travel destination.
Alex thinks that it’s the Japanese equivalent of Uber.
[[Thomas draws no conclusion, but points out that they use “future” fourteen times in their about page.]]''2:00 PM, Thursday.''
You’ve arranged your room.
There are books on the shelf behind you framing your face.
The coffee you drank fifteen minutes ago is hitting your bloodstream, and you calculate that your high point should occur mid interview, hopefully crescendoing into a cacophony of employment.
“I am an artist,” you remind yourself.
[[“I do art.”]]The zoom call begins. You share your camera. He does not share his.
"Hello."
"Hello, can you hear me?"
“Yes, can you hear me ok?”
"Yes."
[[The ritual of the virtual Covid interview is over.]]“Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
A dread and insidious question. But not unexpected. As rehearsed, you
[[Summarize your resume.->Resume]]
[[Start with a bland joke.->Joke]]
[[Tell about your personal motivations.->Motivations]][[“I am a transfer student studying game design at RPI. I was previously at UW Madison where I obtained majors in English and Biology. I have experience working on hospital teams as a scribe and as an English teacher. Since then, I’ve led several game design projects and been lead artist on three games.”->Note]]"Do I begin with my academic accomplishments or my professional accomplishments? Which would you find more impressive?"
It doesn't land, and he seems to think you're confused.
[["Could you tell me more about your background?" he says.|Resume]][["I’m someone looking for a challenge. I want to work with a team of like-minded, motivated, talented people on a project that I can contribute to in a meaningful way. I’m coming out of college and I’m hungry to sink my teeth into the industry and find my place somewhere. I’ve read a little about your project, and it sounds very exciting and I think that it might be the right fit for me."|Note]]There is a brief silence of the kind that indicates somewhere a note is being written down. You hope it’s a good one. He breaks the silence.
“Can you show me a piece of your work that you consider photoreal?”
[[You’re ready for this too, in fact, it’s on your other monitor. You’re floating blissfully on a cloud of preparedness. -> Sword]]You pull it up. It’s your latest work: a realistic 3D render of a sword from Lord of the Rings. You’ve been working on it nonstop for the past two days.
“Take me through it,” he says.
The direction is a little vague, but you figure that it’s an interview set for about forty minutes to an hour, so you begin with:
[[A summary that touches on key details of the modeling process to show your broad grasp of modeling concepts.->Summary]]
[[A highly detailed look at one aspect of the model to showcase the preciseness of your craft.->Detail]][[You take him through a scene you’ve prepared of early development, and then late development of the model, mentioning how you reworked the blade in exquisite detail after several iterations. You make sure to mention bezier curves, booleans, and etching depth. It takes about 7 minutes.->Second Silence]][[[[You go into detail regarding the runes inscribed on the blade. How they were sized, how their depth was controlled, and why it was so important to the overall look of the blade. You mention, self deprecatingly, the downsides of using some of these methods and what you did to mitigate them. It takes about 7 minutes. ->Second Silence]]]]There is a second silence, this one lasting much longer. It is the silence of someone waiting. But you’ve given your answer and given it confidently. You must hold. You are a mountain. You are the unyielding roots of an oak. You are --
“Could you take me through it a bit more?” he says.
“Sure.”
[[You haven’t prepared for a deeper explanation, but making this sword has been the majority of your life for the past 48 hours. You know all the ins and outs, and you give it to him, ham, teeth, and trotters. -> Long Expo]]Your explanation expands, moving painstakingly from iteration to iteration. There are mentions of specific modifier values, scaling techniques, and displacement materials. You wax eloquent about the bark your sword sits on as well as the pixel density of the imported textures. You delve into the experimental features that would crash anything punier than a fully-geared desktop computer. It is impassioned, magnificent, and so dense it could probably kill flies in midair.
It goes on.
And on.
[[And on.->Real Sword]]20 more minutes have passed. You are now nearly 30 minutes into your interview. He finally cuts you off with, “What problems could you see using this sword in real life?”
You’re not sure. Maybe they battle their interns colosseum style, or maybe it’s an oblique shot at your model, suggesting it isn’t good. You decide to:
[[Take the question at face value. Bring your knowledge of medieval weaponry lifted wholesale from fantasy media to bear.->Face Value]]
[[Explain that it isn’t really made to be used.->Prop]] "The runes could weaken it, and maybe in a clash your blade would break. The leaf shape is an impractical stylistic choice and meant to signify that it’s elven. And of course, it’s short. It was used by hobbits, and though they are a sturdy folk, are also a small one."
“No, something else,” he says.
[[Your cloud of preparedness dissipates. Your fall begins.->Reverse Face]]Maybe he hasn’t seen Lord of the Rings and doesn’t know that it’s based off of a movie prop. The point isn’t to make a realistic weapon you explain, but to make a photoreal fantasy sword.
“No, something else,” he says.
[[Your cloud of preparedness dissipates. Your fall begins.-> Reverse Prop]][[Maybe he hasn’t seen Lord of the Rings and doesn’t know that it’s based off of a movie prop. The point isn’t to make a realistic weapon you explain, but to make a photoreal fantasy sword.-> Fight Problem]][[[["The runes could weaken it, and maybe in a clash your blade would break. The leaf shape is an impractical stylistic choice and meant to signify that it’s elven. And of course, it’s short. It was used by hobbits, and though they are a sturdy folk, are also a small one." -> Fight Problem]]]]“No, something else that would cause a problem in a fight.”
