The Job Market

The job market today is terrible. Landing a good job is a hard task to accomplish in this economy. Companies take advantage of the fact that there's a surplus in people looking for work. People looking for a job are desperate to apply for anything. Many us are still putting out the effort to attempt to find something that we'll be happy with and continue to be a productive part of society.

Expectations From Companies

There seem to be a lot of companies out there with high expectations. They want people who can do everything for little pay. I've seen ads where companies are looking for someone who is going to do work that is above and beyond (or below) the job title. They need someone is not only going to manage a project, but someone is going to do some development, art, marketing, testing, and whatever else they need someone to do. There's nothing wrong with doing more than your title asks, except when it's too excessive and the pay isn't there to back it up. As with any job you'll always be doing more than what your job title should entail. There's a point where the line must be drawn. It's physically impossible to do the job of 5 people at the same time. The second issue I've seen is that companies are looking for a lot of experience without the proper job title or pay. For example they might be looking to fill a Jr. position with someone who has 5 years experience. Most people with 5 years experience would be looking for something better. Most people who are quality employees move up to better positions. (This isn't always the case. It depends on the position and the company.) Aside from looking for specific years of experience they may want specific experience for the job. They may want someone who knows how to use a certain program or knows how to do a certain task. When these are recommended traits it's not a problem, but when they are required it can be concerning. It plays a bigger part when it's not something someone in that particular position would use or if it's something that most people wouldn't be familiar with.

The expectations that companies have aren't always as stern as they appear on paper. Yes they might be looking for someone who has 5 years experience, but someone who only has 3 and can prove themselves will do. It's hard to tell by ads if they are willing to be flexible or if they are hard set on their requirements. There are also people that get in desperate positions and despite being worth more will take whatever job they need to survive.

Standing Out From the Crowd

The biggest issue facing those looking for jobs are all the other people looking for jobs as well. How do you grab the attention of someone who has a couple hundred resumés? How do you prove your worth and experience? How do you tell them that despite not having the exact experience they are looking for that you are still qualified and have the drive to learn anything new? If you get an interview, how do you stand out without looking strange? These are questions that I wish I knew the answers to. The point is that there are a ton of people applying for jobs. A lot of them don't have experience and you may get passed up with them.


The whole process of looking for a job is a hard. For someone, like myself, who spends 1 hour+ dedicating each cover letter it's such a let down to not hear back from someone. If you get lucky enough to get an interview it is more stressful than it seems. Everything matters. You need to be dressed properly. It's not just a matter of throwing on a suit. For certain jobs you might need to be more fashionable or have a little more casual and less of a "stuffy" appearance. You also need to be mentally prepared. You have to be ready for any questions they throw at you. You can practice all of the questions you may expect, but usually something you weren't ready for gets asked. Sometimes you may not understand what they are asking for, they'll question something that is obvious to you, they'll ask you to elaborate on something that you can't really elaborate on, or they'll ask you questions that you don't feel comfortable asking. You need to be prepared to ask the questions that you have. Sometimes you may forget them and it may be awkward for you to pull out a notebook with the questions you had. Sometimes all of your questions have been answered previously and you struggle to come up with something else. You need to be able to handle unexpected situations. Maybe you are left in a conference room for 20 minutes waiting for the interview to start. Maybe the job isn't what you expected it to be. Maybe you will interviewing with someone you know who may know your weaknesses or get stuck playing catch up rather than proving yourself. There's many situations that can have a negative affect on your chances of being hired if you don't re-act properly.

It is a hard time for those of us looking for jobs. You have to keep trying and eventually someone will see your talent and passion.

I have a secret, that isn't that much of a secret.

I do like a lot of other things besides video games. I do like to go out with friends. I like karaoke(even though I'm not a great singer). I used to take martial arts and one day will take it again. I like music a lot and will go see some live shows from time to time. I like eating yummy foods. I like going out for drinks. I like learning about new things that interest me. I'm the kind of person who get sucked into the internet for hours because I found something new I wanted to learn about it. I also like comics and cartoons. (I like some SciFi shows/movies, but there's few that I do enjoy.)

I want to talk about my interest in comics and cartoons. I generally don't like to admit that I like comics and cartoons. It's mostly because of the stereotypes. I prefer Japanese anime and manga over others, but I don't limit myself to one or the other. The stereotypes I have a problem are as follows:
-Watching cartoons are childish
-Watching anime means you like violence/sex
-You must like to dress up as characters
-You must be a nerd
-You must not have other interests
-You must like all of the series that are on TV

I don't dress up. I do have other interests. My life does not revolve around when the next convention is or watching all of the latest series. I don't watch most of the anime that you see on TV. I don't like to talk about anime or comics with people who don't know what I'm talking about. Most of the Japanese series I do read/watch are comedies, romance, slice of life, and/or series that make you think. I'm interested in the stories, the characters, and their relationships.

