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I received a response within a week, and shortly thereafter had the first interview. It was entirely unlike any interview I've ever had in the game industry. There were little to no technical questions, none of the whiteboard nonsense - they wanted to get to know me, the person.

We sat around a table in the meeting room at the old office, just shooting the breeze about various aspects of the game industry, the perspective I had on it, where I felt that I could bolster the company, that sort of thing. Everyone made me feel perfectly at ease and welcome.

The interview ended up running about 15 minutes long, in fact, just because we were having such a great time chatting. I shortly thereafter received an invite for a second interview.

This time there were more people involved, and we got down to brass tacks - I was asked a series of opinion questions: "Lots of features, or lots of polish?" That sort of thing. I invariably ended up going with option C - it depends on the game and the target market.

As it happened, that fell pretty much exactly in line with the company motto - "A game for everyone is a game for no-one". I also remember, from that interview, getting to meet my future canine coworker Ärra, an adorable German Shepherd Doggo, who greeted me at the door.

Long story short (too late), I came away from the two interviews with an impression that here is a genuinely great group of people, welcoming, happy, helpful, who want to make the best game they can rather than just pushing something out before its time.

I shortly had an offer in-hand, I accepted gladly, and in July 2017, I started working here. When I mentioned having a boyfriend, nobody batted an eye. When I took my fursuit to the office for the annual Halloween party, everyone got a kick out of it. Like I said: Welcoming!

Now, I was initally hired on as a gameplay programmer. About five months into my six-month trial employment, the de facto lead of the gameplay team invited me to a quick 1:1 interview. Having been burned by the industry before, I thought to myself, "Jeez, this is it."

On the contrary, he said to me: "You seem to have a very methodical way of approaching code. Which is great! The company needs more people like that. It just doesn't quite jibe with the quick prototyping needed for gameplay. But you seem to really like doing UI-"

"-How would you feel about us making a dedicated UI team to put you on, and hiring a dedicated UI artist/designer?" Now, I've done UI-related work, just by pure happenstance, at every previous job in the industry I've had. "Dude, seriously?" I asked. "That would be AWESOME!"

And so that was what they did: Unlike almost every other company I've worked for, where if you don't fit into a given box you're either forced to or told to get lost, they opted to build on what I'm good at, rather than fruitlessly hammering on the deficit.

Ultimately, over the past two years, the people I'm lucky enough to call my coworkers have proven themselves time and time again to be the sort of folks who will extend a helping hand to bring you up, not a beating hand to knock you down. Everyone simply has everyone else's back.

Last but not least, I've been very open about being on the autism spectrum while working here. The level of support that folks have given has been phenomenal. It's very clear: If you're part of the company, you're family, and we'll help you work the best you can.

I know I said "Last but not least", but one other thought occurs to me: The company isn't the place for your typical "rock star" coder. You know the type - they think they're the best coder in the world, always putting down others. No, that kind of person would wash right out.

Along with Other Ocean, Arrowhead are the only company I've ever had the honor of working with where it can be said that social fit is more important than technical fit, and not have it be code for "we only hire tech bros". No; they only hire helpful, kind folks.