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March 4, 2020Game Designer Experts Highlight Career Paths and Careers for Area Students
A packed house of students from across the Capital Region learned about careers in one of the hottest industries in the world – video gaming.
Students from the Capital Region BOCES Game Design and Implementation Program joined with their counterparts from the Capital Region Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) to take part in the career exploration and panel discussion event at the Center for Advanced Technology at Mohonasen.
The event was hosted by Capital Region BOCES and the Capital Region Chamber and
featured Steve Derrick, director of organization development of Vicarious Visions, along with gaming industry veterans Astra Wijaya and Darryl Nunn and computer technician Larry Brassard. Nunn, Brassard and Wijaya are all instructors for BOCES.
During the 90-minute event, the panelists talked about how they entered the gaming and “tech” industries, the various jobs for those in the industry – ranging from graphic artists to writers to coders – and ways students can pair their passions for music and art with game design to make a great careers.
Derrick, a 20-year veteran of the Troy-based Vicarious Visions, described his own climb from painter and artist to game developer at a firm that has titles like Guitar Hero in its portfolio of successes.
“This was a great way for our students to hear about the potential that exists for them and the path they need to follow to climb from gamer to professional game designer,” said Makensie Bullinger, principal of P-TECH and the Center for Advanced Technology.
