A Heartwarming Story of a Job Interview at Naughty Dog

Boon Cotter, an Australian game developer currently working as a lighting artist at Naughty Dog, told the story of how he got that job at the studio.

How did you land your present job? Was there something special about the interview? Boon Cotter, an Australian game developer currently working as a lighting artist at Naughty Dog, told the story of how he got that job at the studio, and it’s something really cool.

A story I want to share cos I think being authentic is your best asset: So, I broke down crying in my interview for @Naughty_Dog.

I had just flown halfway around the world, my first time out of Australia, and it was to interview for a job I KNEW I wouldn’t get.

It didn’t matter tho, I was so fucking beyond starstruck to be in LA at the Naughty Dog office. I was like a kid at Disneyland.

I went in not overthinking anything, just determined to be myself and meet these fucken rad people I adored.

During the interview, @bruce_straley walked in and I kinda pooped in my pants a little. He asked me some Q’s I had horrible A’s for.

Bruce: So you were a lead artist on your last project? How many artists were there? Me: Er… LOL… Just me. (Everyone laughs)

Then he asks “Why do you want to work at Naughty Dog?”. I began to answer a true, but rote, response: You’re the best, blah blah.

But then I stopped and said… “Ugh. No. It’s Bill (from TLoU).” and everyone looked at me with this kind of bemused curiosity.

I told them it was the first time I’d seen a gay man portrayed as this gruff, masculine, tragically heroic type of character.

He wasn’t a punchline to a joke. He wasn’t overtly stereotypical. A lot of players didn’t even pick up that he was gay.

I told them that I saw myself represented for the first time. A burly, hairy, daddy bear character, a guy I respected and understood.

That made me fall in love with everyone here. And telling them that made me start crying. WHO THE FUCK CRIES IN A JOB INTERVIEW?

Anyway, fast forward to 3 hours later and I was shitface drunk on margaritas and hired to work at my favorite game company on Earth.

Moral to the story: Don’t underestimate authenticity. Be raw, be vulnerable, be real. That’s where your uniqueness shines.

Boon Cotter

You can find the original Twitter moment here.

We love reading these kind of stories. The response to the story has been overwhelming, says Boon. The artist has been working at the studio for three years now and we hope to get another amazing story from him soon.

If you haven’t seen Boon’s art, you haven’t seen anything. You should definitely check out his Artstation.

What’s your job interview story? Let us know in the comments below.

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Comments 6

Trump voter
@Del Taco There are not privileged conservatives, left wingers are privileged and Trumans point stands, its easier to come out as a conservative these days than gay, YOU PROVED HIM RIGHT. The only circlejerk is the big tech circlejerk.
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Trump voter
·6 years ago·
Del Taco
@Truman77
You can't really expect anyone to take you seriously can you? Take your conservative trash and throw it in the bin where it belongs. Are you really going to sit there and lament a gay man getting a job in the game industry? The first thing you can think of is that he was hired because he was gay and not because he is incredibly talented? Did you even bother to look at his portfolio or even the images he's posted on this site of said talent? It takes a real piece of work to claim that being a privileged conservative is somehow harder than being a gay person. Go back to your bog and your cheeto circle-jerk.
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Del Taco
·7 years ago·
Truman77
It's far braver to come out as conservative or Libertarian nowadays than LGBT. Just ask James Damore and how the evil Google fired him for speaking the truth in a well-reasoned, coherent, rational and calm manner.
The company probably feared bad press if they rejected a crying gay man who came out in the interview, much safer to hire him if he can do the job.
diversity hiring is racist, sexist and discriminatory as it by necessity involves rejecting more qualified straight, white men based on the colour of their skin and/or gender.
That's not to say Cotter was a diversity hire, he can obviously do the job, but cultural Marxism is destroying our culture and in particular our pop culture. Studios seek to inject Marxist/PC nonsense into every aspect of our gaming. Comics are suffering from it as sales plummet after such travesties as Iron Man becoming a black 15 year old girl and Thor becoming a woman.

It's not courageous anymore to come out as gay, but if you have views that are not of the SJW left then best keep them to yourself lest ye be blackballed.
The agenda behind cultural Marxism is quite political and sinister. A good little Doco describing what the West is facing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VggFao85vTs
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Truman77
·7 years ago·
Anonymous user
i've met Boon once i think. thanks to Manny from CGMA. This guy is a real master of his craft. He does amazing things. Real superman of light.
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Anonymous user
·7 years ago·
Shreyash Pai
@Kevin yeah I believe it was one of his lighting sessions where he mentions about this story. I'm not sure but I pretty much heard him talk about it in that video. It was this video I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avKlUcx3TlE&t=1s
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Shreyash Pai
·7 years ago·
Kevin Baker
I'm sure I've heard this story somewhere, and I'm wracking my brain to figure out where. GDC talk maybe?
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Kevin Baker
·7 years ago·

A Heartwarming Story of a Job Interview at Naughty Dog

How did you land your present job? Was there something special about the interview? Boon Cotter, an Australian game developer currently working as a lighting artist at Naughty Dog, told the story of how he got that job at the studio, and it’s something really cool.

Boon Cotter

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Comments 6

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