In my first post, I promised I’d discuss in detail what Valve looks for in people when it hires. Fortunately, I don’t have to, because there’s a great description of that and more in the Valve handbook. I strongly recommend reading it before applying for a job at Valve; it will help you figure out whether Valve would be a great place for you, and whether you’d be a great fit at Valve. Check it out – it’s beautifully written, and worth it for the entertainment value alone.
I'll post here whenever there's something about what I'm doing or about Valve that seems worth sharing. The initial post is an unusual one - it's long, my attempt to distill the experience of my first year and a half at Valve - but I think it's well worth reading to understand what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and the context in which it's happening, and just to understand more about Valve in general.
Michael Abrash is the author of several books, including Zen of Code Optimization and Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, and has written columns on graphics and performance programming for several magazines, including Dr. Dobb's Journal and PC Techniques. He was the GDI programming lead for the original version of Windows NT, coauthored Quake at Id Software with John Carmack, and worked on the first two versions of Xbox. He is currently working on R&D projects, including wearable computing, at Valve. He can be reached here.
Why virtual isn’t real to your brain
May. 15 2013
Slides from my Game Developers Conference talk
Mar. 30 2013
Game Developers Conference and space-time diagrams
Mar. 20 2013
A Good Post by John Carmack about Latency
Feb. 23 2013
Raster-Scan Displays: More Than Meets The Eye
Jan. 28 2013
Latency – the sine qua non of AR and VR
Dec. 29 2012
A bit of housekeeping
Dec. 2 2012
When it comes to resolution, it’s all relative
Nov. 27 2012
Valve in the New York Times
Sep. 11 2012
Virtual Insanity at QuakeCon
Aug. 10 2012
An Interview from QuakeCon
Aug. 9 2012
Why You Won’t See Hard AR Anytime Soon
Jul. 20 2012
The New Valve Economics Blog
Jun. 15 2012
Do What You Love
Jun. 7 2012
What Valve Looks for When it Hires
Apr. 27 2012
I’m Not Dead, Just Buried
Apr. 19 2012
I swear I’m not crying because I’ll never work at Valve. It’s just… spring… dust. I swear.
I actually read the manual last week (I found it posted somewhere else online). It’s a fascinating look into Valve’s belief that they will be more successful if they can break free of the red tape that constrains creative innovation at other, more traditional, companies.
It reminds me of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Valve wants different results than the norm, so they don’t want to operate the same way other companies do.
One of my favorite lines… “We’ve heard that other companies have people allocate a
percentage of their time to self-directed projects. At Valve, that percentage is 100.”
After clicking on the link to download the hand-book, I wasn’t completely sure of what to expect.
A corporate style manual with completely practical knowledge on how to fill out invoices and explain who owns your soul after being hired?
A wacky, goofy, TF2-esque manual with instructions on how to most easily show your manliness or when lacking, how to raise your manliness level to that of Saxton Hale, with a page to make your own custom origami hat?
An informative piece on how to get used to your new pherapod-sensing cybernetic implant in your nose that gives you detailed instructions on what to do when GabeN throws or squeezes his own personal one to give off specific scents?
A guide on how to ensure that you become a special infected when the inevitable zombie apocalypse comes (e.g. getting surgery to insert a high-dose steroid pack in your chest cavity that would activate a few hours post-mortem ensuring your undead future as a tank)?
Nope. I was wrong on all of those guesses. Instead Valve didn’t disappoint in (re-re-re-re-re)reenforcing how awesome it would be to work for the coolest company in gaming and how much I still need to work to even come within anywhere close to the awesomeness of Valve if I ever want to fulfill my dream of ever working as a part of Valve*.
*footnote: I almost wrote “of ever working for Valve” but then I realized that that’s either an incomplete sentence (e.g. “working for the continual progression and betterment of Valve as a company and as a unit”) or just plain wrong in the concept of working for someone higher up than myself, because everyone is part of a giant, non-hierarchical team.
I have already read the handbook a week ago (or so), it sounds like an awesome place to work! Unfortunately it is on the opposite end of the world (as seen from here), and relocating is not an option for me right now. Anyway, I think what you (and some, but not many other companies) do here is the future of work – keep going! I hope your example spreads!