No one ever got to the top alone, everyone has had help.
I'm a big advocate in giving back to the industry, back to the community I grew up in, and mentoring anyone who needs help. I struggled to get a foot on the ladder in games so if I can help someone else who's in the same position I was, I'm more than happy to help.
This is why I joined the WIGJ Ambassador scheme and VGA Mentoring Scheme so I could help out where I could!
Let me tell the story of how I got into games.
When I first decided that I wanted a career in games I dived in head first without fully appreciating difficult it would be to get my first big break.
After university (the first person in my family to go), I applied for internships and got myself a job as a Christmas Temp at Primark. Not a bad job and it was tough to start with (I had a customer reduce me to tears in my first week) but I ended up enjoying myself there, whilst telling myself this is only temporary. One year went by, then another and another, then before I knew it was there for 4 and a half years. Living with Mum, still trying to crack into the industry and I had no idea what I was doing wrong.
I was very fortunate to meet a man named Dan Jacobs, QA Manger who was giving a talk. We had a quick chat and he invited me out for a smoke, I don't smoke so I stood there with a can of Diet Coke while he smoked. he was very honest with me, you have zero experience and for every job/internship there are sometimes hundreds of people applying for the same position. Your best bet is to make yourself stand out as much as you can.
I went home and that chat stuck with me, stand out from the crowd! So I went to work, I decided instead of a normal professional CV I was going to create my CV in the style of a Circus poster advertising me and my skills. Then where people can just skip over an email without blinking I decided I was going to print out and post (with REAL stamps and envelops) and send them onto 50 different studios. Finally, to seal the deal I added Haribo sweets to each envelope.
Was it bribery? Yup! And guess what, IT WORKED! Out of 50 places that I sent these letters to, two got back to me! Supermassive Games and Double Six games were kind enough to write back to me! Sadly Supermassive games didn't have room for me but Double Six Games allowed me to shadow them as part of an internship!! And the rest is history!
Years later my career is going strength to strength and it would not have happened if it wasn't for the advice from Dan and from the guys at Double Six and Supermassive games for giving me a chance and the confidence boost I needed.
I urge anyone who needs help to give me or any of these organisations a buzz, there are loads of talented people who are more than willing to lend a hand. Or drop me an email and I'll see where I can help! Becuase everyone needs help from time to time. xxx
