By: Charlie Ni
Electronic Arts is one of the most well-known game developers in the world, for many good reasons – these are the masterminds behind iconic titles such as FIFA, NHL, Mass Effect, and The Sims. Contrary to popular belief, amazing video games such as those do not magically appear at your local EB Games every time they are launched. These games, as I had come to learn, are carefully designed, conceptualized and built from hundreds upon thousands of computer codes, all thanks to unsung and hard working teams of game developers, artists and programmers through much sweat, tears and caffeine.
On Friday November 30th, 9 Rovers from the 180th Pacific Coast Scout Group were invited to attend a company tour at Electronic Arts’ Burnaby campus. This wonderful opportunity was possible because an advisor to our Crew currently works as an audio engineer, and has been for the past 5 years, at Electronic Arts Canada. He had graciously invited us to visit and tour the campus to catch a glimpse of how a very successful company operates. Our Scout group tries to organize things like company visits because it is a great learning experience for us to see what are some of the things companies are doing to become successful, and how we can implement them in our own group.
Describing our tour guide, Gordon Durity, using the adjective “experienced” is already putting it lightly. With over 25 years of experience in the multimedia industry, he is currently an Executive Audio Director for EA Sports. He has been with EA for 12 years and has worked in audio production in TV, films, and music for over 25 years. With his rich wealth of knowledge in the industry, Gordon led our Rovers through the Burnaby office. We were able to see all the amenities this office offers, including 2 in-house cafeterias, a full sized basketball court, a fitness center, sauna rooms, arcades, two auditoriums, an outdoor soccer pitch, an outdoor basketball court and an outdoor volleyball court.
In addition to all the great physical amenities, EA also places great emphasis on continual career growth. EA University is a department within the studio that offers courses from various domains to all employees. All staff are encouraged to take courses to further increase their knowledge on different subjects.
Apart from learning about how awesome the EA Campus is, the thing that struck me most was when Gordon mentioned that a career at EA is ultimately what every individual employee makes of it. While managers and supervisors will provide the tools to help you reach your goals, you must be proactive and look for opportunities to grow yourselves. This, he goes on to explain is really no different from any other work place. For me, I always had this idea that once you get a good job you would be set for life. But the reality is wherever you are, complacency will never get you to your potential, you must reach out and grab the precious opportunities that await you.