Creating the Future of the Player Experience
Rockstar Games' Amanda Crane on the Technical and Team Skills Needed to Succeed
When you get your friends together, you probably think about how to create a community that everyone can enjoy.
That's exactly what Amanda Crane does every day at work—only she does it for 100,000,000 people, all at the same time.
As the Associate Director of Social Club Development at video game developer Rockstar Games, Amanda's role includes developing the Rockstar Games Social Club website, where players of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, and other Rockstar titles can earn bonuses, connect with other players to join "crews" and play together, and track performance.
"Gaming is commonly portrayed as an isolated individual pursuit, but that cannot be further from the truth," says Amanda. "The applications we build are focused on making gaming a truly socially inclusive activity, and the art of creating our games and all the infrastructure required to support them is highly collaborative."
We sat down with Amanda to learn more about her path into gaming, how her team does their work, and what kind of people she's looking to hire.
London to Edinburgh to New York: leaning into love for development and travel
As a resident of New York City and a student of archaeology, Amanda can, in normal times, be found spending weekends wandering around all of the art and history museums the city has to offer. Her passion for art has always been a part of her life, though her first jobs in software didn't quite highlight it.
She started her career in London, writing accounting software and developing a range of coding skills, then worked freelance for a while and relocated to Edinburgh for a long-term project with a global energy company. She worked on designing, building, and managing an online system that enabled remote engineers to share their knowledge—and gained experience that she uses daily in her current role at Rockstar.
Amanda knew she was ready for her next career move to involve more art and creativity and had been thinking about Rockstar for a while. "I was familiar with Rockstar's games and really appreciated their artistry and just knew that was where I wanted to be," says Amanda.
Amanda applied for a role at Rockstar and was offered a position on the Social Club team, based in New York City, where she could use her experience with web technologies and help grow Social Club from a social platform to a cutting-edge way to manage and improve player interactions with Rockstar's online services.
And that's exactly what she's spent the last ten years doing.
Driving engagement requires collaboration
Along with running the development of the Social Club, Amanda partners with all of Rockstar's business departments to realize their goal of providing a reliable, engaging, and safe online community to their entire player base. That requires her to collaborate on company-wide processes, especially with Rockstar's Player Insight and Analytics, Online Operations, and Marketing teams.
"There are so many opportunities for working with different people, technologies, and applications," says Amanda. "Rockstar encourages collaboration across teams and studios, everyone is super passionate about the product and works really hard to ensure every detail of what we produce is top quality. Passion, collaboration, and love for the product really is at the heart of all we do."
She also oversees a team of nine developers who report directly to her. She makes sure they're getting the training and development they need to be successful at Rockstar and over the course of their careers, and that the environment they're working in is a positive one.
"We need to ensure our environment is able to evolve constantly, but we also need to keep it safe and inclusive," says Amanda.
What you need to succeed on Rockstar's Social Club team
Rockstar is constantly on the lookout for new hires for the Social Club, so if being a part of creating a safe, engaging community for other game lovers sounds like something of interest, take notes on what they are looking for:
Technical skills needed:
- Front end web development (with strong UI/UX skills)
- JavaScript/React development.
- .NET development
- Database development (including SQL)
- Build and Release engineering
- Test Automation engineering
Soft skills needed:
- Collaboration. "Our team spans multiple time-zones so a lot of that collaboration occurs remotely. This can bring unique challenges and requires a highly communicative and collaborative nature," says Amanda.
- A flexible approach. "New projects can often be presented to our team in early stages of design and frequently require research into new technologies/methodologies and lots of discussion, documentation and planning before development work can begin," she adds.
- A growth mindset. "Demonstrating that you have a passion for technology and continued learning is important," says Amanda.
Experience preferred:
- Developing websites with a strong design emphasis, strong security protocols, and a high concurrency rate in order to create the best possible user experience of public-facing applications
- Working directly with product owners and end users and communicating across different audiences
- An appreciation and understanding of the factors that can impact performance, much like data manipulation and presentation in the financial sector ("it's a close parallel to much of the work," explains Amanda, "especially that which involves the analysis of game telemetry")
4 tips to stand out in a technical Rockstar interview
Whether you've long dreamed of a career at Rockstar or Amanda's story has convinced you to apply, keep these tips of hers in mind as you go through the interview process:
- You don't have to be a huge gamer, but make sure you do your research. "[Get some] insight into the wide technological infrastructure supporting online games, and the many roles available beyond actual game development," says Amanda—which would include roles on her team! "It also helps to invest the time to familiarize yourself with our online games and the Social Club platform. I love when people I'm interviewing make a reference to a feature on the Social Club website and can discuss it in the context of their own experience."
