Jack Bolton
Computing student Jack Bolton has always wanted to work in the games industry. So, as part of his degree, he undertook a year-long placement at Electronic Arts (EA), a leading developer and producer of computer games, including the Battlefield, The Sims, and Apex Legends franchises.
Jack was one of a small handful of successful applicants to the world-famous Company’s sought-after internship scheme. Working as a software engineering intern, he was writing code on various games, providing technical support to the content creators (artists, animators and designers).
“I’ve been communicating with content creators and producers,” he said. “We let the content creators do the work that they want to do, we facilitated that by making alterations to the code.”
Jack has been working for Criterion, a studio that is part of EA, and for the first few months of his internship, was working on the franchise ‘Need for Speed’.
“When I joined it was the first time I’d worked on a game,” said Jack. “You learn the studio and how things work. At first I was shadowing my manager, working on small things, getting help when needed. As my skills developed I worked more independently. I’ve had tasks assigned to me and I could support others when they found issues or needed changes implemented.”
Part way through the internship, Criterion moved on to assist the development of another higher profile game, part of the ‘Battlefield’ franchise. This provided further opportunities for Jack to develop his skills and broaden his experiences.
For Jack, gaming is something that has been an interest for a long time. “I’d wanted to work in the games industry for as long as I can remember,” he said. “Originally I wanted to play games for a living, then found an interest in how they were written and developed.
“I have been doing programming and coding for a while. I started off doing it in primary school, obviously on much smaller things. As I got older I was making ‘mods’ for games – taking an existing game, digging into the code and making changes, modifying it - just as a hobby.”
Part of Jack’s enjoyment of the internship has come from getting a behind-the-scenes insight into how new games are made, especially the games he is a fan of. “It’s great to look at games you have played before, look at the code and see how that worked,” he said. “It’s a different perspective.” Part of the work has also meant play testing games that are in development. “Playing stuff before it is released was fun,” he added.
Jack admits the internship was daunting at first, but says he has really enjoyed it. “There’s definitely a learning curve,” he said. “What was daunting was not knowing people and not knowing how things are done. I have learnt a lot in a short amount of time.”
“It’s just been a great experience overall. I have more confidence in my own abilities. I’ve learnt a lot, and also practised my communication.
“I’d absolutely recommend taking a placement year. Although it adds another year to the course, it’s very useful. It’s real world experience in the job and that’s very valuable, both to employers and for getting the best grades possible at university. Working in the industry, putting the skills and knowledge that I learned at university into practise, has been so valuable in developing me and my chosen career path. I am looking forward to my final year at university and would very much like to come back to EA as a graduate.”