A Look Back at Blizzard’s 2017 Internship Program…
Rosalind franklin masters programs. Blizzard Entertainment is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
Blizzard’s Internship Program gives students the opportunity to work directly with development teams and business operations departments to gain hands-on experience. For 12 paid weeks every summer, interns embed themselves with our teams to learn, collaborate, and contribute to the intensity and fun of creating epic entertainment.
In 2017, after months of recruiting, a field of over 12,000 applicants was narrowed down to 64 interns. It’s not easy to land an internship at Blizzard—that’s a 0.6% acceptance rate, orders of magnitude lower than Harvard’s acceptance rate of 4.6%—but it is worth it.
Along with 24 new grads, our 2017 class was set for the summer. (TheBlizzard New Grad Programoffers recent grads exclusive, entry-level roles designed to put their degrees to immediate use.) The program, affectionately known as Camp Blizzard, kicked off in early June. Blizzard interns (“blizzterns”) are not coffee gofers, but full contributors to their teams. They accomplish meaningful work in a rigorous, collaborative environment.
There's so much to do at Blizzard! We don’t just design and develop games here, we publish and support them as well, so we’re looking for many types of people. We’re looking for students interested in everything from business intelligence and community to marketing, web design, user experience, and on and on. Be sure to check all our internship openings when they go up to see the sheer variety of Blizzard teams looking for interns
Two interns from this summer’s class, Aubrie Healy (Software Engineer, User Interface, World of Warcraft) and Josh Beedle (Associate Program Manager for Blizzard’s Web & Mobile team), were kind enough to share their thoughts with us.
User Interface is what players interact with on-screen in our games. As a UI engineer on the World of Warcraft team this summer, I’m in charge of implementation, but I also collaborate closely with our designers. The main challenge is to put yourself in the mindset of a new user. Being able to step back and consider your design implementation from a fresh perspective is key.
The UI team is made up of several people with a few engineers. The whole team ended up being my mentor! I’ve been encouraged to seek feedback on my code and I love the people I work with. They understand the whole process and give me great guidance. I feel I can talk to anyone on my team, it’s like a little UI family.
Initially, my manager gave me small tasks, but soon trusted me enough to give me associate-to-mid-level projects. I can’t share what I ended up working on this summer, but players will see it one day! You do very real work. It’s amazing to know my work will be put into the game I’ve been playing nearly 12 years. It’s surreal to see your name in the game credits. I’m in the Hearthstone credits from when I was an intern for them last year!
Initially when I thought about Blizzard, I imagined everyone would be too smart and busy and wouldn’t want to talk or help an intern noob. But of course, you can talk to anyone, even Mike Morhaime!
I didn’t go to an Ivy League school, I don’t think you have to. When I discovered my passion for UI, I locked myself in my room and learned all I could. That’s the bigger difference. I think the people who are most successful are the ones who channel their passion into projects related to what they want to do for a living. Get involved. I volunteered teaching girls how to design and program video games. Whether you volunteer time, get involved with your campus game club or whatever, it’s something to add to your resume. Also, be active in searching out opportunities. You must be the driving force in your career. Apply to a position you want when you see it. Even if you don’t get it, it’s all good experience.
It was a lot of fun this summer! We had great events, scavenger hunts, boat rides, outings designed to help us relax and network. We had things like movie night, a barbeque with a live band, and interactive lunch talks with leaders throughout the company. The program made sure we had time to get to know our fellow interns. We grew to be friends outside of work through the events. I can’t believe how many super awesome and passionate people I’ve met here so far. It can be difficult to find fellow gamers and people you really relate to, but at Blizzard I’ve found friends for life.
I’m stoked Blizzard is encouraging more female engineers to apply for internships. Last year I was the only female engineering intern, but this year there are a dozen! One of my roommates is a fellow female engineer and I love it! If you like computers and technology, you should consider it. Computer Science isn’t easy, but if you’re into it I say go for it. The industry needs more women!
I love Blizzard culture! I bring my puppy, Rexxar, to work almost every day. People are happy here, and I see why folks tend to stay. As for myself, I graduate in December and I’m happy to say I’ve got a job offer from the World of Warcraft team. Apply for your internship and come work with me!
