Games Careers Week launches March 26th to inspire diverse young people, parents and teachers to discover careers in games

26 March 2021 will see the launch of Games Careers Week, which will feature online events aimed at reaching millions of parents, learners, teachers and job-seekers.

Already existing events, such as as the Games Education Summit and Grads in Games Awards, will be joined by a number of new online events, such as Into Games Masterclasses, Microsoft’s DigiGirlz day, careers talks and other events from studios like Sumo Digital, Fabrik Games and Playground Games, events at universities like Staffordshire and Bournemouth, a new online careers fair, as well as an exhibition and career talks at the National Videogame Museum. 

The new event was created by Into Games, Grads in Games and the BGI, with support from Ukie, NextGen Skills Academy, TIGA and Gamesindustry.biz. Organisers are issuing an open call to industry and academia for careers events from games and educational organisations across the country and will run a town hall meeting on 28 January to share more about the Week and how to join in.

The Week’s goal is to inspire schoolchildren to choose and study the creative tech skills needed to thrive in the modern world. Parents will be encouraged to challenge gender stereotypes and guide children towards well-paid creative careers. Educators will be guided towards existing resources, accessible games tools so they can teach more STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) skills in classrooms. Job-seekers of all ages will find material to help them prepare to start, maintain and restart careers in games. Games studios will get resource packs to run events and work with schools and universities to share their career opportunities. 

“There’s such a rich diversity of games training and career programmes across the games industry, but it can be difficult for the public to find them” said Claire Boissiere, vice chair of the BGI. “This Games Careers Week will convene, signpost and promote all those amazing programmes to young people, parents, educators and anyone thinking of a change in career, so they’re easier to find and more accessible to people from any background in the UK”.

27 organisations are already involved, but the organisers hope that over 50 games organisations will support events across the country and online during the week, with a website – gamescareersweek.org – signposting careers information provided by the organisers and many others during the week and year round. The campaign is being supported by media company Shift6 and is funded by the BGI, IntoGames and Grads in Games.