INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY | JODIE & MAIRI

Today is International Women’s Day and we’re celebrating at GLITCHERS by showcasing two of our talented female-identifying members of the crew. Jodie & Mairi are our Project Manager and Social & Community Manager respectively and have been at GLITCHERS a little under a year now. Let’s meet them:

JODIE – PROJECT MANAGER

Who are you?

Hey! I’m Jodie, and I’m the Project Manager at GLITCHERS. I’m the one with the freckles, big brown eyes and Northern accent. I’m loud and super passionate and knowledgeable about design.

Tell us a little bit about what you did before GLITCHERS? How did you become a Project Manager?

Before I joined GLITCHERS, I studied Games & Digital Media, and briefly worked in Financial Services and Administration in a project management role before taking the leap. I found out about GLITCHERS and felt drawn in by their passion for creating games for social change so I reached out!

What kind of things do you get up to day to day at GLITCHERS?

My day starts off by catching up with emails and firing up Slack to begin our daily stand-up! Stand-ups are our opportunity to talk about what we worked on the previous day, and what we’re doing next. It’s a great way to share and collaborate with others.

From there, I look at each of our projects and make sure I’m up to speed with where we’re at. Some days will require prioritising a certain project, and I’ll work with the team on that to run through our tasks and look at our objectives. It’s my responsibility to keep the development process running smoothly across each of our projects .

What is your favourite thing about working in the video games industry?

The atmosphere, of course, but also learning from others! Everyone has that one area of game development they absolutely shine in. A big part of working in the video games industry involves mentoring and learning from others. Every day is a school day.

What have you accomplished recently that you’re proud of?

Sharing my passion and knowledge of design to influence content and events in Drive Buy. Our “Be Mine” Valentine’s Day event started out as an idea of mine that I shared with the team and it grew from there.

What is your favourite video game of all time?

This is a really tough one to answer because I have genre phases. I’ll probably go with… Smite! Smite is a really cool third-person MOBA where you go head to head as Gods and mythical creatures. My favourites being Ra (Egyptian) and Kumbhakarna (Hindu).

What is your most used emoji?

✨ Perfect for (almost) every situation.

What advice would you give a woman who aspires to enter the industry / your role?

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, be vocal and proud of your accomplishments! Find out what local developer networks there are in your area and make friends – that’s the most important part.

I joined a local developer network which later formed a Discord. I made some amazing friends, and we always hit each other up for advice and collaborations. It’s how I found out about GLITCHERS! Lots of people pivot into games project management/ production-based roles from other industries – just go for it!

MAIRI – SOCIAL MEDIA & COMMUNITY MANAGER

Who are you?

Hey! I’m Mairi and I’m the Social Media and Community Manager here at GLITCHERS. I’m the one with an ever-changing hair colour, drinking several pots of tea a day, and excessively using the double exclamation mark!!

Tell us a little bit about what you did before GLITCHERS? How did you get into this role?

Before I joined GLITCHERS I did a little bit of everything – no really! I studied Architecture and International Law, then moved from sales, into marketing, stuck around in the escape room (and murder mystery) industry for a couple of years and now I’m here with GLITCHERS!

There are a lot of super cool and badass social media & community managers in the video games industry I’ve admired since way back when, so it’s thrilling to finally be here in the industry myself.

What kind of things do you get up to day to day at GLITCHERS?

My day starts off “seeing what’s going on in the world”, that involves: checking in on the GLITCHERS Discord, logging into all our social channels, seeing what’s trending, heck even reading the news!

From there most of my day is spent creating content – whether that’s emails, blog posts, editing videos, whipping up cool graphics in Photoshop, or writing copy. You name it! I also look after our support system, so creating new support articles, or helping folks with any questions or account recovery falls under my responsibility.

What is your favourite thing about working in the video games industry?

The atmosphere of fun! At the end of the day we’re all here to do one thing: make the world a more fun place through the power of play. If a game I’ve worked on, or helped market even makes one person happy it’s a massive success.

What have you accomplished recently that you’re proud of?

Can I say just making it through the pandemic? Because I think that’s something we should all be really proud of right now. Sure, I’ve also achieved a lot of nice things recently but even if all you did was wake up each morning that’s cool too and I love to celebrate that!

What is your most used emoji?

I’ve got two:

✌️✨

If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

I’d be an octopus! They’re super smart, solitary, and just all round awesome creatures! When I’m not at work, escape rooms are ‘my thing’ and octopuses are the OG escape artists – seriously, just look up “Octopus Escaping” on Youtube! You won’t be disappointed!!

What advice would you give a woman who aspires to enter the industry / your role?

Half the world’s gamers are women: be there and be present for them! Your involvement in a video game project, no matter how big or small is important because your experiences will be reflected in the finished project. Particularly in the Social Media / Community Management world, it’s important to check yourself, your biases and make sure there’s an equal platform for everyone, regardless of gender identity.

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This year’s International Women’s Day is focused on #ChooseToChallenge. If you want to find out more, check out the IWD homepage.