Pat Jandro works at Bungie Studios and is a Cinematic Animator. He joined Bungie in 2008.Pat had an interview with Lukems in November 2008, the interview can be found here.
Pat's interview with Bungie.
You've heard the mantra "30 Seconds of Fun," but how about applying that same logic to your portfolio?
Pat Jandro, Cinematic Animator at Bungie, eschews the esoteric and enlightens prospective prospects about the process of landing a job at Bungie. Read on to learn more about this experienced animator and his succinct insights into the interview process.
Q. Who are you and what do you do? A. Pat Jandro – Cinematic Animator.
Q. Straight and to the point. What about hobbies and inspirations?
A. To avoid spamming name drops, I’ll just say a lot of the video games and cartoons that raised me when I was a child subconsciously led me down the career path of wanting to animate in the video game industry. Now-a-days, whenever high quality films or games come out, they often cause me to push myself harder as an artist.
As for my hobbies…I enjoy the simple things in life like tacos, light switches, and my dog Meatcliff.
Q. Quite the interesting trifecta. We won't delve any further into that one. We will delve into your childhood dreams, however. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A. “An artist.” Yeah… I can smell the cliché from here…
Q. Speaking of cliché (and smells), what occupation did your High School aptitude tests urge you to pursue?
A. I honestly don’t remember the official results, but I do recall answering my questions with complete bias in an attempt to skew the test results to say, “graphic designer” or something like that.
Q. Very well-played. "I reject your answer and substitute my own." How about college? Did you end up pursuing a degree of higher learning?
A. Yup. I got a BFA in Production Animation from DigiPen Institute of Technology. I also attended a previous art college where I studied animation and cinematography for a little over 2 years, but I left before earning my degree there.
Q. And how did you get your foot in the door at Bungie?
A. Fired off my website & demo reel’s URL to jobs@bungie.com.
If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of when I made first physical contact with Bungie, I ironically ran into my soon-to-be future co-worker Ken at a random house party while I was going through the interview process. Small world…
Q. Your networking loop paid dividends. Speaking of loops, what did bring along with you to the interview?
A. One of my favorite shirts that read, “In case of a zombie outbreak: follow me” (I have since misplaced this shirt and am very sad).
Q. There, there. We'll still stick close behind you when the zombies come for us, their memory made immaterial by a ravenous hunger for flesh. In order to preserve our own recollection (not that we don't trust you to guide us to safety) tell us what you recall about the interview process.
A. There are a few cool things that stuck out to me…like Lee’s charming accent, Kurt’s rad chops (R.I.P.), and seeing Marty light up with child-like glee when I asked him to share his favorite experience of working at Bungie with me.
The process itself was mostly meet-and-greets with the people I’d be working with and telling them my story. Overall it was really relaxed and casual.
Q. Charming accents, chops, and childlike glee - that does sound cool and casual. In one complete sentence, describe what it’s like to work for Bungie.
A. I guess this is where I’m supposed to spew out some esoteric analogy that caters to the nerdy, but I’ll simplify things and say that it’s simply a first class experience.
Q. Well put. Any advice for aspiring applicants?
A. Bring your “A” game for sure. Trim all the fat from your portfolios/demo reels and show only gold. A 30 second reel of pure awesome is WAY better than a 2 minute reel with those 30 seconds of awesome sandwiched between 90 seconds of crap.
Oh, and be patient. It can take some time for Bungie to get back to you. The recruitment team literally gets hundreds of applicants daily so it can take a while for them to review them all. They’ll get to you eventually.
And above all else; heed the words of the omnipotent laureate Mr. T, and “Stay cool, Jeff.”
Very cool, Pat. Thanks for your time. Mr. T would find no cause for pity here. Thanks to Verteckz