Wow, ****ed up. That reminds me that you guys should never apply at Sledgehammer Games, and that you should not purchase Modern Warfare 3. Here's a little (super long) story.
I was working a ****ty job (except it had good pay and benefits) testing military simulators for DARPA. After just over a year of working there, I got tired of it and decided that I wanted to get back into games. I send my resume out to a bunch of studios in the Bay Area, and wait.
I got a call back shortly thereafter from Sledgehammer Games for a Senior QA position in Foster City, about a 20 minute drive from where I live. The pay was undoubtedly going to be less, but I felt like it was worth it for all the other perks the job would come with. I did a phone interview that went really well, and they said they liked my resume, my previous experience, and especially that I had worked on a major Call of Duty title in the past. They said they'd get back to me.
A few days later I get a call letting me know that I'm one of the final 3 candidates, and that they'd like to schedule an interview. I take the time off from work (of course not mentioning that it's for an interview) and drive out to Foster City. The interview goes extremely well, and I'm pretty much promised the job. They start giving me a tour of the office, I shake hands, meet people. Yeah, the pay is about $5 less per hour than I was making at the time, but I felt like it was worth it.
A few days later, I get a call from the recruiter that I had been speaking with about the job. "Well, we got a call from Activision today and they said that they don't think we really even need this position at the moment, so the position is no longer being hired for. I'm really sorry." Alright, **** Activision, it's no big deal. I convinced myself that even if I didn't get the job, I still had a job that paid better, offered benefits, and was less than 5 minutes from my house. I tell them to call me back in the future if the position ever opens up again.
3 months later, and the company I was working for has shut down, and I'm working for a mobile app company making $22/hr, no benefits, and I'm way under qualified for the job. As luck would have it, the recruiter calls me back and tells me "Hey! Activision changed their mind and we're hiring for that spot again. Are you still interested?" Now at this point, a drop from $22/hr to $13-$14/hr is a lot steeper than going down from $18. I tell her that I am interested, and she tells me she'd call me the next day.
The next day is a Friday, and she calls me back. "Alright, so, how soon can you start?" I tell her that I'll have to talk to my manager, but I could probably start next week, and possibly even Monday. She says great and wants me to call her as soon as I find out. I go to talk to my manager to quit, but before I quit though, I need some lunch in my stomach. The manager is a friend of mine and I was feeling a little uneasy about quitting after only a month. While I'm eating lunch, literally 5 minutes away from quitting, the woman calls me back. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that we just hired the other guy who was interviewing. He's unemployed and can guarantee that he can start Monday. I'm sorry and I hope you haven't spoken to your manager yet."
Ultimately, if I had quit and then gotten the phone call, there would have been hell to pay, but I still had my $22/hr job so I wasn't quite as angry. I was extremely upset though, but still polite, so I told her to take me off the list for any future hirings, because I am no longer interested in working for their company.
In conclusion, **** Sledgehammer Games, and **** Activision.
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Your face is bees.