Professional Relationships

Colleagues

Regarding colleagues, Noemi gave tips on healthy communication in teams, saying one should be careful with wording to not tear down ideas; instead focusing on discussing solutions. She believed it helps avoid negative impacts on conversation and creative thinking.

Dan Bernardo believed that it’s important to be comfortable communicating with others without the structure of the company interfering (don’t feel like you can’t talk with those in other teams, or those of higher positions). I think there’s some validity to this point, but I think it has a limit depending on the topic of conversation and would vary on the work environment (mainly whether it is AAA or indie).

Networking

Networking is about building relationships with people for the sharing of information and services, potentially ‘opening the door’ for career opportunities. Many people who gave talks emphasised the importance of networking and commented on ways to do it. Some networking opportunities mentioned were conventions and industry events to meet others in the industry. There are also networking events held by companies such as Barclays Eagle Labs. Another potential way to network that I considered is entering game jams with random teammates, to work with new people and exchange details with them.

Business cards will be helpful when networking to make sure those I meet have a way to contact me and find more information on me through LinkedIn. Furthermore, I had it pointed out that I should network outside of the games industry, which I plan to do since it will be helpful to have contacts in other industries for potential collaboration.

From now on, I will be searching for networking opportunities through UKIE, Barclays Eagle Labs and other convention settings. I will additionally be taking advantage of opportunities to participate in Game Jams with people I have not worked with before. Together, these should help me network with people in the industry that I would not otherwise meet.