Interview

How to get a job at Agar.io and 8 Ball Pool developer Miniclip

HR Director Sarah Rose shares insights

How to get a job at Agar.io and 8 Ball Pool developer Miniclip

First making its name with its online flash games portal, Swiss developer Miniclip has successfully moved with the market and transitioned to mobile, with games such as 8 Ball Pool proving a perfect fit for the platform.

Twitch and YouTube favourite Agar.io  was one of the breakout hits of 2015, taking the App Store by storm with little-to-no UA spend, and 2016 has seen the firm extend its range of PvP sports titles with Basketball Stars.

This, combined with Chinese giant Tencent's majority investment in the firm, saw it listed at #23 on PocketGamer.biz's Top 50 Mobile Game Developers 2016.

But Miniclip, which employs 140 people across offices in Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, and the UK, is looking to grow further with positions vacant in a number of areas.

As such, PG.biz reached out to HR Director Sarah Rose to discuss what she's looking for in candidates, company culture, and advice on breaking into the industry.

PocketGamer.biz: Could you give us some background on Miniclip and what you do?

Sarah Rose: Miniclip was founded in 2001, and has grown to become a global leader in digital games - we now have over 200m monthly active users and have released some hugely popular titles in recent years like 8 Ball Pool, Agar.io and Basketball Stars.

We develop, publish and distribute games across mobile, social and online platforms.
Sarah Rose

We develop, publish and distribute games across mobile, social and online platforms, to an audience of players all around the world.

I oversee all HR activities at Miniclip, with a particular focus on growing the company even further to support both what we’ve achieved in recent years and where we hope to take the company in 2016 and beyond.

What specific areas/disciplines are you currently hiring in?

We’re hiring across a very wide range of roles at the moment: we have lots of production and developer positions open, as well as game design and artist roles (3D and 2D).

With the release of Agar.io, Basketball Stars, plus the continued success of games like 8 Ball Pool, we’re really investing in the further growth of Miniclip in 2016.

We just listed another 9 positions in our Genoa office, and are hiring around 40 new roles at the moment across the whole company.

What do you look for in candidates?

We’re looking for candidates who have a fantastic skillset in their chosen profession, and are passionate about games and our industry.

We want people who enjoy being part of a team, are interested in achieving through collaboration, and who will embrace our work hard/play hard ethos.

Why do you think Miniclip is a good place to work?

Miniclip’s working culture is the heart of our success as an organisation, and developing our people and our organisation is one of our key strategic priorities this year.

Thanks to the Tencent investment at the start of 2015, along with our 15 years of success up to now, we’re uniquely placed to build longer and sustainable careers in one of the most exciting job sectors in the world.

We strive to achieve a strong team ethic at the company. This can be challenging as we have offices in different locations, but we invest time and technology to find meaningful opportunities for people to collaborate and socialise together.

We invest in both local and global events to bring this to life, whether that’s celebrating our success with a company-wide beach party in Portugal, or local events like football tournaments or team lunches.

It’s a balancing act of creating a consistent experience across all locations, but not falling into a one-size-fits-all approach.

Miniclip having an HR Director as part of their executive team is a big statement of intent.
Sarah Rose

I think this is really underlined by the fact that this is the first time Miniclip have had a HR Director as part of their executive team: it’s a big statement of intent for how much the company values its people and its culture and wants to develop this in our future.

What advice would you have for someone trying to get into the games industry?

A passion for gaming and a strong curiosity for this fast-growing sector is definitely an advantage!

That said, there’s room for all professions and skillsets in this sector - games companies not only have designers, developers and producers but also HR, finance, legal, community, support.

It’s vital for a company to have a blend of people who are just starting out in their careers - who can grow and develop in their role - but also those who can bring experience from other, more established sectors.

So consider what’s unique about the gaming industry, think about the particular contribution that you can make, and use your network, social media and other platforms to find opportunities.

For a full list of vacancies at Miniclip, you can visit its jobs page.


Features Editor

Matt is really bad at playing games, but hopefully a little better at writing about them. He's Features Editor for PocketGamer.biz, and has also written for lesser publications such as IGN, VICE, and Paste Magazine.