"Two out of six teams [from the courses] continue to develop commercial games independently," Wargaming said about its educational initiative

On October 13, the St. Petersburg division of Wargaming announced the second enrollment in the Wargaming Academy educational project. We talked to the company about this initiative.

The questions were answered by Anna Posazhennikova, HR Director of Wargaming St.Petersburg and head of the Wargaming Academy project.

Yesterday you announced the start of a new set in the St. Petersburg Wargaming Academy. Tell me, please, what kind of academy is this?

Anna Posazhennikova
The goals of the academy are the transfer of knowledge and skills from industry experts to students, mentoring.

For students, this is an opportunity to gain knowledge and practical experience in game development under the guidance of expert curators, which, if interests and opportunities coincide, will allow them to start developing games independently or as part of experienced teams.

For Wargaming, it is a confirmation of our expertise in creating games, the experience of knowledge transfer and acquaintance of young specialists with the company’s approaches to the development, analysis of effectiveness and promotion of game projects.

Recruitment is held for the second year in a row. How many applications were there last year, how many of them were approved and how many people completed the courses?

Last year, the announcement of the academy’s launch was more targeted than massive. Nevertheless, in two weeks we have received more than 200 applications. Approximately 90 applicants fulfilled the entrance requirements, of which, according to the results of personal meetings, 40 were selected as students of the academy.

It is well known that most of these training initiatives are, let’s say, recruiting activity. How many students of the courses stayed in Wargaming last year?

We did not make plans to attract listeners to work in the company. In terms of recruiting, the goals were rather informational: to give students information about Wargaming’s approaches to game development, to declare themselves as industry experts. Based on the results of the training, we left the possibility of an internship for the three best students if there was an internship program suitable for their interests and competencies (for example, we have internship projects for testing specialists, 3D artists, programmers). As a result, three young specialists became employees of the company. At the same time, we invited one of the participants to work at the stage of selection for the program, because her training was above the level of a novice specialist, she had a good technical portfolio and experience that met the requirements of one of the vacancies open at that time at Wargaming St. Petersburg.

Who and where could get a job after the courses (or even launch their own project), not counting those who stayed with you?

As far as we know, the guys were invited to interviews with companies developing games in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Many of these interviews were successful. And two of the six teams formed in the Wargaming Academy continue to independently develop commercial gaming projects.

Who will you look at when choosing listeners in the first place?

The selection criteria for the program are motivation to study, interest in creating games and having ideas for development. We also try to find a group of listeners who are approximately equal in terms of knowledge about game development, with good growth potential and ready to communicate openly and work together.

When will the classes themselves begin?

We plan to hold the first introductory lesson at the end of October, and direct practice and theoretical lectures with the division of students into teams and the assignment of expert mentors to teams will begin on November 1, 2016.

How long will the classes last and in what format will they take place?

The course will last from November 2016 to May 2017. Classes are held twice a week on the basis of our studio, in the evenings from 18:30. As a rule, one theoretical lesson and one seminar are held every week. All work on projects is carried out in teams independently, the results are presented to mentors, the schedule of communication with whom is determined by the team itself.

Are you planning to open a full-fledged training unit that will train personnel on an ongoing basis?

There are no such plans yet. To launch such a project, large time and human resources and a slightly different expertise are needed.

Thanks for the interview!