Womenize! Wednesday Weekly is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Tessa Abraham, Junior Producer at KING Art. Read more about Tessa in this interview:

Hi Tessa! You are a Junior Producer at KING Art, and you are also finishing your bachelor degree in Media Informatics and Interactive Entertainment at the Hochschule Mittweida. As this is your first job in the games industry, what did you do in order to prepare yourself for the first steps of your career?

While I was studying I had doubts whether I would be able to get a job in the industry. I had only been involved in a few projects and had no connections. In 2017, devcom happened, where I jumped in for a friend in volunteering, and suddenly I was connected with many different developers from all over Germany, but also worldwide.

In the next year, I “professionalized” my visit to conferences – I had created an online portfolio and matching business cards. I got into conversation with even more developers and was able to keep in touch with most of them afterwards. Thanks to this I actually found an internship in events. About a year ago, after the end of my internship, I decided to speculatively apply for a job as a producer at KING Art Games and luckily I was able to impress them with my application and my interview – and  additionally some people from the studio already knew me from volunteering. 

In the past, you’ve been volunteering at game development conferences and gained working experiences in areas such as event management and marketing. In the end, what was it that made you decide to pursue a career as a producer?

Actually, at the beginning of my studies, I didn’t even know what I wanted to do full-time, so I tried out many different options:
I had often worked as a game designer in university projects, then also gained a lot of experience in the area of events and marketing and in general I was always the person who made sure that everyone in the team completed their tasks. And I also enjoyed project plans and time management. Especially the latter has always been a great passion for me, which is why I applied for the job as a producer almost a year ago without much professional experience. I simply enjoy how a project comes together one by one. For me, there is nothing more fulfilling than working with colleagues who have as much passion for their work as I do.

After more than one year of experience, what are some key things you have learned and can maybe pass on to other people who are about to start their first job in the industry?

Most importantly: be brave enough to talk to other developers – no matter if they are students or if they have 20 years of experience! There is nothing worse than a missed opportunity and you never know who can help you on your path.
Visit conferences as often as you can but be prepared (business cards and some kind of portfolio). Volunteering is a great opportunity for that, even on a small budget.
Find your niche and show how you can be an important part of the team – if the team can benefit from your skills, you will quickly become irreplaceable.

Thank you for your time, Tessa!

Tessa’s Links: Twitter | Twitch | Website | King Art Games Website

WWW Feature by Anne Zarnecke