What it’s like to be an apprentice in the gaming industry

WHETHER you’re new to work, want to up your skills or fancy a complete career change, there’s an apprenticeship for you. 

Apprentices combine work with training and study. Gaining those crucial new skills could boost your earning potential or lead to that dream job. 

If you’re an employer, the benefits are huge. You get to nurture and develop that potential and enthusiasm, while shaping your workforce for the roles your industry needs – and apprenticeships are suitable for employers of all sizes too. 

In the government’s 2017 Apprenticeships Evaluation Employer Survey, 86 per cent of employers said apprenticeships helped them develop skills relevant to their organisation, and 74 per cent said apprenticeships helped improve the quality of their product or service. 

Sumo Digital is an exciting, award-winning apprenticeship employer. 

It makes renowned video games including Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Team Sonic Racing. It started in Sheffield in 2003 with 20 employees and now has 1,700 working across 17 studios in Europe, Canada and India. 

It offers game programmer apprenticeships through its Sumo Digital Academy, which has 27 level 7 apprentices. 

“Game development is complex and some of our apprentices – and half of our staff – have PhDs,” says Sumo Digital Academy director Dr Jake Habgood, who has worked in the games industry and education for nearly 30 years. 

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“Game programmers typically come from STEM backgrounds – we get a lot of physicists or mathematicians. 

“We’ve also had musicians and media students. This year we’ve got Emma, who was a fashion business student originally. And we’ve also got Arune, who previously worked in a Shell garage. If we can find people with the potential, we’re happy to train them.” 

Jake’s top tips to make the most of your apprenticeship

1 Think about what you enjoy before you apply

“If you’re going to come on our diversity internship programme, for instance, it’s important that you’ve tried programming and found you have the bug for it. It’s not something that you should have to slog through.” 

2 Ask questions and don’t be afraid to make mistakes

“Get the most out of having experts from the industry in the same room to help you and explain things.” 

3 Find your niche

“Discover the area that really interests you. Game teams are huge. We have hundreds of programmers working on one project for many years: AI coders who code the behaviours of the characters, game-play programmers who do the bits the player sees most, like the rules of the game… the list goes on.” 

4 You can’t beat an in-person placement

“Remote working is the norm in digital industries these days. But if you’re an apprentice, taking advantage of the opportunity to go in and be around people from your discipline is a hugely valuable experience.”

Jake is keen to point out it’s a job for problem solvers of all ages – not just gaming fanatics. 

“Some people have a passion for video games, but I wouldn’t say it’s essential. There are definitely people who don’t play that many but still enjoy solving those creative problems, whether that’s in programming or design.” 

Sumo Digital designed its own apprenticeship gold standard – focused on the exact knowledge and skills video game creators would need – and registered to be an employer provider. 

“The industry had not engaged with apprenticeships before. It deals with very specific problems and programming languages, so the generic apprenticeship standards didn’t really work for us,” says Jake. 

Apprentices spend 18 months learning all aspects of game development while being paid. 

They work in the academy from day one, learning and developing Sumo’s products. “It’s a very natural transition from learning content to something you build. 

“For example, our students remade a game from the 1990s called Zool. There’s a lot of interest in retro gaming and it gives them a way of working on a real life project where it’s OK if they make mistakes,” says Jake. 

“Our first cohort have just gone through the programme. Every single one passed and got a job here.” 

Jake hopes the apprenticeships will prove a real springboard for more women to join the industry. 

“This scheme is a big driver for us, as the traditional channels are very male dominated in technology. Six of our apprentices are women. It’s certainly not 50-50. We wish it was.” 

Sumo Digital also offers a diversity internship programme, aimed at underrepresented groups, to spot raw talent. “We run it remotely for six weeks in the summer as a precursor to our apprenticeship recruitment.”

To find out more and explore training options, visit Skills for Life

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