Tag team of specialists interview you to determine if you fit their very closed definition of designer. Getting a passing nod from each team allows you to progress to the next hour. Like a game show!

Setting up the interview was a mess, and I’m sure would have never happened had I not been friends with someone at Valve. After deciding to fly me out for an in-person interview, we agreed upon a date. 4 days prior to that date, no one had connected me to arrange my flight and hotel. Concerned, I reached out to my friend, who poked the interview organizers who then reached out to me the next day. Interview day was a full day of interviews where I spoke with 2 valve employees at a time. Questions were about designing a L4D co-op scoring system, a ski resort app, and the same standard questions others have mentioned. I did a full day of interviews, but apparently they can cut the interview short if it’s not going well after the lunch interview. Most of the people I met with were very engaged, but a few wore their disinterest on their sleeve and were almost openly hostile. Definitely a weird approach for an interview process that was, in their own words, meant to simulate what it’d be like to work with them. It often felt as though the interviewers had been decided upon just hours before - many knew nothing of my work of work history, which led to a lot of retreading of the same history and subsequent follow up questions. At the end of the day, I was offered a contract position, which I explained I could not take as I was not about to move to one of the most expensive areas in the country for a job without benefits or assurances of full-time work. They told me that many contractors ultimately become full-time employees, which only made their offer stranger to me; if that’s the case, why not hire people outright? After declining, they told me that having gone through the process, I would be welcome to contract with them at any point afterward, but I seriously doubt they would even remember who I was a week later. Afterward, no one responded to the emails I sent thanking them for taking the time and for the experience. Meanwhile, the card I had to put on file at the hotel was charged for the room, which required that I contact Valve’s interview coordinator so that they could clear up the charge with the hotel and pay for the room. Ultimately, the whole ordeal was terribly disorganized and going through a day of interviews only to be offered a contract position made the whole process feel like a big waste of time. As a lifelong fan of Valve’s games, it was a very disappointing experience.