A lot of people would probably enjoy cartoons as much as they enjoy reading books or watching TV shows if they could only get over the fact that it's drawings. Over time it seems that we are slowly realizing that animation is just a form of expression. It still feels like it is taking a long time to get over the stigma that animation is for kids. Video games face the same issues, although I feel video games has become a lot more acceptable in the US. People have finally realized that it's a huge industry and more and more people are learning the joys of playing games. I can openly admit that I like to play video games, without someone assuming there is something wrong with me.

As long as the stigma exists with animation, I will continue to keep my interest in it more hidden. I could never hide it forever, but I don't choose to flaunt it or talk about it when I first meet people. I prefer people to get to know me first and see that I'm just like them. Once they see that then I can tell them about my animation interest and show them that not all of the stereotypes are true.

Tales From Retail

I did work in retail for two different video game stores. One is EB Games(which was bought out by Gamestop) and the other was a local mom and pop game shop in LA. It was a good experience to work at both. I started at EB Games during the holidays. After the holidays my hours were cut drastically and I ended up working at the mom and pop shop. After things at the small shop weren't going so well I was asked to come back to EB Games and came back with plenty of hours.

There were many things I liked and disliked about working in each environment. I disliked working for the big chain because your job was to sell, sell, sell. If you liked a product or not, you were forced to sell it. There was one time that within a 4-5 month span we were promoting 3 different football games. One month we were pushing people for one game, another month a different one, and then finally a third. You learn to find things that differ from each game, to validate why you "changed" your mind each month. In the small shop you can simply push whatever you think is the hottest game or the best game. (Usually the games that were pushed at the big chains were good games, so it's not like you were forced to sell dug up ET cartridges.) If you did do good sales you would get bonuses. This could come in the form of money or products. Occasionally a store would get free copies of games or swag and if you had a manager that didn't hoard them, they with share with the employees. You never got any bonuses at the small shop. The small shop had a limited selection compared to the big chain. Some of the most popular games would sell out or wouldn't come into the shop until a week or two after it's original release.

With all of that said, for someone who is a gamer and not simply a salesman, the mom and pop shop should have been the better choice. However at the shop I worked at it wasn't the case. The person who owned it didn't know how to run the business anymore. They would constantly change prices. They would have empty boxes for products that they didn't actually have. The store was robbed a couple of times. There were also some illegal practices going on with lunch breaks and late checks. Needless to say I would gladly push magazines, warranties, and games for a practical working environment.

It's not to say that working at EB Games wasn't fun. I loved working at EB Games. I probably would have continued working there for a long time if I felt there was a career there for me to pursue. I especially loved a lot of the people I worked with. I wish I still was in touch with a lot of them. I hope they are all successful now(although I know a lot of them no longer work for EB/GS).

Final Fantasy

I've finally sat down to play through Final Fantasy XII. I bought the collector's edition the day it was released. I played about 10 hours into the game, until I got stuck and gave up on it for a while. When I tried playing again I didn't quite remember the controls or the story. With that dilemma I've put the game on the back burner for a while. This past month I decided I would start the game over and push through it before XIII comes out.

The game play was something that had to grow on me. When I first played the game I hated the game play. I would get frustrated with it. It was one of the main reasons I stopped playing the first time. The second time around I started to get the hang of the game play. Now I'm really enjoying the battle system.

The story is good, but slow. Before I got the game I didn't go crazy looking into the details of the game or watch all of the trailers/videos I could find of the game. I watched a few trailers and read a few articles, but I tried not to go too in depth in the game. While playing the game a lot of the shocking moments were already obvious. It was information that was already given to you in the trailers or in the few articles I read. The first 40 hours or so of the game you are left with your average FF story and very few exciting moments. Some of the main characters aren't very interesting and are very generic. Luckily the game play was enjoyable enough and there were enough interesting side quests to do that made things bearable. Afterwards the story began to get interesting. Now I'm at the point where I'm looking forward to the rest of the story. It took a while for that to happen.

The story and characters are some of the most important parts of any RPG (to me). Most of the later FF games have great, in-depth characters with intriguing storylines. The main storyline in FF games are basically the same, but the events that lead up to it can vary greatly. I wonder if the increasing length of games affects the flow of the story. FFX and FFXII were very slow to start and took a while for the story and characters to grow on me. In FFIX, VIII, VII, and VI I was interested earlier on, if not immediately in some cases. Those games were a lot shorter. If you have a game that's twice as long how do you still keep the story going and interesting without throwing too much at the audience. I suppose that could be a difficult dilemma. It may come to a point where games turn into more of a TV show. You have your main storyline, but you also have side stories that can occur.