- Connect the gaming industry to other tech sectors. Many of the technical difficulties faced in gaming are found in other places, like an awareness and vigilance of around security, performance, and maintaining the infrastructure behind tens of millions of user accounts. Highlight your understanding of those problems, even if you haven't come across them in a gaming scenario, says Amanda.
- Show your work. Amanda loves to see candidates that keep up to date with recent frameworks and innovations on their own time. "If you can demonstrate with a personal project that you have familiarity with the latest frameworks, that goes some way to inform us that you are passionate about technology," she says.
- Give credit to your team. Being a geographically dispersed team, Rockstar relies on collaboration to succeed. "We need to be open with our ideas, share them across the teams, be able to communicate ideas to non-technical stake-holders, and mentor other members of the team to help them fully understand what we are doing and, just as importantly, why," says Amanda. "What I love during interviews is when people emphasize the team aspect of their successes, and even when talking about failed team projects, are able to communicate lessons learned and how those were applied to subsequent successful team projects."
Ready to apply?
Ready to become part of the future of gaming communities?
"A career in the gaming industry is a fantastic opportunity for anyone with a desire to work within a highly collaborative and communicative environment, on products that embrace social inclusiveness," says Amanda.
If that sounds like something that interests you, check out Rockstar's open roles!
The 4-Day Work Week and Other Employee Retention Strategies You Haven’t Tried Yet
In the “Great Resignation,” an estimated 47 million employees (and counting) voluntarily quit their jobs. The job market still hasn’t recovered from the unprecedented “quit rate” of 3.3% at the Great Resignation’s peak. Now, about 50% of the workforce are “quiet quitters” according to a Gallup poll — meaning, half of workers are disengaged at work and do only the minimum required of their job.
Having engaged talent is a competitive advantage for companies in today’s work environment. Replacing an employee who’s handed in their two-weeks notice can, after all, cost your company 21% of the employee’s annual salary. Employee retention strategies — ones that go beyond a box of donuts in the breakroom — are key to keeping workers engaged in the workplace. But given that overly played-out retention tactics can be ineffective at best and make your company look insincere at worst, it’s important to prioritize the right strategies. To that end, let’s go over some new and improved employee retention strategies that you may not have tried yet.
In this article, you'll find:
- Why employee retention strategies fail
- The best employee retention strategies
- Your employee retention strategy is your DEI initiative
Why employee retention strategies fail
There are plenty of employee retention strategy examples out there, but efforts can fall short. For your employee retention strategies project to be successful, you need to avoid these four common pitfalls.
1. Not delivering on promises. If you say you’re going to do something, follow up on it. Consistency is key to building employee retention strategies. Don’t ask employees to be honest about how they're feeling at work and then ignore their input. Or worse, promise big reform and fall short with token changes.
2. No trust. Studies indicate that “quiet quitting” is largely due to the relationship between employee and boss. Managers need the time, skills, and training to build solid relationships with staff. There are resource forums for people leaders to share ideas. Using tried-and-true best practices is the best strategy to build trust.
3. Siloed initiatives. Employee retention strategies can’t just live in HR. The moment they become siloed within one department or position, they fail. Employee retention strategies need to be a priority in every department and at every level.
4. No resources. Employee retention strategies need resources. To put it plainly, unfunded initiatives don’t work. Employees should be compensated for extra work such as sitting on an employee retention committee or putting together a workplace social. Likewise, pay raises and compensation should be a central part of the conversation. Remember, one of the main issues for quiet quitters is doing extra work for no extra pay.
The best employee retention strategies for 2022
With the don’ts out of the way, let’s move on to the best employee retention strategies you can start implementing today.
Listen to your employees
Well-run companies spend time and effort collecting feedback and customer satisfaction information. But what about employees? Managers need to ask, “how’s my driving?” Having data is critical to understanding how your employees are affected and making the necessary changes in order for employee retention strategies to take off. Send out an anonymous workplace survey asking about stress levels, feelings of creativity, people’s sense of inclusion, and how connected they are with their managers. If you’re not sure what to measure, start with a couple in-depth interviews. See what people want to talk about. The responses in the interviews will give you the basis for your wider survey.
Be transparent
If you ask your employees to be honest in giving feedback, management needs to be honest and transparent too. Acknowledge publicly the challenges the company faces based on what your employees have told you. This is the first step in accountability. Be transparent about compensation, pay raises, and benefits. Did you realize it is perfectly legal for employees to openly discuss compensation? This traditional taboo is becoming a common water cooler conversation. Social media is informing workers how to advocate for themselves. Meet them where they are. Actions speak louder than words.
Recognize and reward people, not just numbers
Over 1 in 5 employees does not feel valued at work. Feeling valued means knowing that your work is worthwhile and desirable. Watching the same sales people get rewarded for hitting their numbers again and again can be demoralizing for those who go comparatively unrecognized. Know your team and what they’re working on. Openly celebrate different kinds of triumphs, big and small, and be specific when you do. Helping people feel seen takes more than a generic “good job.”
