Jason Pankow
I was born on the banks of the Colorado River in a little party town called Lake Havasu City, AZ. I spent 18 years there before my pale skin told me that I was much better suited for the Northwest. I attended college at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, where I managed not to get arrested for trespassing after spending about 72 hours straight in my buddy’s dorm room playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (still one of my favorite games, ever).
Upon graduation, I moved to the Puget Sound region and began my recruiting career at the Muckleshoot Indian Casino. I took a slight detour at Washington Mutual and found myself at Microsoft in 2004. I am a rarity at Microsoft in that I have spent my entire tenure within the same group: namely Xbox. I focus on technical recruiting across the spectrum of Xbox LIVE I am also a player in this large and growing world of social media. You can find me @jpankow on Twitter or @xboxjobs where I am the man behind the curtain.
Posts by Jason
How to "break in" to gaming & entertainment
The #1 question I am asked by young people looking to work in the games and entertainment industry: “How do I break in?” I’ll give you a hint…it’s not by promising to clean our toilets or bragging about how much time you spend pwning newbs on Halo.
Breaking in takes hard work and commitment. If you are a 17-year-old and reading this, I hope that you are submitting your college applications. Because, the best way to start on your path is to graduate with a 4-year degree. Yes, yes…I realize that there are stories of people who didn’t go to college but have had successful careers and made a bazillion dollars. That’s all fine and dandy and very true. But, I consider them the exceptions. Often, they are ridiculously brilliant OR they have put in a tremendous amount of effort to accomplish their goals. Effort that others put into college. So…if you have the means to go to college, do it!
Xbox 360 is hiring for Kinect
I’m a games guy. I LOVE games. I speak gamer. I say “w00t” and talk about “pwning noobs”. I frequently use acronyms like FPS, RTS, and MMORPG. My gamerscore is pushing 30,000. Not too shabby for a married dad who works full time. This is only one of the reasons why I am SO excited about the official announcement of Kinect for Xbox 360. The other reason? This is a project several years in the making. I - and the amazing team I work with - have been recruiting like crazy, seeking out and hiring some truly remarkable studs to make Kinect a reality.