Opening up Digital Careers
“Keep running these courses as it’s a great opportunity for those serious about wanting to get into the games industry like me.” - Game Academy student
Working with Speakers For Schools to deliver Game Academy Bootcamps for the South Yorkshire Careers Hub / Doncaster Opportunity Area in 2021/22 was highly impactful, so we were delighted just months later to have the chance to offer something similar in another part of the UK.
This time, funding for the Department of Education unlocked an opportunity to work with Speakers For Schools on two five-day bootcamps and a live-broadcast question-and-answer session with an expert panel for young people aged between 14 and 19 from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Once again, the objective was to invite video games gurus to help us inspire teenagers of all abilities to think about the skills they’ve developed through their own gaming – and how that might translate into a job in the video games industry.
Guest speakers included representatives from Sumo Group and Confetti (Institute of Creative Technologies, Nottingham Trent University. Each session was tailored to suit students from mainstream schools as well as those with special educational needs.
While the initiative contributed to priorities set out in the employment and skills strategy for the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, it also helped to chart potential career journeys and the personal development of young people from the region’s schools and colleges.
Impact
In all, a total of 120 students were split across the two week-long bootcamps, 53% of whom had a high needs score of 7+.
A total of 2,880 virtual work experience hours were completed, with participation from 35 different schools and colleges including a specialist autism school. Students were inspired by a total of 26 industry speakers.
Before the course, 83% of attendees had no work experience, 70% of those joining wanted to pursue a career in the games industry while 60% felt they didn’t know enough about it.
But the students loved it. In fact:
100% found the bootcamp enjoyable, informative, interesting and interactive.
92% rated the bootcamp experience as excellent/good.
83% particularly liked the group task - working with their team in breakout rooms and presenting ideas to industry judges on the final day.
73% valued the different speakers, the Q&A and finding out about the world of work.
“I really enjoyed the speakers, they were really informative and well-versed. The tips they gave were incredibly useful as well, some which I hope I can take into the world of working.” - Game Academy student
What did the students learn?
Each day of the bootcamp had a key theme and included industry talks, personal development sessions and industry-set tasks.
The packed schedule was designed to deliver as much actionable value and experience as possible in a week-long summer course.
Monday - Your Game Powers: An introduction to the industry, an opportunity to complete the Game Academy skills analytics tool to assess your in-game skills, and a meet-your-team session ahead of the Team Challenge.
Tuesday - Your Life Powers: Workshops on public speaking, overcoming anxiety, learning to focus and a chance to kick off the Team Challenge task.
Wednesday - Games & Careers: Talks from entrepreneurs who play video games and on how to progress into further and higher education programmes which focus on game design and the relevant creative and digital skills for the industry. There is also a chance to complete more self-reflection tasks using the Game Academy skills analytics tool.
Thursday - Team challenge: All the teams get ready for pitch day, preparing their presentation on game design and mechanics.
Friday - Pitch day: Each team meets the industry judges and pitches their ideas gleaned from critiquing an existing game. Feedback follows and awards are presented for the Community Support Champion, Growth Mind Set and Team Challenge.
“This was a really fun and informative experience and has made me think a lot more about my future.” - Game Academy student
QUOTES
“This Bootcamp provided our students with the opportunity to showcase their capabilities. Adjustments were made to accommodate their needs, enabling them to produce fantastic work which impressed the industry professionals. Over the course of the week they developed their skills; teamwork, negotiation, problem solving and working to deadlines. The outcome was a huge boost to their self-confidence. Many thanks to the team for working with our school. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all employers looked to recruit for talent and capability rather than focusing on deficits?”
Farheen Khan, Careers Lead, Sutherland House School - Specialist Autism School
“We know that the games industry is very neuro-diverse and these bootcamps attract a high level of neuro-diverse young game players. It’s been an absolute privilege to have worked with Game Academy to develop and deliver such a unique and interactive industry-supported programme in which young people embrace inclusion, recognise different skill sets, support each other and grow in confidence and creativity in less than a week. ‘This is probably the most fun, stressful situation I have ever been in (lol)’ This is a quote from a student, not me - but it could have been!”
Julia Massey, Speakers for Schools.