Be flexible about work
Rethink how, where, and how long we do work. Research shows that 52% of workers prefer a hybrid remote-office work model. Employees even prefer it over a 10% pay raise. Employers must respond to this need as part of honing effective employee retention strategies.
And, as far as flexibility goes, time ownership is a massive benefit to offer employees — including by enabling them to work fewer days. Iceland is a leader in experimenting with the 4-day work week. Icelandic companies found it reduced burnout while improving work-life balance. Consider flexible arrangements that have proven results like these. Imagine how teams can be ambassadors for the company when they enjoy a new normal.
Facillitate growth
Employees that can’t see a clear career path within their company will look elsewhere to grow. The longer an employee stagnates in a position, the more their likelihood of leaving increases. Managers need to regularly work with each employee to envision their growth. Movement can be within their same position or laterally, as well. Give employees a discretionary budget for ongoing education and skills enhancement. Encourage projects and rotations with different departments to learn new skills.
Dust off that DEIB initiative
The best employee retention strategies are ones that are formed through a DEIB lens. DEIB strategies can be innovative for employee retention, as they (should) focus on all the things that make everyone supported, safe, and valued in the workplace. DEIB is, after all, not about making special accommodations for marginalized people; it’s about making the workplace better for everyone.
Your best employee retention strategy is a strategic DEIB initiative
DEIB initiatives make apt springboards for a number of successful employee retention strategies by listening to talent, creating custom work environments, and making employees across identities feel valued. Focus your efforts on DEIB, and employee retention will be one of many positive outcomes. PowerToFly has expert DEIB consultants that can help you jump start your DEIB-informed employee retention plan.Tips Every Customer Success Manager In The SaaS Industry Should Know
💎 Want to thrive as a customer success manager? Watch the video to the end to get some advice on how to do it.
📼Every customer success team has to follow some steps to achieve efficiency. Play this video to get three top tips that every manager in the SaaS industry should keep in mind. You'll hear from Miki Lager, Director of Customer Success at Tackle, who shares her own experience and knowledge.
📼 Customer familiarity for success. Tip #1: Know your customer. Understand their business. There are three steps in knowing how to navigate that. First, don't make it so operational. Build a true relationship with the client. Understand who are their competitors, what are the challenges they're facing, what's their true mission at heart, and how are they hoping to achieve that. Next, truly understand who the core team is that you should be working with. And finally, make sure to understand their key strategic and revenue goals.
📼Achieve customer success by delegating. Tip #2: Co-manage your customer. Not one person owns the client relationship at your company. Lead with others. Make sure to bring other stakeholders in, so that you can make sure the customer is on their path to success and that they can scale with your business solution. Team up with sales. Build a really strong relationship with your support team. Partner with the product team. The customer needs to understand where your business is headed in the future quarters so that they can plan accordingly, but also for your product team to then understand where the customer's product roadmap is headed, so you can align on strategy and best practices for that customer.
Customer Roadmap To Success - Tip #3: Define A Customer Journey
Have a defined customer journey. If the customer doesn't know where they're heading, it's going to cause some problems. Give them a clear roadmap to success. You can always adjust milestones as needed, based on different goals and different initiatives that you're working on with them. Once you have the customer journey defined, you can figure out which milestones align with the growth strategy the customer has in mind.
📨 Are you interested in joining Tackle? They have open positions! To learn more, click here.
Get to Know Miki Lager
She’s passionate about building client success teams for rapidly growing SaaS organizations. She’s been a leader at small to medium-sized companies, supporting the life cycle of startups through acquisition, and integration. If you are interested in a career at Tackle, you can connect with Miki on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to mention this video!
More About Tackle
Tackle enables software companies to accelerate and operationalize the use of Cloud Marketplaces like AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, and Red Hat, without the need for significant engineering resources. Their platform and team come together to make it easier for customers to build, grow, and scale their Marketplace businesses. Tackle was born and built as a remote organization and welcomes others who believe remote companies are the way companies will be built into the future. They believe that everyone has an opportunity to learn and grow in their community.
Nestlé Supply Chain Virtual Recruiting Info Session
Nestlé would like to invite you to their Supply Chain virtual recruiting info session on September 29th from 4-5PM EST. Sign up for this event with leaders from our Supply Chain team to get an insider’s view on what it’s like to work at one of Gartner’s top-ranked supply chains for 2022 and the world’s largest food and beverage organization!
Register here!
NGA's Nazanin Brown on Being a Full-Time Working Mom
To say that Nazanin (Nazy) Brown and her family lead active lives is a bit of an understatement.
