Talib Kadhim joined the d3t team as Animator (he prefers Lord of Animation…!) on 3rd December 2018. We asked Talib to tell us a bit more about himself and he responded in his own unique style!
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
I have been in the industry for around 15/16 years as a 2D/3D Animator and director, mainly in broadcast animation. Working with companies such as Nintendo, BBC and Nickelodeon. Most of my stuff throughout of my career has been cartoony stuff (I’m not ashamed, I love cartoons). After a while I managed to blag my way into a games company, TT, and worked on several of their Lego titles. And now I’m here!
Why d3t?
What immediately jumped out was that I would have the responsibility of being the only in-house animator. This will give me the chance to put my stamp on the anims, whether they be realistic or cartoony.
The other thing was the diversity of projects…not just Lego.
I had also heard lots and lots and lots of good things from outside people about how good it was to work here. So it was a no brainer.
What was the recruitment process like?
Quick! Found out about the gig on a Thursday, interviewed on Friday, chilled on the Sunday (sorry) and I was offered the job and accepted on the Monday.
Tell us some fun facts about yourself.
There are no fun facts about me…I’m not fun…My name is Talib, not Taleeeeeb and I’m half Iraqi. I’m a nerd, I like comics, games, animations, the usual…ooh ooh I played ice hockey to a pretty high level, but now I’m old I just do Tae Kwon Do. Food is definitely my driving force. And that’s why I’m a fat man!
If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
Chris Budden re-joined the d3t team in November as a Programmer. We know Chris has an excellent grounding in his craft – after all, he learned some of it with us! So, as we welcome Chris back into the fold, we caught up with him to find out more.
Welcome back Chris! What have you been doing since you were last here?
I worked at d3t earlier this year and was then offered the opportunity to work on development of new software with another company. I took up the offer but after a couple of months, I realised I actually missed the variety of work at d3t and also the whole team culture.
Why return to d3t?
I saw posts on Twitter saying that d3t is expanding its team and as I’m familiar with the levels of in-house expertise, the mentoring that’s available and the range of projects d3t works on, I decided to get in touch.
What was the recruitment process like?
I contacted my previous line manager and after an informal chat I was offered the programming position. It’s great to be back with the old crew and there’s quite a lot of new faces around too! But the culture’s the same. Lots of interesting, challenging work and lots of fun too.
Tell us something about yourself that we might not know.
I like cats and videogames!
If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
We have long been champions of the talent our universities produce and have always been active on the ‘student circuit’.
As well as offering Internships, we are patron of Grads in Games and regularly take part in their schedule of events. d3t is currently in a major phase of growth providing us with the ideal opportunity to ramp up our student engagement programme for 2018/9 with Phil Owen, Head of Engineering, taking the lead.
Joining the team in July, Phil, an industry veteran with a wealth of experience, knew exactly what he would be looking for in new team members.
“d3t is all about discovering and developing talent in order to build and retain a highly skilled team. We look for creativity, enthusiasm and the desire for excellence in all our new recruits and we find those qualities in abundance when we meet students and graduates.
“We work on a diverse range of challenging projects, providing a great environment in which to hone skills. And along with our strong culture of mentoring, we offer a rich training ground for those starting out in the industry.
“We are really looking forward to meeting potential team members at the events we have lined up over autumn.”
Our first stop was at Manchester University’s Computer Science Jobs Fair, setting the bar for rest of the events. We then visited Abertay, Liverpool John Moore’s, Staffordshire and Nottingham Trent universities. We have been really impressed with all prospective candidates and have met students and graduates from a wide range of disciplines including Computer Science, Maths and Physics.
David Merriman joined the d3t team as a Programming Lead on 22nd October 2018. We asked David to tell us a bit more about himself…
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
I’ve been working in the games industry for over 16 years, first with Electronic Arts and then for the likes of THQ, Sony (twice!) and most recently Codemasters where I was Lead Core Tech Programmer.
My background was initially in vehicle dynamics and physics, but now I see myself as a more tech focussed generalist programmer with lots of experience in things like networking, console platform features and CPU optimisation.
Why d3t?
I was attracted by the chance to work on the wide variety of interesting projects that are going on here, then when I came for interview the friendly and professional people and the office environment impressed me.
What was the recruitment process like?
Friendly and relaxed but well organised. Great communication before I started the role and having a properly organised induction wasn’t something I’d seen in the games industry before.
Tell us some interesting facts about yourself.
Most of my hobbies involve going fast one way or another – I’ve got a kit car I built for track days and I love mountain biking and skiing. It’s a wonder I’m still (mostly) in one piece.
If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
Andrew Richardson joined the d3t team as a Junior Programmer on 22nd October 2018. Andrew tells us a bit more about himself…
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
During University I took a work placement at the NHS and was offered a job at the end of the placement. Before University I worked several retail jobs for roughly 10 years.
