It turns out Valve's Employee Handbook somehow leaked onto the internet, and its a great read. It really gives some good insight as to how the company works.

I find the "no management" structure really weird, but it must work for them, considering the many great games they have shipped.

So anyways, if you want to know more about Valve, you should give it a read. (also a Half-Life 3 tease inside, see if you can find it)

http://cdn.flamehaus.com/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf

Gabe Newell—Of all the people at this company who aren’t your boss,
Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we’re saying.

haha

Valve is the best gaming company in the world.

I want to work there. 
 
Also, qft 
@EuanDewar said:

Gabe Newell—Of all the people at this company who aren’t your boss,
Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we’re saying.

haha

Will definitely give this a look through later.

Sounds too dreamy and good to be true.. No hierarchy? Come on! You're working on Half-Life 3 and running a huge digital business!

That was a really funny and interesting read.

Did they make a "the right man in the wrong place can make all the DIFference in the world" reference?

@AhmadMetallic said:

Sounds too dreamy and good to be true.. No hierarchy? Come on! You're working on Half-Life 3 and running a huge digital business!

Probably like Scorpio's layer. Gabe Newell will have a cocain factory down below with child workers.

Fuck, Valve are superb.

This is great.

Now I want to learn to program and how to draw as long as I can work in this masterpalace of dreams.

[Gabe's] decisions and requests are subject to just as much scrutiny and

skepticism as anyone else’s. (So if he tells you to put a favorite custom

knife design into Counter-Strike, you can just say no.)

I wonder if Gabe tries this with every new guy they get...

What? WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!?! Goddammit why would anyone want to work anywhere else?

It...sounds terrifying. In a good way I guess? Maybe? Still terrifying though.

I can't read it very well. The background goes transparent and all I can see is my wallpaper and other programs I have up.

COMMUNISM

Why does your desk have wheels? Think of those wheels as a symbolic reminder that you should always be considering where you could move yourself to be more valuable. But also think of those wheels as literal wheels, because that’s what they are, and you’ll be able to actually move your desk with them

Valve - the practical company to work for.

God damnit that place is like a wet dream. If only I was a T shaped person. But seeing as I have neither a set of broad ranged general skills nor a deep expertise in a single area I can't figure any suitable letter of the alphabet which describes myself.

the whole lifting your desk thing is crazy,seems overwhelming for new hires.

great read

@AhmadMetallic said:

Sounds too dreamy and good to be true.. No hierarchy? Come on! You're working on Half-Life 3 and running a huge digital business!

I've looked through the employee roster on Valve's website, and there's enough ivy league graduates in there so that if you are let in the building you are a super qualified human being and are most likely self motivated and extremely responsible.

That being said, it's probably not as good-timey as they make it sound. At the end of the day there are superiors to answer to.

Here's another good one.

14-Year-Old Boy—If you see one running your project, don’t worry. That’s actually 57-year-old Josh Weier (see Josh Weier). If you have any extra stemcells, give them to him! He bathes in them daily

Haha, this is fantastic. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of my workplace, even though I work at a stainless steel fabrication shop and not a videogame company.

@The_Nubster said:

Haha, this is fantastic. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of my workplace, even though I work at a stainless steel fabrication shop and not a videogame company.

Post of the year.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Sounds too dreamy and good to be true.. No hierarchy? Come on! You're working on Half-Life 3 and running a huge digital business!

that might be why they have been working on hl3 for 6 years.

Sounds kind of amazing.

@MattyFTM said:

Are you saying this was leaked on purpose, and this is just some kind of ARG.

Because that would be awesome.

@Dagbiker said:

@MattyFTM said:

Are you saying this was leaked on purpose, and this is just some kind of ARG.

Because that would be awesome.

All the puzzle pieces are falling into place.

So the real reason for HL3 not being released is because no one wants to work on it? 
Or maybe the HL3 room is behind a really rough carpet that no one can roll their desk across...

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Dagbiker said:

@MattyFTM said:

Are you saying this was leaked on purpose, and this is just some kind of ARG.

Because that would be awesome.

All the puzzle pieces are falling into place.

For another awesome trolling by Valve.

This is fucking amazing.

All of the reading I've done about socialism would lead me to think that there's no way such a corporate model would be able to exist, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. The socialist pudding.

Sounds terrifying for an industry noob such as myself. I guess this is why they (usually) will only hire the best most experienced developers they can lay their hands on.

the website that handbook is hosted on is terrible.

Holy shit, it turns out the TF2 blog isn't written in character - this is just how Valve thinks!

Amazing if its real.

Both incredible and terrifying.

Sounds like a great place to work, can't believe they ever actually release games though.

Skimming this now, sounds so fucking awesome. How big of an application rush do you think they are getting right now?

I'm qualified to clean their toilets. That's about it.

Read the whole thing cover to cover

First time in my life I wish I had worked to become a programmer, I love my jobs but I'd kill to experience that place.