Time running out to register for SkillsWeek 2008
People wanting to register for this year's SkillsWeek workshops will have to get in quick as places are filling up fast.
SkillsWeek returns for a second year this month with a week long programme of events focused on skills in the computer gaming industry.
From October 27th to the 31st, graduates and developers in gaming will get the chance to learn from and share ideas with the best through a series of workshops and seminars being held as part of the London Games Festival. This year's installment promises to be even better and is being broadened to include other videogames related industries, such as design, web work, animation, film and TV.
The events, developed and delivered by Pixel-Lab and Skillset, have proved enormously successful in its first year of inception with over 250 people participating in last year's event.
Kate O'Connor, Executive Director at Skillset, said that the overwhelmingly positive response to this year's SkillsWeek showed that the UK gaming industry is serious about ensuring it has the talent pool to maintain its position as a world leader.
"Game development has one of, if not the, most diverse skills requirements of all modern media. From mathematicians and physicists at one end of the spectrum to, actors and architects at the other, the UK gaming industry must be able to tap into these skills to maintain its position as one of the world leaders'" she said.
"Successful and popular forums like Skillsweek are exactly what the industry needs to help confront the skills challenge. It provides the perfect platform from which experts can debate the issues and exchange views on best practice."
For graduates, the week is an ideal opportunity to learn about the skills requirements for gaming, the right places to study, the right ways to job hunt and how to handle interviews. Throughout the week they will be able to bring their portfolios and get feedback from highly experienced industry professionals.
Matthew Jeffery, Head of European Recruitment for electronic Arts, said:
"Europe is home to the world's finest talent pool. But as gaming continues to grow at a rapid pace, skills shortages are becoming ever more common.
"Skills Week asks all the difficult questions, encourages debate and seeks to provide answers to games industry skill shortages. It is a must attend event for games industry executives looking for recruitment answers."
Nick Burton, Senior Software Engineer at Rare said;
"For the UK game industry to maintain its position as one of the world leaders we need to diversify recruitment into new areas while continuing to work hard with the more traditional routes into our industry such as software engineering and art skills.
"Skills week gives attendees the chance to discuss these issues and find out what its like working in the UK's most exiting media industry from some of its most seasoned practitioners," he said.
Catering to all skill levels, there are events for people at all levels this year. This year's programme includes:
- The return of last year's popular Mod Workshop. Everyone will be taught the basics of level design with Unreal Engine 3, from basic geometry to lighting and implementing AI.
- Scarce Talent Seminars: how to cross the gap from mod-maker or bedroom programmer to professional developer, how to get into audio for games, research and development jobs in the games industry. Tuesday will delve into topics often neglected by games industry events.
- A Game Design Workshop: the best way to focus on game design is with a paper prototype. In this workshop, you'll learn how to produce a prototype board game from scratch.
- The Coding Dojo Workshop: learn Agile Development Skills and the basics of flash as well as pair programming and other agile techniques.
- The C Word: a whole day of high level panels and talks on the skills shared between VFX, animation and game development.
For more information or to book a place at any of the workshops, visit the SkillsWeek website or contact David Hayward of Pixel-Lab on +44 (0) 7976 216 029.
Ends
For all media enquiries contact:
Nick Gowland - Skillset
+44 (0) 207 713 9812 / +44 (0) 7598 160 802
Notes for Editors
Skillset is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Creative Media which comprises TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging and publishing. SSCs are licensed by the UK Government and by Ministers in the devolved administrations to tackle the skills and productivity challenge by sector. They are independent, UK-wide organisations, are employer-led, and actively involve trade unions, professional bodies and other stakeholders in the industry.
www.skillset.org
Pixel-Lab is a computer games and digital media development agency working across the UK's computer game and digital media industries. Pixel-Lab advises, develops and delivers strategies to support growth in the games industry from skills development to support infrastructure. Pixel-Lab also works with organisations outside the industry, enabling them to harness the power of games.
Pixel-Lab website
