Fitzgerald Lewis (LastPadawan)

1. Spellcheck. Spellcheck, and then proofread several times over. If you can’t take the time to make sure you spelled everything correctly, you are demonstrating – with great eloquence, ironically – that you are lazy & that you do sloppy work.

2. Introduce yourself! You’d be shocked at how often people forget to include their very name in an email. This isn’t Instant Messenger (oh boy, I’ve dated myself with that ond), and my inbox is teaming. WHO DIS??

3. Explain in a sentence or two why you are writing *this particular dev*, as opposed to just telling them that you have a homework assignment to contact one. This lets the Dev know that you researched them, & that you are *listening*.

4. Ask specific questions with specific answers. Everyone hates being asked “How did you get started?” & ”what is the industry like?” (In doing so, you’re asking for a novel) Figure out, truly, what you *really* want to learn from them. They will *feel* your passion & curiosity!

5. Thank them for their time! In this working world of game development, *time is money,* & you’re asking this developer to spend valuable *money* on their response to you. Acknowledge this, & let them know how much you appreciate it.

6. Lastly - and this is important! - write a thank-you email when they respond. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to write a thoughtful message to a student & getting silence in response! Leaves an ungrateful taste in the mouth.

Those are the main points. I hope this was helpful! I won’t be at #GDC this year, but for those will be: shake hands, smile, look people in the ... and have fun! I love you.

@Jonahlobe you're the best. One of the guys I always looked up to and still do, back when I was trying to get my shot at starting at Bethesda. You're an inspiration, and I've been trying to pay it forward ever since I became full-time in the industry.