We caught up to Associate Producer Jessie Coombs and convinced her to deliver some amazing content into our website for you this week. What can we say, we're facilitators. If you've been looking for a good opportunity to learn what it takes to land a job at Bungie, direct your interest to the interview below.
Q. Who are you and what do you do?
A. My name is Jessie Coombs and I am a brand spankin’ new Associate Producer in 3D Art for Halo: Reach. On a day to day basis my job consists of running about to meetings, balancing the schedules for 3D art teams and trying to evaluate if we are on track to deliver all of our amazing 3D content on time.
Q. When you're not running to meetings and keeping everything on track, what do you do to stay balanced outside of the office?
A. I love seeing live music and playing the drums. I have a sweet seven piece set of baby blue Tempus drums that I routinely give a thorough beating. When I’m not practicing or listening to music, I spend the rest of my time playing games and watching tons of movies and TV shows. I also have an awesome dog named Lync who enjoys repeatedly watching Arrested Development episodes almost as much as I do.
Q. Your dog does sound awesome. Before you developed into an awesome dog-owning drummer, what had you decided you wanted to be when you grew up?
A. Awesome. Check.
Q. Did you take any aptitude tests in school that happened to nudge you in that awesome direction?
A. I did take a “career guidance” test during high school and I think it suggested that I become a teacher. Unfortunately I’m pretty sure every teacher has to wear glasses and I shamefully was burdened with 20/20 vision.
Q. Did you use that keen but cumbersome vision to seek out and secure a college diploma?
A. Yes I did, in Information Science from Cornell. Though the reasoning behind spending four years in the frozen tundra that is upstate NY escapes me now, but I think it had something to do with “ivy” and “gorges” and having the best cafeteria food in the country.
Q. When did you first make contact with Bungie after you escaped the Northeast in search of new snack foods?
A. Officially, at GDC 2009. I was looking to land my permanent spot in games (at the time I was in a rotational program at Microsoft) and the thought that heading to San Francisco for the week and getting a chance to meet folks from the best companies in the world was more than worth the travel costs. During the blur that followed my arrival, I got the change to meet Tam Armstrong and Allen Murray who were both exceptionally rad.
Q. Bring any exceptionally rad things with you to the interview to make sure your visit would be permanent?
A. Resumes (mine), a notebook and pen, Chap Stick (cherry), my cell phone and an extra pony tail holder.
Q. What do you remember about the loop (besides the obvious and delicious lingering flavor of artificial cherry).
A. It was mad early, I think I needed to be up in Kirkland at about 8:15am. The whole day was pretty intense and exciting as you would expect, some of my favorite moments include: chatting with Mike Wu about DoTA and crazy WoW inspired YouTube rock out videos, meeting Chucky and having him suggest going outside and then eventually coming back in because it was too cold, and of course, at the end of the day, meeting with Jonty and Joe and finding out that I landed the job. There’s nothing like getting to meet amazing people who you admire and having them say you’re what they are looking for.
Q. In one sentence, say what it’s like to work at Bungie.
A. Working at Bungie is like finally figuring out how to use your GPS navigation system and having it guide you towards an amusement park full of delicious cupcakes made out of genius (with cream cheese frosting).
Q. Any advice for applicants looking to score some delicious cupcakes (and a job at Bungie)?
A. Be excited and interested, and don’t let the “pressure” from interviews prevent you from asking questions and really learning about the opportunity.
Thanks for the opportunity to get some tips from an insider's perspective, Jessie. If you just read through this interview and find yourself interested in landing a job at Bungie, get excited and learn all about our current crop of openings by training your eyes on our
Jobs Page. We're hiring.