Crytek and Essay Research

Our current assignment for Contextual Studies has been set as a 1000 word essay on roles in the games industry. The two roles in particular I have chosen to look at are Concept Artist and Game Designer. On top of our previous visits from Drew and Sean we have also had a lecture from a 2D Artist and Designer from Crytek. Who talk about their roles in the company and how they got there, perfect for my essay. Laim Wong, the 2D artist, and Michael Barclay, the designer both got into the industry through similar routes. They were both extremly active in the modding community. The differance between their routes was simply that Liam Wong was more deliberate in making a name for himself in the industry before getting in.
My research has shown similar patterns in that getting into the industry is extremly difficult and requires you to know what you're doing whilst showing it enough to be picked out of the crowd. "There is no set route to becoming a Games Designer. However, this is not an entry level job." (jobs.ea.com)
The article goes on to explain that Designers need to know how development works and that people often getting into the industry through jobs in QA. However, Modding is good because it allows you to physically design games in groups of people, as you would in the industry. Giving you the "entry level" experience you need.
Concept Artists seem to have similar routes, even though they are much less likely to be involved in modding. They would make a name for themselves in a different way. "Concept Artists are exceptionally talented artists with at least 3-5 years of cinematic/game production experience (1-2 years feature film experience is also a plus)." (jobs.ea.com)
Concept Artists are likely to be talented artists who have taken any commissions they can get, even ones that do not pay, to build a name for themselves until they have the stupendous amount of experience games companies are asking for now. 
Laim Wong's job as a 2D Artist seems to differ a fair bit from that of the concept artist.  Liam's job consists of creating pieces of 2D artwork for the studio such as HUD elements and billboards. Whereas according to EA jobs concept art is used for pre-production to create concepts for weapons, clothing, environments and to show the mood of a scene. "...good concept art will...let people see, and imagine entering, your game world." (Jesse Schell, 2008)
However, I remember Nigel, one of the course tutors, talk about how there are the mood concept artist and asset and design concept artists. The former are often outsourced talent that create maybe a few pieces very early on in development, whereas the latter are staff of the company and will spend a lot of time drawing the same thing with slight differances in design. Before putting this into my essay however, I want to get this information from a current games company. I plan to e-mail Bioware with this question as I know that they have internal concept artists and have also hired the company Massive Black for some early concepts on Dragon Age: Origins.
Michael Barclay's job description bears more relevance to my essay. He described his work on Crysis 2 and how the designer's job is to create a rough level in the engine using a technique called "whiteboxing". The level then goes to the artist who puts in the meshes and textures. Michael also described the close relationship between the designer and artist and how communication between them is absolutly essential to make sure that the level both plays well and looks good. 
According to Paid to Play: An Insider's Guide to Video Game Careers, a designer "...plans and implements game mechanics and double checks each new build of the game." This just goes to show that the specific job descriptions varies from company to company.