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I have been thinking about what I want to be doing for the summer, and one of the things I have been considering was to try and find an internship at a game company. Does anyone know if game companies hire interns?

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Where to find work is off topic for the site. Try the job boards at gamedev.net or one of the discussion oriented sites in the FAQ. Good luck! – Byte56 Jan 13 at 18:52
Questions about careers are not off topic. This may have been misinterpreted, but the idea was more of "Is this something that is done?". – Garan Jan 13 at 18:53
You ask specifically about which companies may be hiring interns and who to contact... If you're just asking if game companies hire interns the answer is yes. Asking which game companies might be doing so in the coming summer and who to contact about that is not on topic for the site. – Byte56 Jan 13 at 18:56
Yes, all companies I worked for hires interns. Contact the human resources departments of companies nearby you, like in every other industry. – Maik Semder Jan 13 at 18:59
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Some do, some don't. You can find some local ones by using this resource, among others: gamedevmap.com – Tetrad♦ Jan 13 at 19:00
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closed as off topic by Byte56, Maik Semder, Josh Petrie, Gajoo, jhocking Jan 14 at 17:47

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2 Answers

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Yes, companies will hire interns. This includes game companies. Which ones do so, and who to contact about getting an internship are always changing. Additionally it will depend on what kind of development you want to do. It's up to you to research what's available. Start looking early as these things will fill up fast. You can search using resources like Tetrad suggested in the comments, or find local companies that are hiring for other positions using game developer job search sites like gamasutra.com, and see if an internship position would also be available. IGN has an article for additional resources.

Decide what kind of development you want to do, then find game companies in your area that do that kind of development (or outside your area if you're willing to travel, but it might be difficult to come out ahead financially if you're moving). Contact these companies to find out if they have any positions available for the type of work you're looking to do. Be prepared to present a résumé and/or portfolio of work.

Internships are a good opportunity to improve your knowledge and skills. They're also important for getting your foot in the door and networking with peers in the industry you're interested in. Make sure you take your work seriously and make a good impression.

You'll find that some internships are paid and others are not. It's up to you to decide if you can afford to work for free and if the experience is enough of a compensation for you. Asking around and finding out more about the company you'd be working for is important. You don't want to work for free some place that has a bad reputation as it won't be beneficial to you when future employers are looking at your work history.

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up vote 3 down vote

Byte56's answer is nice, but I think I can improve it a bit more, basing on my own experience.

It really matters what do you want to do in the game development process. For example, you can learn a lot of good programming practices in the software company that isn't related to game dev at all. Good SW companies can have better code culture, and experience obtained there is invaluable. Yet still, it might be easier to get an internship there; there are of course other factors involved, mostly by your place of living.

As an artist, it might be work looking into general design/art interships.

The most problematic part is the game design, in which case you really don't have much choice.

TL;DR Choose your intership place basing on knowledge and experience you want to get, not on the goal of the company itself.

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Indeed, game programming is just programming, after all. Sure, there are some best practices which differ and some problems which are unique to game development (otherwise we would write this on stackoverflow.com), but 90% of what you learn in business application development can be directly applied to game programming. – Philipp Jan 14 at 15:16

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