Ravina has been hired by one of the most successful companies in the video game industry, UBISOFT.
Responsible for some of the biggest titles in gaming including the Far Cry and Assassins Creed series, Ravina has taken her first steps into the world of gaming and was happy to share her experience for anyone looking to follow in her footsteps.
I understand your title is a junior level designer. Can you explain what that is and what your job entails?
At the moment I do ‘blockouts’ (Blockout is a process where you use primitive geometric shapes to block-in your level designs, game environments and game art assets., for certain quests or levels.)
Wow, can you tell me a bit about how you got the opportunity to start your career at such a big company like UBISOFT?
I finished (my degree) in May and started at UBISOFT in July. They open graduate applications around January which is when I applied and then got a design test in March followed by an interview in April before accepting me. Then I just had a few months to graduate before joining them.
The world of video games continually grows year on year, how hard is it to break into the industry?
It’s very hard. I feel like it’s getting harder and easier at the same time, in some areas more than others. Whilst I worked hard to get into this position, I do admit that I got very lucky. I think when I applied, I was told that those handful of graduate roles they had, they had over 3000 applicants. In the UK alone it’s very difficult and a lot of luck is involved, especially as they don’t open a lot of junior positions in general. I think if this is something you want to do then you’ve really got to give it your all.
With that in mind, if you could offer one piece of advice to somebody looking to go into the game industry what would you say?
Definitely work on your own things and make connections. Don’t just do whatever university work you have to do, go out of your way to learn things on your own.
Is a lack of women in the industry a frustration?
It’s no secret there’s a lack of women in this industry, everyone’s aware of it. I personally don’t work with a lot of women directly at all. It is sad to see, but you also do see a lot of women and other minorities being hired and always encourage people to support these.
Finally, what are your future hopes or goals?
At the moment I’m pretty happy where I am. I am hoping that we see more women in the games industry, that would be amazing. Maybe, who knows, have my own company or something. But for now, I’m still learning a lot.
