Interviews and SWOT tests

This week was spent doing some mock interviews. We were assigned a job at a studio that creates mobile games. Here I will record a few questions I think may be asked in interviews and my thoughts.

1) Why do you want to work for us?
- An answer to this should obviously be honest, show motivation and enthusiasm. I feel that it would be good to talk about what you know of the company, any knowledge of games ("oh I loved....)

2) What skills can you bring to the company?
- I feel it would be good to mention both technical skills as well as "people" skills as teamwork is a vital part of the industry.

3) What kind of animal would you be?
- For this question I would say a dolphin as they are energetic and work well as a team.

This made me learn a lot about myself and helped me know where I need to focus more. I found that I was knowledgeable about the area I wanted to go into however was not so aware of salary and hour expectations so I went ahead and looked into these.

Salary:
A lot of factors influence the salary expectations such as experience, job title and studio. I began to look at entry level positions such as junior artists as this is where I will be aiming to begin with. I found that salary ranged from 16k to 25k per year.

Hour expectations:
I am well aware of the expectation to crunch at key times in development but I am unaware of what is "normal" working hours for a 3D artist position. By looking at government laws and average working hours I found that you can not be forced to work more than 48 hours a week. This would on average be 9am - 6pm, 5 days a week.

For a bit of further personal development I conducted a SWOT analysis to help me understand even more what I need to work on.

Strengths:
Professional qualities - good teamwork skills, happy to voice opinions and listen to others, good knowledge of Maya, Photoshop, good problem solving skills, ability to work to deadlines

Weaknesses:
Not so good at - ZBrush, baking maps, lack of perseverance at times, procrastination

Opportunities:
How can I get noticed - game jams, networking, portfolio website

Threats:
Obstacles - failing degree, lack of motivation, competition

The main areas I need to work on for getting a job in the industry:
- Portfolio and skills
- Personal goals such as longer attention span and getting out of "slumps" where I am bored of a project

I feel these mock interviews were a good exercise in basic interview skills and what kind of questions will be asked however I will now need more practice at applying for a job where I know more about the company.