The trailers can give out too much information. A trailer is suppose to entice someone to watch/play something. You don't want to give out too much or it ruins the enjoyment you get out of watching/playing the movie/game. It kills me to see an awesome looking trailer for a movie and then when you go to see the movie all of the good parts were in the trailer. Sometimes that can make me not enjoy a movie as much. This can happen with games too. I stopped watching the FFXIII international trailer because I felt like I was being given too much information. If you know secrets from the beginning, it can make the story less enjoyable. In some cases it can be more interesting knowing from the beginning, but usually not knowing keeps you wondering. That makes the story more exciting and makes you want to keep going forward to unravel the mystery or you get shocked by something you didn't see coming.

Speaking of FFXIII I'm going to talk about that now. I'm really looking forward to it, despite knowing somethings from the trailer that I wish I didn't. I love the look of the characters and the world they live in. Once I play the game I'll know if it's really as good as it looks. When I first saw FFXIII Versus I was hoping you would be paying the game over again as the bad guy. (In the first trailer, the first guy you saw looked like a baddie). Unfortunately that's not the case. It would be pretty cool to play a high profile game over again as the bad guy. We'll see how it plays out. Hopefully FFXIII turns out great so that FFXIII Versus can compliment it.

That's enough about Final Fantasy for today. I feel like too much of a nerd talking about it for this long. I need to talk more about other games. Maybe in my next post.

RPGs

There was a story on Destructoid about comments one of the co-founders of Bioware had made on Japanese Role Playing Games in contrast to American ones.

Click here to view the article.

I originally was going to agree that he makes a valid point that RPGs haven't really been progressing in Japan as of lately compared to the American ones. Then I really started thinking about it. FFXIII is pushing for a more constant, active battle system. The World Ends With You had some interesting new gameplay features. I wouldn't classify any of these games as just like their predecessors.

Why did I think this guy was right? It's because there's a lot more JRPGs out there than American RPGS. There's going to be more generic copies than original, innovative titles. When I was first thinking about it, I thought of all of the titles that can be considered fairly similar. American RPGs usually aren't as successful. Thus companies won't invest in them and less appear in the market. The ones that do get invested in usually turn out badly for lack of funding or great because they took the time to make them new and innovative.

What is and what isn't an RPG? I'm a little bit confused now because my impressions of Mass Effect was that it was a shooter. Looking at the details of the game it appears to have some RPG aspects to it. As someone who is awful at shooters and specifically avoids them, I wouldn't consider it an RPG. Someone who just plays run of the mill shooter games would probably consider it an RPG. When you have racing that games that you create a car, gain levels, and increase stats wouldn't that be considered an RPG too? Does that not count because it's a car and not a human? Would it not count because there's not a deep storyline to most of them? As games advance, the lines of each genre gets blurred.

Japanese VS. American RPGS. The two types are pretty different. American RPGs tend to go back to the traditional sense of what an RPG is. That means the player creates their own character and has control over what the character does. Japanese RPGs usually give you a pre-made character with a story and specific personality. There's good and bad things about both of these. You can create a character that you can relate to or that you want to be in the American ones, as opposed to being a character that you may or may not like in the Japanese ones. In the Americans RPGS, when you do have the ability to create your own character you don't get a sense of who the character is, you must create it. This can be good, if the game has enough options that your character acts the way you see it in your head. Unfortunately the possibilities of what you want for a character are endless and games must have some limitations. Generally what happens is the character stays in your head. Only so much can be played out on-screen. Since JRPGs are pre-made characters you see a deeper character on-screen with a solid background and actions that make sense. JRPGs focus on a deep storyline, that is more like watching a movie than playing a game. ARPGS have some sort of storyline that you either can get into or you can't. The difference between the two stories is like watching anime vs. watching American SciFi. Everyone has different tastes.

I, of course, prefer JRPGs. The RPGs based on the traditional roots don't offer enough options for me yet. They also are still too male oriented(lack of options for females, the females look too oversexualized, the story are leaning towards a male main character). There's a lack of depth in the stories for me. JRPGs tend to have a sense of 'zen' in them. There's a spiritual thing, without being religious. There's usually a good love story. The characters all have a realistic depth and tend be interesting. I prefer the character designs in JRPGs and art in JRPGs. I'm willing to try any American RPG. I would love to see one that could truly put a Japanese one to shame. Eventually one day there will be a game that has enough options and story, yet give you the ability to be whoever you want to be and be able to take your own actions.

Home Mortgage Crisis

I'm not talking about games again. I read another article on the mortgage crisis and still don't feel all that sympathetic to those who got in over their heads. I do feel sorry for those who bought a home that they could afford when they had a stable job, but then lost their jobs due to the economic conditions, couldn't find a new one, and can no longer afford their home. I don't feel sorry for those who had a job in unstable industries. I don't feel sorry for those who bought into adjustable loans. I don't feel sorry for anyone who bought a home that wasn't worth the asking price.

