Summer Camp Reflections
Recently we ran a 2-week Summer Camp which was delivered by INFINITY27. We had 16 people join us at PROTO, where we had special workshops delivered by external partners: including a Gravity Sketch workshop with Stella from IN4 Skills City plus a soft skills and employability workshop with Bryony from the National Careers Service.
Over the intensive two week camp the team at INFINITY27 provided insight into their experiences within the industry and completed activities with the learners. Covering a range of disciplines, the participants learned the ropes of working in the games industry including producing 3D art, game designs and then bringing them to life with programming to tie it all together.
We received a wide range of support from local organisation and wanted to reflect on our experience and feedback. Including what changes we will make for future workshops and placement offerings.
Overall, the feedback was phenomenal, with 100% of all participants being satisfied with their experience and 84% noting that they felt more prepared to enter into the games industry following their time with us.
We did ask for feedback from not only attendees but also the team at INFINITY27. We are always keen to provide the best possible placement experience and we want to ensure that any improvements to our future offerings could be identified.
Some improvements we’d like to see are:
More in-depth planning, including clear time boxing of tasks
Less technical difficulties (easier said than done!)
Improved internal file structure to ensure documentation is readily available when required
We have made changes and put processes and tools in place to ensure these are a achievable going forwards, such as regular checks of documentation to ensure everything is up-to-date and scheduling in planning time for the entire team before camps are due to be run. This will also allow time to ensure everybody is familiar with the technology being used.
After finishing the Summer Camp we managed to get 17 year old aspiring game designer Ash Batey, a job at Wolf & Wood Interactive. After we introduced three candidates to Ryan Bousfield, Managing Director, he chose two of our recommendations despite only looking to hire for a single role. Hear what Ash thinks you should know when considering if you’re thinking of applying to future camps.
The camp was a great success overall with attendees providing some really positive feedback, and one person already securing a job within the industry as a result of his time with us and we’d like to thank all of our supporters for enabling us to provide this opportunity!
