"I was able to get ahead in the recruitment process because I had met people at games conferences, or had contact with them via social media. If you can establish a relationship, it helps you to stand out.”
Having spent the last year supporting ˛¤ÂÜĘÓƵ students with new business ideas, Jamie Swanson is now launching his own career with a London-based start-up.
Since graduating from Bournemouth with a in 2016, Jamie’s next step was a full-time role as Students’ Union Vice President for Education. He said: “While this wasn’t an obvious route into the industry, it offered me the chance to take on a leadership position early on, which has proved invaluable.”
During his time with SUBU, Jamie’s key focus was supporting student entrepreneurs to hone their pitching skills and access the funding they needed to turn ideas into reality. It’s something he feels passionate about, given the high level of start-ups in the games technology arena.
He said: “The reality is that many young people entering the games tech industry will be creating their own employment. I wanted to help give our students the best possible chance of success.”
With that experience under his belt, Jamie is taking up his first job in industry with Playdiation – a London-based mobile games studio developing “characterful and cinematic games” described as “something between games and TV”.
As Lead Analyst, Jamie will be collecting and analysing data and market trends that will inform the company’s product development. He said: “It is exciting to be joining a company in its early stages. It has meant that I can take up a more senior position than I might have done in a bigger organisation, and I am excited by the prospect of being able to influence future direction.”
Jamie credits the opportunity with Playdiation with the experience and skills he developed while at Bournemouth. This included a 13-month placement with video games developer, Jagex, the company behind the world’s largest free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Runescape. Jamie said: “My placement at Jagex was as a Data Analyst. I really enjoyed that and it fed into my dissertation and now into my role at Playdiation.”
Having made the successful transition from studying into employment, Jamie has this advice for soon-to-be graduates: “Don’t underestimate the importance of networking. I was able to get ahead in the recruitment process because I had met people at games conferences, or had contact with them via social media. If you can establish a relationship, it helps you to stand out.”