Hey everyone^(1), I recently applied for a script writer role at Nordcurrent (a Lithuanian video game development studio) and after the first (although rather short) interview yesterday I received a test task^(2). However, this task (or, rather, tasks) seems way too specific (relating to already existing games) and too long. I read [some](https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/03/job-interview-work-assignments-free-labor.html) [articles](https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/companies-are-using-job-candidates-as-free-labor-thats-just-plain-wrong.html) and watched some [videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJpdaNGHgQ&list=LL&index=4) about companies asking candidates to do overly long tasks and then ghosting them and/or using these works in their projects without compensating the authors, so I was wondering if this was one of such cases.
To be more specific, I got two tasks, both involving writing a full chapter (quests, dialogues, cutscenes, and all that) for one of their games ([these](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nordcurrent.time) [two](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nordcurrent.murderisland)). Now doing it for just one game already seemed a bit excessive, but after asking for clarification it was confirmed that for this task I would need to do a chapter for both games, which made it look even stranger. In total this could be well over 3000 or even 4000 words (as I deduced from the examples of the chapters I’ve been sent) and, together with the research, trying out the games, writing all the quests and everything else, and making the quest flowcharts, this could take about 10 hours or so, more than a full day of work.
So I was wondering if this could possibly be some sort of a scam? Get 10 applicants to do this “test task”, get \~20 chapters in total for free, then do the same for artists, coders, etc, and you get a game made entirely for free (this is simplified obviously, but you get my point). For reference, another writing job I recently applied to also had a test task, but that was much more reasonable, as it only required me to write a rather general article of up to 500 words (which took me about an hour), while this seems much more excessive.
Has anyone encountered something like this from the company (or other Lithuanian companies)? Should I just nope out before I waste an entire weekend on this or is this normal practice here?
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^(1) Writing this in English since I know they have offices in Poland and Ukraine as well, so I want to get all the possible perspectives.
^(2) Which made me immediately think that they should first be hiring an editor rather than a script writer, as it had mistakes in almost every second sentence, but that’s neither here nor there.
9 comments
Can’t say with 100% certainty that they are exploiting people, but I heard similar rumours about suspicious “test tasks” from my friends who tried to get a job there several years ago.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with them because reviews on local websites about nordcurrent as an employer are mostly negative.
That much work is not for your benefit. Of that you can be certain. Sounds very fishy.
Could be possible. Fuck companies like this, you can post a review on rekvizitai.lt
While yes, they are most likely taking advantage of applicants’ labour by giving actual gamedev tasks as interview tasks, I do still believe that they are evaluating the submitted work and hiring if necessary
But 10h of work for an interview lol, disgusting
Avoid that shithole as a plague. I’ve only heard a very negative things about them, such as very toxic environment. Developing legal scams that exploit children and vulnerable people is also not good unless you’re a psychopath.
yep, your theory seems to be correct. same goes for Vinted and similar brands.
ex-coworker used to work there as a developer. I don’t remember what exactly he didn’t like about this company but he used to say that everyone should avoid it as the plague.
As an ex dev, I 💯 per cent sure they’re capable of this.
Developers, especially the ones that are able to clearly articulate what’s wrong with the company are thrown out before the evaluation period expires, so they can get cheap dev labour without juridical consequences.
They will use every card they can to screw you over as much as possible.
That’s why their long-time employees are either control freaks or complete sheeple.
Gosh, stop crying and ask ChatGPT to write it.
Not sure about that company, but knowing how application tasks are usually completed – i would doubt that it would be usable, or it would require a lot of extra work to be usable, so it’s just simpler to do it from scratch.
Hence big doubt, unless they really would not care about quality. Or in case you manage to write something that’s usable – probably you’d get a job either way.
But try using ChatGPT, if they still hire you – you could do all of your work using it, and slowly degrade.