Why d3t?
I originally got into programming to make games, but quickly realised I enjoy programming itself, so would have been happy working in most programming jobs.
I didn’t originally plan to go into games development due to many jobs in the industry not being very stable or secure. I met d3t at the Manchester careers fair and their aim of having no crunch and no layoffs in between projects really appealed to me, and the staff at the show were friendly and honest.
What was the recruitment process like?
I was originally given a programming task and 24 hours to complete it. The task was both challenging and fun. The 24-hour window helped as it allowed me to pace myself and not worry too much about the time limit.
I was invited for interview and interviewed by Scott and Drew. They were both friendly and helped calm my nerves. They told me about projects they had worked on and what d3t are about. The questions were a mix of some usual interview questions and some unconventional ones, but they were never trick questions and It never felt like they were trying to catch me out.
Tell us some interesting facts about yourself.
I have an interest in art and play several instruments. I often do art, music and programming in game jams when I get time.If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
Adam Faiers joined the d3t team as a Junior Programmer on 17th September 2018. Adam tells us a bit more about himself…
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
Student research assistant at Bournemouth University. I worked on a couple of projects related to VR simulations. The first attempted to recreate a highly controlled laboratory environment in VR, with real-time data fed in so that the equipment could be remotely monitored without disruption to experiments. The second was a police training tool to aid in the teaching of correct Stop and Search procedures.
Why d3t?
d3t offered me the ability to develop my skills and continue to improve as a programmer by providing a wide range of projects.
What was the recruitment process like?
Very painless. I was originally put in contact with d3t through a recruitment company. The programming test provided me a good opportunity to show off my skills in an actual game scenario (not like those annoying timed programming questions) and the interviewers were very friendly and relaxed. Once I’d been offered a position the team were very helpful and answered any questions I had.
Tell us some interesting facts about yourself.
Ever since I knew what programming was it’s been my dream to make games, I’m finally beginning to fulfil that dream thanks to the team at d3t.If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
d3t is delighted to have worked with Fireproof Games in bringing their critically acclaimed puzzle game to the Nintendo Switch. Available on Nintendo Switch eShop!
Zack Pearce joined the d3t team as a QA Tester on 12th September 2018. Zack tells us a bit more about himself…
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
Having spent the last 17 months at Codemasters Evo studio I’m delighted to make the long move to d3t! Prior to my time in Cheshire I worked at Sony FPQA in Liverpool for just over a year. That was the beginning of my life up North as I’m originally from Exeter in Devon.
Why d3t?
I noticed the amount of job vacancies being listed and the recent move to a bigger facility. So I could tell this is a company that is growing and looking to grow even more. The strong praise from my previous colleagues as well as the array of awards d3t has received made them an exciting company to apply to.
What was the recruitment process like?
It was the right blend of organised and relaxed! The interview was set up quickly and efficiently. I was able to arrange it for after my working hours and the 2 minute journey from there made life a lot easier! The questions asked during the interview were a nice mixture of technical and personal ones to keep a good flow as well as a calm atmosphere.
Tell us some interesting facts about yourself.
I’m a big football fan (I’ll avoid mentioning the team I support because I don’t want to fall out with my new colleagues this early on!). When I’m not watching football a fair bit of my ‘free’ time is spent at the gym. A fun fact is that I have more than a few “questionable” tattoos… If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
Simon Brown joined the d3t team as a Principal Programmer on 10th September 2018. Simon tells us a bit more about himself…
Tell us about your background and experience prior to d3t?
I’ve been working in the games industry for 23 years, in a variety of senior and lead roles.
I spent 11 years at Traveller’s Tales as Lead Game Technology Programmer and worked on over 20 different LEGO titles. Before joining d3t I was Principal Programmer on ONRUSH at Codemasters.
The first system I worked on professionally was PlayStation One, and since then I’ve worked on every consumer console, as well as Mac, PC and mobile.
I think of myself as a generalist programmer but my specialist subjects are resource management and streaming, network code on client and server, build processes and data pipelines, and the Technical Requirements for submissions.
Why d3t?
I was attracted to the friendly and professional attitude of the people at d3t, and the interesting and varied workload. The future at d3t looks very exciting as the studio expands as part of Keyword Studios and I wanted to be part of that.
What was the recruitment process like?
Very smooth and professional. The office information pack provided before my start at d3t was a pleasant surprise, and contained useful information for a new starter – it wasn’t something I expected in the games industry!
Tell us some interesting facts about yourself.
I like growing chillies and sharing them with my colleagues – full respect to one of the guys for adding a raw habanero to his lunch last week!If you want to join our talented team, why not check out our vacancies?
