Careers: Life at RTW
Zhexin Yang
Software Programmer
I got the job here right after completion of my master’s degree. I always wanted to start a career in the games industry, but it is not so easy for a graduate student. The knowledge I learned in university was fairly academic based, so I didn’t have much in-depth programming knowledge. The interview here is aimed at looking for potential rather than prior programming skills.
I had a tough time looking for a job in the UK as not many companies in the industry are willing to apply for work permits for international students. Realtime Worlds is one of those companies that really cares about their international staff.
I am currently working in a technology team, which is responsible for the design, development and support of technology and tools for next generation games. The team follows professional best-practice software engineering processes. I am involved in writing software documents and pieces of code. I started from small tasks to get familiar with the work and the software engineering practice, and now I get assigned to individual projects to do some more substantial development. From the day I started, I was assigned a mentor to teach me how to approach the problems, who has been teaching me everything step by step patiently. I am able to approach everyone in my team and ask them any question no matter how stupid it is. The help I’ve got from the team is invaluable which lets me get onto the work fairly quickly.
I like the social atmosphere at Realtime Worlds. The working environment is flexible. Our team has a weekly cake meeting — everyone brings a cake in turn every week. At lunch time, I sometimes play the game of Go with my colleagues, and every Monday after work, I go to the Dundee Go Club.
I would say I have not regretted my decision of coming to Dundee to work for Realtime Worlds. I do enjoy my work and my new life here very much. If you are looking for a company that looks after its employees, I’m sure you will like Realtime Worlds.