My internship this summer was as an Associate Program Manager for Blizzard’s Web & Mobile team. I helped manage day-to-day operations, facilitating meetings, documenting process, tracking sprint cycles…basically learning how to unblock road blocks. It’s my job to figure out who to talk to and work with outside my team, so I do a huge amount of networking and communication back and forth. The other side is more product management, and helping to come up with features for our millions of users. I’ve participated in ideation process for future features. Some of my work I can’t discuss, but I did some things on the BlizzCon app that I hope our fans get to experience soon!
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My mentor was fantastic. He wanted to teach me the development cycle as much as possible in a 3-month internship. My mentor turned out to be a huge safety net. At first I was afraid to make mistakes. I didn’t want to be the intern that messed everything up, you know? But my team did nothing but support and encourage me to take ownership and take risks. Blizzard is designed to be very collaborative, and an environment where even failing isn’t necessarily the worst thing. Everything is a learning experience, and they really want you to improve.
Networking was an important goal of mine this summer, and something I wanted to do with the short amount of time that I had. Over the last ten weeks I ended up having lunch with a different person every single day. I ended up networking with over 40 people throughout the company that way. Every single person found the time for me. It was so humbling. Having Blizzard employees and veterans who have been there for a number of years happy to take their time to invest in my growth was very impactful for me, not just professionally but personally. It speaks volumes across what Blizzard stands for, and how real their core values are.
I got to attend a company-wide off-site summit just for Program Managers, which was an awesome opportunity to hear from experienced people and to meet like-minded folks throughout Blizzard.
As the summer program, Camp Blizzard really helped me feel welcome and comfortable. They really do a great job of making you feel part of the larger intern family, and provide so many opportunities to hang out and become friends with one another even as we pursue our individual career goals. My favorite event of the summer was a tiki boat cruise where we got a chance to bond, chat up the University Relations team, and just enjoy Southern California. It was crazy – where else are you going to end up on a tiki boat cruise? Overall, there’s so many great events, and then there’s the swag! They give away so much loot, it’s incredible.
The Intern Expo wraps up the summer. It’s your time to show off to the company what you worked on and learned over the summer, as well as the impact you left at Blizzard. It’s like a huge, old-school science fair, we all build displays and everyone comes by and checks everything out. My whole team came by for support, and it was cool to see everyone attend. The other employees create such a welcoming environment and are really interested in what you accomplished. Blizzard embraces interns. It’s funny because I saw all these people I respect so much and here they are being impressed with what I’ve done; it was like the icing on the cake before you leave. And there’s nothing like seeing (company co-founder) Allen Adham just cruising around, chatting up interns, taking it all in!
(Impostor syndrome is a concept describing individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a 'fraud.')
I think a lot of students look at Blizzard or any other AAA studio and think: That’s not me. I can’t do that. Imposter Syndrome, that feeling of self-doubt, that your skill-set isn’t up to par, can be crippling. It’s a real thing, and I wish people wouldn’t let it dictate their decisions. You can push past it, you really can. Don’t think you’re not ready if you match the job requirements. Find out. Apply. Worst case, learning to take feedback and learning from that process if you don’t get it will help in the long run. Don’t get down on yourself!
I have so many friends who are super talented but didn’t apply because they felt for sure there was no chance. If you’re going to try for something, really try for it. I spent hours on my submission, wanting to get everything as polished and organized as I could, and it paid off. So many people see this as some impossible thing. They read about it, think about it and dream, but they don’t actually apply and take that risk. Take it!
Consider Joining us as an Intern!Internships for summer 2018 will go up this fall. Our University Relations team is hard at work finalizing next year’s internship opportunities. If you’re interested in applying and want to prepare, be sure to check out our student section here and read the FAQs. Follow @blizzardcareers on Twitter Blizzard Entertainment Gamesas well as our company page on LinkedIn so you don’t miss any announcements or deadlines. Hope to see you next summer!Blizzard Entertainment Training Programs
The video game community isn’t known for its gender diversity. With women making up just 22 percent of all game developers internationally, the industry really needs to welcome more women into the workforce. One company breaking that mold is Blizzard Entertainment, publisher of games like World of Warcraft and one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2017. By focusing on recruiting women into its paid internship program, Blizzard increased its number of female “Blizzterns” by 166 percent in the past year — from 12 to 32 percent, and plans to bring on even more next year.
