The modern professional landscape is often cold and unforgiving. Job seekers frequently endure a cycle of endless applications, grueling multi-stage interviews, and the inevitable “ghosting” that follows. However, when Liem Nguyen submitted his resume to Valve in 2015, he experienced something remarkably rare: a rejection that actually felt like an opportunity.
At the time, Nguyen was a recent high school graduate navigating a precarious financial situation. Driven by a desire to break into the industry and a desperate need for a stable income, he reached out to every recruiter he could find. Valve, the powerhouse behind Steam and iconic franchises like Half-Life, was a long shot. He didn’t expect a response, let alone a personalized one.
To his surprise, Valve didn’t just send a generic automated reply. An employee at the Seattle-based studio took the time to craft a thoughtful response, detailing the reasoning behind their decision while offering invaluable career guidance. Recently, Nguyen shared the email on social media—a message that Polygon confirmed was sent by a legitimate Valve employee nearly a decade ago.
For those familiar with Valve’s inner workings, the contents of the letter align with the company’s unconventional reputation. Valve is famously lean, reportedly generating more revenue per employee than tech giants like Google or Amazon. This efficiency means they rarely hire entry-level candidates, preferring seasoned experts who can thrive in their “flat” management hierarchy—a system where employees choose their own projects without traditional bosses.
While Valve declined Nguyen’s application, the letter was far from discouraging. It emphasized that “talent” at Valve isn’t defined by a degree or a fancy title, but by the tangible evidence of one’s work.
“Instead, we believe dedication, experience, and customer focus are what make good hires… Those things are intangible, aren’t taught in schools, and are what differentiate typical candidates from special ones,” the employee wrote.
The advice was simple yet profound: stop waiting for permission and start building. The letter urged Nguyen to perfect his craft by simply “doing” and “creating,” whether on a computer or just on paper.
Ten years later, Nguyen has fully embraced that philosophy. Today, he is an independent developer running his own studio and working on a new project centered around biological themes. Looking back, he admits he didn’t fully grasp the weight of that email as a teenager; at the time, it felt like just another “no.”
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, he recognizes that Valve’s small act of kindness was the catalyst that kept him in the game industry when he was on the verge of giving up.
Source: Polygon
