Technical Artist Interview Questions
- If someone comes up to you and asks for a red lipstick what do you do?
- Name your favorite MAC product and sell it to me?
- How did I create the texture map I provided as an example of my work?
- What would you do if I were to pair you up to work on a project with a coworker whom you didn’t like?
- Can you bring a model and do work on the interview?
- Do you have a university degree?
- What would you do if your friend was giving away free product?
- Can you work overtime? Can you pass a drug test? Can you start tomorrow?
- What is the name of the company you’re interviewing for?
- How come theres no bushes here?
- Why didnt you add at flag here?
- Why is this piece so bad?
- Why did you choose this?
- What is it that you want?
- How long do you plan on staying with us?
- Why are you a good candidate for to work for us?
- What is your favorite MAC product, and how would you sell it to a customer?
- Why do you want to work for mac?
Technical Artist Job: How To Prepare, What To Expect
Interviews for Top Jobs at Electronic Arts
- Any work related to PyQt ?
- Tell me about a bad experience in your previous work with a colleague, how did you handle it, do you think what you did was right?
- If you see a colleague doing something wrong (technically), he does not listen to you when you mention it to him, this is delaying the project, what will you do?
- If not for money, what will be you be rather doing?
- On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate your C++?
Typical Technical Artist interview questions
- What are Dot Product and Cross Product? How are they used in Game Dev?
- How matricies are used in GameDev?
- What is the quaternion and its application for GameDev?
- Provide few possible approaches for 3D optimizations (namely, for Geometry, Textures, Shaders, Materials, Lighting, etc)
- Provide brief overview for rendering pipeline
- What is the difference between Deffered and Forward rendering? When to use what (i.e., HUD better to render in Forward or Defferd? Why so?)
- What is the Vertex shader? What is the main work done in Vertex shader? What are the input / output (in general) for this shader
- What is the Pixel shader? Main responsibility that lies on Pixel shader? What is the output for the Pixel shader?
- Describe main PBD (Phisically-Based Rendering) principles and approaches.
- How would you make the “Feature_name” effect? (for example, shining eyes for wolfs/dogs/cats at night); raindrops shifting on the glass; objects become wet if they are in touch with water; healthbar for the player, etc.)
- Any generic question in programming area. For example, what is the difference between Class and Structure in C#, how would you create standalone UI for custom tool using Python or where the MEL/VEX lenguage is used, etc.
- /// The article is being written at the moment. Please, stay tuned ///
In addition to direct technical questions for TechArtists, there should be some talks about the candidate’s previous experience/tech difficulties he solved. So prepare a short speech about your best achievements and be ready to answer relative questions further on. For example, if you said that you created a tool in 3DsMax for rigging, MEL/Python-related questions are likely to be incoming.
What is the most recent creative hardware you used? How did it affect your work?
Demonstrates candidates current industry knowledge and their ability to adapt to and use new technology in their design process.
I don’t know EA at all, but I’ve recently interviewed about 25 people in North America and Europe and the one thing I am looking for is problem solving. If someone doesn’t know something specific, I don’t look at that as an issue. There are as many different Technical Artist Skillsets as there are Technical Artists. If they don’t know something and try to make up an answer, or they are unwilling to ask me questions to try to find out what I mean or what I am looking for, then I consider that a failure. I guess that’s a long way of echoing the above advice. Be humble and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Interviewing is both stressful and a massive opportunity to learn. Tell them what you are sure of, but if you find yourself completely flummoxed by a question you might as well ask “How would you begin to solve this problem?” It’s entirely possible the interviewer is looking to see how someone collaborates in an area that they aren’t familiar with or how they approach learning as well. Worst case scenario, you get to hear the ideas of an experienced technical artist who has thought about this problem specifically. Don’t assume that every question has a right answer or that every question is even designed to test your knowledge about a specific subject. Of course, your mileage with EA may vary. Microsoft used to have a “stress interview” portion of the loop, which I find to be complete bullshit. The idea was to see how you handle adversity under pressure. It seems to me that the stress of interviewing alone kind of creates that environment by default.
Thank you so much for the advice guys! I’ve made it through 2 of the interviews and the team is actually super awesome! They want me to move to the third and longest interview. About 3 hours and it will be more about problem-solving. I will definitely stay calm and humble. I am just super happy to be able to learn from super experienced Technical Artists.
All I can say is that the team is really awesome, and because of the similarities I have with them, my suspicions that I’ve always been a technical artist have been confirmed! Now, I’m just waiting to hear back and hoping I’m the right fit. I just want to work with, and learn from great people!
This is my general advice. Be humble. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” instead of trying to beat around the bush. Take your time to think before responding if the question requires a moment. Be yourself. If you don’t know the answer, ask the interviewer to explain it to you.
FAQ
What are good technical interview questions?
- What online resources do you use to help you do your job? …
- How do you keep your technology skills current? …
- How would you explain [a relevant technology] to someone with limited tech skills?
What are good questions to ask an artist?
- Where are you from and how does that affect your work?
- Who are your biggest artistic influences?
- Tell me about your favorite medium.
- Where do you find inspiration?
- When is your favorite time of day to create?
- Describe how art is important to society.
- What motivates you to create?
What skills do technical artists need?
- High attention to detail.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Career training in VFX.
- A strong portfolio or demo reel.
- Solid understanding of art and animation pipelines.
- Familiarity with game systems and the game development process.
- Scripting skills.
How do I prepare for an artist interview?
- Be Yourself, Relax. Take a deep breath to relax and centre yourself before you walk in. …
- Prepare Your Portfolio. …
- Believe in Yourself. …
- Speak Clearly, Be Audible. …
- Organise and Label Your Work Clearly. …
- Be Punctual. …
- Dress Appropriately, Be Clean. …
- Be An Open Learner.
