Q&A With Scientific Games Corporation Employees

The newest products and updates of old products are at a very fast pace and innovating quickly. But we don't have much research and development to improve or expand upon the long standing products and processes.

We have some exciting new products coming out that are innovative, well made and have great potential for success. The biggest issue is updating codebase and skillsets in staff on in older products and studio locations.

Every team does it differently. The commonality is that your attitude and personal interests need to mesh well with your team. Your team becomes a family to you.

It varies, but a lot of times it takes a while and it's not clear that they're interested. They like people who are flexible. It's good to understand the concepts you'll need, and have a feel for things. But if you seem stuck in your way of doing things they'll skip you. Be friendly rather than formal. They care WAY less about your qualifications than your personality here. They're looking for people they'll be comfortable with. My team mate and I were chosen over other people I knew very well who were better qualified. They want people who are likable, easy to get along with, tolerant, and enjoy socializing whether it's partying, karaoke, drinking, cussing, or D&D and a good nerd out. It's a broad spectrum, but it's all people that have hobbies and opinions about things. They want people who have strong interests outside of work. But they also want people who love to work and will hang out at the office and bring their spouse and kids on game night. Make them curious about you.

More cross training would improve the effectiveness of teams and increase communication and bonding among individuals. It would especially help if people with more seniority had opportunities to see how other teams are doing things, or experience the pipeline from differing roles and perspectives.

I would end up having a manager I didn't interview with. Due to high turnover the managers I did interview and developed a relationship with was either demoted to a worker or left the company.

They are moving more and more to a "pit" environment. They haven't gotten the memo about how stressful, distracting and unproductive that can be for positions that require focus. I know of at least one person who has left the company specifically because of that problem. They do constantly re-arrange to try to make the layout work better for everyone. Hopefully some time in the future those re-arrangements will include more options to limit interruptions.

It's pretty amazing, actually. This is part of the reason I hate meetings so much. I am literally ALWAYS working on something I do not want to be pulled away from.

Your personality is a lot more important than your resume. We have a lot of brilliant people with non-conventional work history. You need to demonstrate that you have the right attitude and that you have personal hobbies and activities that coincide with your team members or demonstrate common ground with them. We work hard, so we want to enjoy being here and enjoy each other's company. We need to see that you're going to contribute to the environment in ways that make it fun, productive and comfortable. We all enjoy being here, so it helps if you enjoy work, and if the way you work helps others enjoy their work. We expect people to stay a long time, so just be honest and be yourself. Make sure the job you're applying for is one you will love doing. Be honest about what kind of team and management environment you need. And each team has a different micro-culture, so if you don't hit it off with one see if you can get an opportunity to meet other ones.

What games do you play? What do you like about those games? What do you do for fun?

It depends what team you're on. But the company expects to keep the people they hire and it really shows in the people who understand that. It's like they live here. They decorate the place with toys and games and posters. They play games during lunch. There's a lot of laughing and joking and sometimes it's loud. But it also depends on the group. Some teams are a little cliquish. And there are micro-managers, but if you're a good communicator about it people respond well and there is NEVER retaliation for feedback on a culture or management issue.