One major problem were those who got into terrible loans. If I was getting any type of loan, I would make sure I read and understood all of the paperwork before I signed it. It only makes it even more important when the loan is for the place you will be living. It baffles me why you would jump so quickly into getting a loan for $200,000+ without reading the fine lines. Maybe the people giving them the loans are giving them speculative information about the loan or assuring them that it's a great deal and also pushing them to get the loan so that they can get the commission. That's still not an excuse to jump the gun. When it is such a big investment, you shouldn't fall into these kinds of traps. Most people are weary of salesmen in stores or on car lots. They should also be weary of people who handle loans.

Those who bought over-priced homes were another problem. In Los Angeles homes are expensive. During the housing boom, homes were ridiculously over-priced. Homes kept inching higher and higher. More homes kept being built. I was surprised why people kept buying them up. Maybe it's just the hype. You have to buy a home before they get too expensive or until there are none left. I, on the other hand, didn't buy into it. Eventually it will hit a wall and prices would have to come down. Maybe this was naive thinking at the time. I didn't consider that low interest rates might balance out the cost of the home. In the end I was right and now homes are going down to affordable levels. (Unfortunately there aren't enough people out there with jobs that can afford them.)

I'm sorry for rambling about this. It's been talked about so much. I don't wish for anyone to lose their homes. I can imagine it's an awful thing to go through. Hopefully the economy will clean up soon.

Sony Ericsson X10 and Mobile in General

Sony is officially releasing the info on the X10 phone. Before I get into my thoughts on the phone and SE I must explain some things. I've been a little bit out of the loop on phones lately. A combination of no longer working in the mobile industry(not by choice) and the change the iPhone has made to the industry has made me feel less inclined to follow it frequently.

After the iPhone was announced there was a flood of touch phones into the market. Unfortunately most of the early phones were nowhere as capable as the iPhone, but incorporated some sort of touch feature to capitalize of the hype of a touch screen phone. Personally I'm not very keen on touch screens. I know my hands will end up smudging something on the screen and it would probably drive me crazy until the 'new' feeling wore off. It was also pointed out to me that my nails are in the way. Now I don't have some massive fake nails on my fingers. They are long enough that affects the way my fingers touch a screen. I don't want my nails scratching the screen so I have to adjust their placement. I always get frustrated in typing with an iPhone because it always hits the wrong letters. I suppose after time I would adjust to it and not have as many problems, but that's not my only reason for not getting an iPhone. Aside from the touch screen the iPhone had offered many features that weren't available on most US phones. They also offered (for the most part) a fully functional web browser. Soon enough a huge app store. I do wonder that if the iPhone wasn't released by Apple, but say by some unknown company if the device would have been as successful. They were many great phones out before the iPhone came out that were barely recognized by the mainstream. With a current name like Apple the result was amazing. Apple wasn't the only group to bring a change to the mobile industry. Google's Android OS came into play. Once again it gained everyone's attention. Now there's a wider audience to phones that are more and more like small computers.

I've been a Sony Ericsson fan for the past 5-6 years. I currently own a SE K850i. It is a small candy bar phone with a 5 megapixel camera, bluetooth support(for headphones and file transfer, sorry I don't know the technical term for that support), quadband, 3G, and some other features. There are some things I wish it could do, but I refuse to dump it for a phone that doesn't at least have the features I describe above (aside from the size). When I started seeing the X1 pop up I was excited, but unfortunately the phone didn't meet my requirements. Since then I've paid very little attention to new phones. I also get very impatient about phone releases. First you get some leaked photos or prototypes of a phone. Then you'll get the full press release which more than half of the time turns out to be a disappoint(they end up being a low end phone or one that's comparable to current models). When you do hear about a good phone it takes forever to come out. In the case of SE there is usually a delay between the release overseas and the release here. It's torture to sit there and think about buying one from abroad or waiting to get it cheaper when it's available locally. I really like SE Saito, but unfortunately I'm not too excited about the symbian OS. It appears that concerns seem justified because the reviews I've read all point out the OS as the biggest flaw. That's quite a shame.

With my love for SE and the previous requirements is the X10 really my next phone? I highly doubt it. I'm concerned about the actual camera quality. Once again the issue of the touch screen also comes into play. There are some cool things that I do like about the phone. I like the nice, big screen and nice, fast processor specifically. I guess I'll hold my true judgment until I see what people have to say about the phone. My other concern is who is manufacturing the phone. I don't really know if I would want a SE phone that isn't actually manufactured by SE. Did SE really need to go to others to manufacter phones? (I know they had financial issues and had big layoffs. I guess that's resulting in the need to depend on others) I'm not trying to saying that the other companies like HTC are bad, but I worry about SE products losing the reasons why I loved them.

Sorry if I've rambled on too much here. It's getting late and it's been so long since I've talked about mobile. I do think that I'm going to start searching into Japanese phones. It would be great if they would release world phones.