[[You want to tell him that the closest thing to a fight you’ve been in was unsubscribing from Comcast. Clearly he’s got a very specific answer he’s looking for, but you’re out of ideas. You ask him with your best professionally inquisitive voice, what he thinks the problem with the sword is.-> Sword Answer]]“If you used this sword, the hilt would get in the way whenever you turn your wrist. Like it would hit you if you tried to turn it. Every time.”
You don’t think it makes much sense, but that doesn’t feel important. What’s concerning is that this interview has gone off the rails, and you’re not sure if your melee combat skills are honed enough for this guy.
[[But too late to think about that, it’s time for another question.]]“If I told you to make a photorealistic city in an hour, how would you do it?”
You breathe an internal sigh of relief. You’ve been waiting for a trick question, something to test “lateral thinking” or “innovative personal drive” or whatever buzzword this particular company likes to overuse. You figure it’s a question about efficiency: if you can find a workable solution to an impossible problem.
You think for a moment, then
[[Tell him it’s possible with a team.->Team]]
[[Give him your best answer based on your current skills.->Current Skills]]
[[Try to call his bluff and tell him that it’s impossible.->Bluff]]"For one person it’s impossible, but I believe that I have the skills to manage a team that could get it done. With the right people and resources--"
[[[[Again, he cuts you off. "No team, just you."->Current Skills]]]]You explain that you could create one photorealistic house, then randomize elements of it such as the color, number of stairs, type of door, scale ect. Then populate a city with them.
He objects. “But all of the houses would look the same. If you go to Paris, it’s not just one house with pieces changed over and over again. Sometimes houses are attached, or there are famous landmarks, or a million other things that people would notice if they went through your city. It wouldn’t seem photoreal.”
Again, it feels like he’s driving at something specific. It’s infuriating, like the beginning of a knock knock joke and you just wish he’d get to the punch line. You feel that you’ve totally lost control of the interview. You have //delightful// anecdotes, digestible snippets that inflate your experience while suggesting that you are still tantalizingly malleable.
[[The punchline comes, and it is...-> AI]]It isn’t possible to make a realistic city in an hour for anybody as far as I know. I would have to ask for more time or resources.
[[He is silent for a long moment, then says, “but if you had to.”->Current Skills]]“AI,” he says
“An AI could make the whole city of Paris in an hour.”
“Our company makes AI that recreates a photoreal version of the entire world.”
[[“How do you think you could add value to this project?”->Value]]“I am an artist,” you remind yourself again. “Artists add value.”
You try not to think about the fact that no one has to remind the world that engineers and firefighters add value. This insecurity is part of being an artist you tell yourself, in fact it’s essential. You hope.
You say:
[[AI’s aren’t perfect. They need oversight.->Correct AI]]
[[AI’s can’t see everything.-> Fill AI]]"Someone needs to check the AI’s work. If the AI is making everything too shiny for example, someone needs to reach in and correct it. But if it’s something more subtly off, you may need a 3D artist who knows what to correct and how to correct it."
[[He sounds unimpressed. "Ok, so some oversight, that’s a small contribution. Anything else?"->Fill AI]]"They need an artist to fill in the gaps. If you’re using google earth data, the AI can only see what google earth gives it. Someone needs to model everything inside or out of view."
[[He sounds unimpressed. "Ok, so some oversight, that’s a small contribution. Anything else?"-> Correct AI]]"They need an artist to fill in the gaps. If you’re using google earth data, the AI can only see what google earth gives it. Someone needs to model everything inside or out of view."
[["Again, a small contribution," he says.->Contribution]]You double check the ad for this company, “Unity 3D Game Artist Internship.” Nothing about AI or computer science is in there at all.
Is that what negging is? Were you just negged?
"Here, let me show you," he says.
[[For the first time, some excitement has crept into his voice.]]Someone needs to check the AI’s work. If the AI is making everything too shiny for example, someone needs to reach in and correct it. But if it’s something more subtly off, you may need a 3D artist who knows what to correct and how to correct it.
[["Again, a small contribution," he says.->Contribution]]He shows you an image of a rhinoceros in a field. You’re pretty sure it’s a zoomed in screenshot from zoo tycoon.
“An AI made this,” he says, pausing for dramatic effect. “In an hour.”
He goes on. "You can feed it. You can give it food and it will chase you. You can even pet it."
"Your AI programmed its behavior too?" you ask.
"Yes, in an hour," he says.
[["Wow," you say. "Only an hour"]]"So when you were asking me about building a photorealistic city in an hour, was I supposed to say I would build it with AI? Because I have to let you know that I'm applying to the ad which said it was for a 3D artist. I have some code experience, nothing with AI."
"No," he says, by which he clearly means “yes.” “We don’t have any programmers on the team. Our team is a team of developers and visionaries.”
It’s unpaid, but you’d get to work with other visionaries. You wouldn’t be allowed to use any of the work in your portfolio of course, but it’s experience you can’t get anywhere else.
“When do you launch?” you ask. You half expected him to say “in an hour.”
"Two weeks," he replies.
It’s not what you expected, but you say,
[["Wow, that's a really interesting project."->Conclusion]]
[["This project, wow, it's really interesting."->Conclusion]]
[["Interesting, I'm really wowed by your project."->Conclusion]]
[["Really interesting, wow, that’s a project."->Conclusion]]He concludes the interview by telling you that he has the backing of very large Japanese investors and his company’s last project only failed because of the employees he had to fire for lacking enough visionary qualities.
“I’ll talk it over with the team, he says, “but honestly you seem like a good fit.”
THE END''The Interview''
[[Begin->Beginning]]