Computer Games student lands job with Glasgow based Games Company

A Computer Games student has been offered a full time job by a major digital entertainment company, which he will now balance alongside his studies during his final year at GCU.

4th year Computer Games (Design) student Kyle McSwan will now be working with Glasgow based company Blazing Griffin, who specialises in film, games and post production. After completing an internship, Kyle kept in touch with the company and is now working for them as a Junior Game Designer.

Kyle never expected to have been offered a job before completing his degree. He said: “It was definitely a scenario I aimed for, but never truly expected.

When I first approached Blazing Griffin it was at the beginning of my second year, and I basically handed a CV in to the studio for a job that didn't exist; a part-time designer job while I studied. It was probably too ambitious and foolish of me to do something like that, but I believed that they could see how passionate I was about game development.

Of course, there was nothing available for what I was looking for, but a few months went by and Neil (one of the co-heads of the Games studio) emailed me to ask if I was still interested in coming in and doing some quality assurance. I jumped at the opportunity and by the end of my second year; I had a credit in their most recent game.

When I look back on it, I still can't believe that all that happened and how its lead me to here. It’s a very humbling feeling.”

Now having to switch from full time to part time study, Kyle is ready to take on the challenge of balancing his studies with his new job. He said: “To make sure I can keep up with my coursework, I will work my contracted hours for Blazing Griffin and then on days that I would have a class, I would make up the hours at night.

It can be quite demanding, but only because I want to produce the best quality of work I can on both sides. I am moving forward with the mind-set that I should be trying as hard as I can with my modules. I wouldn't want to undertake this challenge if I wasn't going to give it 100% effort.

It’s obvious that game development is what I envision myself doing as a career, so I want to be in a position where I have truly learned and became skilled in the modules that my course offers.”

Neil McPhillips (Head of Games Operations at Blazing Griffin) is delighted to have brought on Kyle as a team member. He said: “We're really happy to have taken Kyle on as a Junior Designer. It's great to be able to invest in someone at this stage in their career.”

He added: “We have taken on graduates before and it always comes down to the quality of their portfolio, their work outside of school and communication skills. We aren't a big team so taking on a student requires us to have confidence in their ability to be self-sufficient and independently driven; it's often a rare thing for us to do.

We see it as an investment in that person and we believe it's important to make those investments when we can, as the long term benefits to both are fantastic”

You can view Kyle's work portfolio online

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media