“We've got four young children and all of them are in multiple sports throughout the school year, as well as the summer,” she explains. “My husband and I are both coaches, so a lot of our time goes from work to home, out to the field to coach or watch games, and then back home for showers, dinner, and bed.”
With an always-on-the-go home life, it was important to Nazy to have a career that is stimulating but also allows her to be present in the lives of her children.
We sat down with Nazy to learn how she has mastered work-life balance as a Contracting Officer within the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency while she keeps her busy household running smoothly.
From Crime TV Fan to Special Agent
At a young age, Nazy loved crime TV shows, which influenced her choice to study forensic psychology. She went on to earn a master’s degree in the subject, where she got some exposure to federal government agencies.
“During my master's degree, we had a lot of recruiters come to our program,” she recounts. “One of the recruiters from an intelligence agency told us that they often hired people from our program as special agents.”
Nazy is also fluent in Farsi, and in addition to her choice of master's program, this made her an ideal candidate for many agencies.
“I began interviewing for special agent roles based on my Farsi skills,” she reveals. “I got a few job offers, and I landed a job as an entry-level contract specialist in the private sector.”
Working for a government contractor, Nazy quickly advanced in her career and eventually became a Senior Contracting Negotiator for Lockheed Martin — and she was loving it.
“I just really liked it and thought it was a great field to be in,” she says.
And while her career advanced, so did her personal life. She became a young mother with increasing responsibilities at home, which led her to be more mindful of where she was dedicating her time.
“At that point, I was putting in so many hours — it's not a 40-hour work week,” she admits. “It wasn't uncommon for me to sometimes work weekends, especially during proposal season.”
As Nazy continued to pile on the overtime, she saw that she wasn’t able to be the mom she wanted to be.
“I wanted to be able to cut work off when I'm at home,” she recalls. “I didn't want to be that mom that comes home and is on her laptop. This was when I realized that having a job that is strictly limited to just 40 hours a week would be best for our family.”
A Parent-Compatible Workplace
Through friends, Nazy learned more about working in the public service and realized that not only would she not have to work overtime, but it would also allow her to work close to her children.
“Many agencies have onsite daycares,” she notes. “I knew that would help so much with commuting and my stress level, as well as the cost. That was my number one reason to jump into the federal government.”
So, Nazy applied for a role that looked interesting and soon found herself working as a Contract Specialist in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The onsite daycare took in her oldest, who was then a toddler, and promised a spot to her second child, who was on the way.
“Having my children onsite with me instead of having to drop them off in another part of the city before work every day pretty much changed my entire life,” she reflects.
With her childcare issues solved and a manageable number of working hours, Nazy was able to focus more on her career development and explore her options. It was her husband, who works in the Intelligence Community (IC), who convinced her to consider switching to intelligence.
“My husband told me that the IC is just a different animal, and he was right. The contracting is different. The mission is amazing. So I decided to look into the IC,” she says.
Applying for roles in the IC required her to rework her entire application package, but her preparation paid off when she landed a role as a Contracting Officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
“Since I've come to the IC, I've been able to broaden my skills,'' remarks Nazy. “It's an entirely different contract writing system, and the IC’s mission and impact are far greater in size and scope, which has really expanded my knowledge. I've learned so much in the three years that I've been here,” she says.
The Secrets to Work-Life Balance for Working Parents
Over the past two and a half years, working from home became the norm for some parents. For Nazy, this was not an option because of the sensitive nature of the data she handles at NGA — and she actually prefers it this way.
“I like the fact that I can get my work done without interruptions from my kids. And when I go home, I take my lanyard off, hang it up, and I go right into mom mode,” she says.
For other parents looking to have this same work-life balance, Nazy offers the following tips:
- Look for jobs with short commutes. Commuting to work for an hour each way might not seem like a lot in the beginning, but over time it can take a toll”, Nazy warns. “Try to get everything set up in your local area as close as you can. In an online job search, set the parameters to five or ten miles from home, max.”
- Find an organization that offers practical support to working parents. “I don't think a lot of people realize that many government agencies offer onsite childcare,” she shares. “I've had four young children who all went through them and I have nothing but good things to say about them. So consider an employer that offers this, instead of the commercial child care centers, which are double the price.”
- Have food prep on point. Between work and her children’s sports activities, Nazy can’t cook something from scratch every night of the week. “I start the week on prepped meals. By Thursday, we're finishing everything that’s in the fridge, and then on Friday we order something or go out to eat,”
- Take advantage of employer wellness offerings. “You need to take care of yourself as a mom, '' she advises. “NGA gives us three hours a week for physical fitness training, pilates, or yoga classes, which are all provided at work. Taking advantage of that during the work day is so much easier than trying to work out at home.”
