Joining the Dytbaat studio: how we hire

We are a small studio, and we hire the way a small studio has to: carefully, slowly, and with a clear idea of the person we want to add. This article explains what we look for, how we work together and what the first months at Dytbaat tend to look like, so that someone considering an application knows what they would be joining.

What we look for

The first thing we look for is not a skill list but a way of working. Everyone here measures before they change something, says plainly when a thing is working and when it is not, and is comfortable being wrong in front of colleagues. Those habits matter more than any single tool, because they are what a small team lives on when the work gets hard.

Beyond that we look for genuine care about the player's experience. Someone who plays the games they build, notices what frustrates people, and wants to fix it, will fit here far better than someone who is brilliant but indifferent to the person on the other side of the screen.

Small teams and wide roles

In a team of three, roles overlap by necessity and by design. A designer here reads the data, an engineer argues about the loop, and everyone writes. If you want a narrow lane and a clear fence around your title, this is not that place, and we would rather say so now than let someone discover it in their second month.

What we offer in return is range. People who join us tend to leave with a broader sense of how a game is made, shipped and supported than they would get in a larger studio where the work is divided into tidy pieces. That breadth is the honest compensation for the lack of a tidy ladder.

How we work together

Our working style is quiet and direct. We keep meetings short, write things down, and prefer a clear written argument to a confident spoken one. Decisions are made closest to the work, and anyone can question a decision as long as they bring evidence rather than preference.

• Write it down, so a decision can be reviewed later.
• Bring evidence, not seniority, to a disagreement.
• Protect the player's experience above the team's convenience.
• Say the uncomfortable thing early and kindly.
• Finish what is started before adding something new.

These habits are simple to state and they take practice to keep. We look for people who have already started practising them somewhere else.

What the first months look like

The table below is a rough shape of the first six months, from the first week to the point where a new colleague is fully part of the studio. It is not a rigid plan, because small teams bend, but it sets the expectation honestly.

What we do not promise

We are honest about what we cannot offer. There is no large studio campus, no long list of perks and no guarantee that the studio will grow quickly. What we can offer is meaningful work on games people actually play, close involvement in decisions, and colleagues who will tell you the truth about your idea rather than the version that keeps the peace.

We would rather a candidate decide against us for the right reasons than join for promises we cannot keep. A small studio lives on the fit between its people, and a hire made on a flattering pitch is a hire that tends not to last.

Applying, and what happens next

If you are considering an application, tell us what you have made and what you learned from it. We are interested in the reasoning behind a decision as much as the result, and a project that did not work out is often more interesting than one that did. Show us your thinking, and we will show you ours.

Every application is read by a person, and every applicant hears back. We may not be hiring for your discipline today, and when we are we will say so plainly. In a field where silence is common, a straight answer is the smallest respect we can offer, and it is one we intend to keep offering.

Why we hire this way

A studio of our size cannot absorb a bad fit, so we take our time and we say honest things early. The result is slower hiring and a team that works without friction, which for a small studio is worth far more than speed. If that trade sounds right to you, we would genuinely like to hear from you.