I have been doing Blizzard programming interviews for almost 30 years. One thing I look for in candidates is passion for things they love, and passion in general for the tasks that will be required for the position. The following is MY opinion. My tweets are my own. #gamejobs 1/7

I ask many candidates, “Are you working on any fun projects? How do you keep current in the industry? Have you done any game jams? Mods? Do you read stack overflow or github? Read any programming books?” 2/7

If you don’t have a job yet, I will ask about projects you have done on your own. If you’re already working on a programming job then I will ask how you keep current, and what your last tasks were (if you can talk about them) and if you have solved any interesting bugs. 3/7

If you don’t program for your job already and I ask “How do you continue following your programming passion?” then you don’t want your answer to be “I don’t have the time.” Find something you love and do it a little bit as often as you can. 4/7

Sometimes you can be doing the same things every day, and not really growing as a programmer even though you’re programming. 5/7

My advice for anyone who is looking for a career is: spend a little time every day learning, growing, advancing your craft in some way, even if it’s to spend 15 minutes a day reading a C# book because that’s all the time you have and you don’t have easy computer access. 6/7

In summary, don’t let “I don’t have the time” get in the way of continuing to grow and make you a better candidate. I might view that answer as “maybe programming is not for you, if you don’t like learning it.” Find a way to learn something new every day. 7/7

My Twitter exploded. Some answers: I stand vehemently opposed to crunch culture, support “no crunch” teams, advocate healthy work-life balance, never ask you take work home, suggest you go home or take days off if working too much. Bliz offers on-the-clock training and courses.