Janine Tedford, Blizzard’s Associate Manager of University Relations, likens their gender diversity push to a stampede of penguins sliding down a snowy ice shelf — once the first group of women went for it, an avalanche of other interns followed. Importantly, Janine says, Blizzard’s intern program isn’t just meant to be a stepping stone to another company, but “the destination.” Blizzard often routes interns into the new grad program — where new hires excel, on average getting promoted to the next level faster than other entry-level hires.
https://canvasven.weebly.com/blog/isunshare-zip-password-genius. Here are five tactics that Blizzard used to level-up its gender diversity via university recruiting — and how you can apply them to your own hiring efforts.
Cbs Entertainment Training Program1. Asking yourself the hard questions: Why is your company struggling with gender diversity in the first place?
Janine advises that companies start by looking inward and daring to be self-critical. Blizzard had to ask why they were having a hard time hiring more women, identify the problem, and attack it with a targeted solution.
Focused on finding the best interns quickly, the university relations team had tunnel vision and wasn’t going out of its way to source women — they hadn’t stopped to ask why the places they were looking were so dominated by men. Simply bringing the issue to their attention went a long way towards re-evaluating the university recruiting tactics they took for granted.
2. Seeking out women-led groups on campuses and telling them about your opportunities
Taking a more thoughtful approach, Blizzard started asking their own female employees about what kind of clubs they participated in as a student. Instead of simply going to the same groups on campus year after year, they sought out women-led groups and clubs, like the “Women in Computer Science” club.
Expanding your campus outreach to new communities—whether they’re explicitly female or simply have a bigger proportion of female students — can spark the interest of more diverse talent pools.
Cars 2 game world grand prix. If what you’ve been doing has resulted in a lack of diverse applicants, don’t be wary about going out of your way to be more inclusive. Talking to current female employees can help you generate ideas on where to find more representative communities you can invite to your internship or new grad program.
![]() 3. Identifying professors who teach relevant classes and asking them to refer and recommend exceptional female students
Sometimes the easiest path is just being direct and asking for what you want. Blizzard found faculty who taught classes related to their internship program — from computer science to marketing to business administration — and asked for recommendations.
Blizzard’s university recruiting team asked about their top-performing students across the board — and wasn’t afraid to specifically ask about the most promising women. Professors are almost always more than happy to highlight students for mentorship opportunities, and can give you the type of personal referral that makes it easy to find the perfect candidates.
4. Enlisting female employees to speak to students at their alma mater
Blizzard found that current employees were always thrilled to visit their old stomping grounds. “Not a single person said no when we offered,” says Janine. While this is something Blizzard does with both its men and women, this year they put a bigger emphasis on asking female workers to share their stories at their old schools. Having a female employee as an ambassador of your company can inspire young women and challenge their stereotypes, especially if you’re working in a field that tends to be disproportionately male.
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Companies with strong employer brands often share a similar mantra: “everyone’s a recruiter.” Getting your current employees to share their experiences — especially the experience of being an underrepresented minority in your field — can encourage and reassure more diverse students to apply.
5. Tweaking your employer branding to skew towards more diverse audiences
When students think of jobs at Blizzard, they usually imagine game developers — but that’s just one position of many. To appeal to a broader audience, Blizzard emphasized how the company does so much more than make games: from business operations to program management to graphic design. Along with amplifying these areas in their branding materials, Blizzard’s UR team also sought out more diverse student groups who may not have considered a gaming company — like clubs interested in business intelligence, marketing, web design, and user experience.
Towards the end of last year, one of the female interns told Janine how much she enjoyed the experience, but said she was disappointed in the number of women in the internship program. “That intern actually returned this year,” says Janine. “When I told her how many women we were bringing in this time, she was over the moon! She’s so excited to mentor some of the younger ones, show them the ropes, and build new friendships.”
Like Janine’s proverbial penguins, diverse interns and employees encourage others to join them. Latest photoshop cs6 keygen dmg 2017 full version 2017. Female employees in underrepresented industries support each other — once you make an effort to build a more diverse team, it gets easier and easier to attract more diverse talent.
This article originally appeared on the LinkedIn Talent Blog.
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Gregory Lewis is a senior copywriter, content strategist, and proud Chia Pet owner at MarketSmiths, a creative content agency based in Brooklyn.
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