Obsidian Entertainment Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process started with some phone calls to chat about the internship details and share some info. Then there was a Microsoft Teams interview to discuss skillset. During the Teams interview, there was a skill assessment where they asked a question in Unreal Engine 4 and asked me to solve it in C++ Code.

It was a really enjoyable and quick interview process. It kicked off with two phone calls. The first was with HR, where they asked standard questions like 'Are you an alien?'. A cool part of this first call was that we touched on benefits, which I appreciated as it meant I wasn't wasting time on something that might be a dealbreaker. The second call was with the hiring manager and was a bit more technical, mainly to see if I was worth bringing into the office. Both these calls were about 30 minutes. Next up was going to the office for the main interviews. It was nice arriving at the office, as the HR person from the phone screen met me and the receptionist was friendly while I handled some NDA paperwork. The rest of the day involved panel interviews, with about 3 people in each 1-hour session. Most of the early sessions were with other producers discussing pipeline and communication scenarios, which felt pretty standard for a producer role. Other departments also joined in, mostly asking about culture fit but also digging deeper into inter-team communication. It was also great that they took me out for lunch at the Spectrum, which is a cool outdoor mall with tons of food options. I also liked that a few of the studio founders were able to sit in on some interviews, which showed they're still connected to their teams. The office vibe seemed good; it was a little quiet because most people had their own or shared offices, so there wasn't much background noise. The office decor was also neat, celebrating the games the studio had made. Overall, it was a fun experience. The interviewers were experienced game industry professionals, which always makes for a more engaging conversation when you can connect with them. It seems like a great place to work.

So first, you'll have a background check, which is basically just a quick chat with HR about the job and some standard stuff like confirming you can work in the US. Then, you gotta wait about a week to get an interview set up. This interview is with the QA lead and a Production lead, and it's pretty short, like 15-30 minutes. After that, depending on how many people they're interviewing, you might wait another week or even longer to hear back if you passed. I didn't make it past this part, but they did say there might be a next step which is like a hands-on exercise with the team you'd be working with.

I had an art test about a week before the actual interview. The art test itself was pretty straightforward, but during the interview, they mentioned some issues with parts of my test that weren't in the original instructions. Oddly enough, I still got offered the job. For interns, the pay is $15/hour, firm, for the first 3 months. It can be extended for another 3 months. If you do well and get approved after the internship, you can become a junior artist. My recruiter said junior artists make a few dollars more. The whole thing took about 6-7 weeks, and they were slow to respond, maybe because of how many applicants they had.