Partner numbers approach 100
Thurs 11th Feb 2021: Games Careers Week, the free online festival for inspiring people from every background to discover prospects in one of the UK’s most exciting careers, has announced its initial lineup for the year.
Over 20 events from Grads in Games, BGI / National Videogame Museum, Into Games, Ukie, Women in Games and Tranzfuser have been scheduled between 26 March and 2nd April 2021.
Games Careers Week is packed with events aimed at reaching millions of parents, learners, teachers and job-seekers. Designed to inspire and inform diverse people about career opportunities available within the games industry, the week will showcase scores of online events for all ages and levels of expertise.
Games Careers Week is organised and funded by the charity the BGI and nonprofits Grads in Games and Into Games. The week is trying to tackle low awareness of games career opportunities in the British public, especially amongst diverse groups, and low diversity in the UK games workforce through a pan-industry public education campaign.
You can read all about BGI’s involvement and funding of Games Careers Week here.
The first events are detailed below, with nearly 100 organisations interested in hosting careers events during the festival.
Key events for Games Careers Week 2021
Games Careers Exhibition at the National Videogame Museum [March 26th onwards]: An online careers exhibition for families in which children ask games developers about games careers and educational choices.
Ukie Student Conference [March 26th]: Ukie’s huge event for college and university students returns with a packed programme of talks, keynotes, and Q&As from games developers and educators.
Into Games Portfolio Pitstop [March 27th]: A day of free, essential portfolio advice and tips from dozens of industry professionals for any learner posting their games portfolio on Twitter with the hashtag #portfoliopitstop.
Career Talks at the National Videogame Museum [March 27th onwards]: Livestreams by new Sumo Digital developers for young people and parents to ask questions about how to start games careers.
The Grads In Games Student Conference [March 29th]: A day of speakers from leading studios talking to students about the work they do and what life at a games studio is really like. Includes panels featuring recent grads on how they got their first games job, and a live masterclass session where you can create a perfect CV for applying to games industry roles.
Grads In Games Education Fair [March 30th]: Dozens of universities that offer game development courses will be congregating at our education fair ready to talk with FE, A-Level, and GCSE students about the courses they have to offer.
Gamesindustry.biz Careers Week Features [all week]: A series of careers week content, interviews and discussions will run online during the week.
Grads In Games Career Connector [March 30th]: A new format of online careers fair for the games industry, providing opportunities for studio professionals to be skills-matched with students for private meetings.
Women in Games Career Pathways [all week]: Developers from Women in Games’ pioneering ambassador programme will share their career pathways in a series of online talks for young adults.
Games Education Summit March [31st March to 1st April]: 30 speakers from top studios and games universities gather to share state of the art tips and hear students, mentees, and recent hires reveal their career pathways.
The Grads In Games Awards 2021 [March 31st]: Recognising the people, studios, and educators that have made a real impact in improving the links between the games industry and education, the GiG Awards celebrates the valuable work of those behind the scenes of games education and employability.
Tranzfuser Career talks [all week]: Tranzfuser are hosting a series of live chats for university students focusing on bolstering career paths into professional video game development.
Into Games Champion Sessions [all week]: Into Games’ 12 industry champions, each a diverse representative of their discipline (art, programming, QA, etc) will be running talks and events throughout GCW.
Digital Schoolhouse Games Careers Lesson Pack [all week]: A videogames careers lesson pack in partnership with Into Games bursting with expertise and insightful support for schools including a database of 50 One Minute Mentor careers videos, lesson plans and assembly scripts.
Search For A Star & d3t Rising Star 2021, Winners Announcement [April 1st]: Check out the future stars of the games industry as we announce the winners of this year’s student game dev challenges across programming, art, animation and VFX.
Studios, publishers, educators and members of the industry can get involved by registering at gamescareersweek.org.
About Games Careers Week
Games Careers Week is a non-profit event organised and funded by the BGI, Into Games and Grads in Games, supported by TIGA, NextGen Skills Academy, Gamesindustry.biz and Ukie
About the BGI / National Videogame Museum
The NVM is operated by the BGI, charity number 1183530, which educates the public about the art, science, history and technology of videogames through the museum, training and other educational programmes such as the Games Education Summit. For more details about the BGI, please visit: http://www.thebgi.uk/about.
About Into Games
Into Games is a non-profit Community Interest Company that supports people in finding rewarding careers in the games sector. Our projects connect education and industry while providing guidance for learners from primary school all the way into work. For more information visit: http://intogames.org
About Grads in Games
Grads in Games is run by a non-profit Community Interest Company which helps graduates make the leap from student to professional in the games industry. It does this through a comprehensive program of events, activities and initiatives which equip students with the skills employers need. For more information about our initiatives such as Search for a Star and Get in the Game visit: www.gradsingames.com.