We interviewed senior games lecturer, and former Director of Business and Engagement for the School of Computing, Dr Gary Ushaw, about what you can do to improve your employability.
Sum up your role in 10 words or less
Career opportunities for Computing students (especially games)
What are your official job responsibilities?
As part of my role as Director of Business and Engagement for the School of Computing, I had an overview of all career, employability and placement activities for our students.
What are your unofficial job responsibilities?
As a part of Game Lab, I have a lot of successful links with the game development industry. My term as Director of Business has recently come to an end, so I am reverting to focusing on the games industry. However, I remain more than happy to talk to students about careers and placements across the digital sector.
Why do you have strong links to industry?
I worked in the video game industry for many years (lead programmer and engineering manager with Ubisoft, BBC, Sony, Rockstar, Atari) so I have an extensive network of contacts in that industry, which has widened across the entire UK game development sector due to the success of our graduates from the MSc and MComp in Game Engineering.
What companies do you work with?
We work with every major game development studio in the UK (Activision, Rebellion, Ubisoft, Epic, Nvidia, Sony, Rockstar, Warner Bros, Microsoft, Sega, Sumo, etc, etc) as well as the independent game developers around the northeast and further afield, and international developers around the world. They all employ graduates from our MSc/MComp, provide industry talks, and advise on the course content, because they know the high quality of our graduates.
How would you say you help students improve their employability?
The key word here is “opportunity”. As a school, we provide a lot of opportunities for students to meet potential employers from across the digital sector and beyond. We also provide opportunity for improving your interview skills, CV feedback, etc. We are currently ranked third equal in the country for employability of our undergraduates in Computer Science, which is due to our fantastic students seizing opportunities.
What areas do you think students need to improve on when it comes to employability, and how can they improve those areas?
Different companies focus on different areas, many will be interested in technical skills, but all are interested in the ability to communicate and work well with others. If there is one area I would highlight, it is the team project. Employers do not want to hire so-called hero programmers, who do all of the work themselves. They want to hire team players who can forge meaningful and productive relationships with their peers. Our team project in Stage 2 is designed to provide that experience and opportunity.
In what order would you rank the following things in terms of importance from an applicant (first most important, last least important)
CV, Cover Letter, Portfolio, Interview, Code Interview
They are all equally important, with some sectors focusing more on some stages (portfolio for example). The key is to remember that each of those elements listed is a mechanism to get you to the next stage of the process. CV and portfolio get you to the interview and technical test stage. The other thing to remember is that interviews are a two-way process – you are finding out about the company, and whether you want to work with them.
If there was one piece of advice you want students to take away from this interview, what would it be?
Seize the opportunities.
Can students contact you for advice, and if so, what is the best way to contact you?
Yes, absolutely. Email me, or just come to my office.