What graduates do

It’s not all investment bankers, programming and call centres. It’s a rich and varied job market out there as these three graduates’ careers show.

Computer games artist

Adam Hill, 29, is a 3D artist at Argonaut games and has worked on Harry Potter 1 and 2, Alien Resurrection and Emperor’s New Groove to name a few.

‘I left university with a degree in physics which didn’t prove useful, then went on the dole and started doing a bit of computer-aided design for my father. I saw Virtual Fighter, the first 3D fighting game, and thought “I could do that”. So I got hold of the relevant software and taught myself, and it took me about a year from getting into it to getting my first job in computer game design.’

Having no degree or industry standard training specific to game design hasn’t held Adam back. ‘It’s just a matter of being able to do the job, really,’ he says. ‘A lot of people here have arty qualifications but nothing specific to computer arts. Some of the people have been in the business for years and years from Spectrum and Amiga days and have developed a pedigree through doing that.’

Adam built Hogwarts Castle, for Harry Potter 2. ‘We primarily used 3DSMax and Photoshop,’ he says. ‘It’s basically glorified Lego. I built pieces that stick together and constructed the entire castle out of various chunks. I also designed a few characters - Prof. Snape (Alan Rickman) and Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane).’

Adam is on around £30K and gets regular bonuses and occasional royalty cheques. Describing the ups and downs of the job, he says: ‘It’s great fun and I love the constant flow of work when you’re busy. The downs are typical standard office politics that are part of every office job.’

If you fancy it, Adam says you need ‘good 3D awareness, good art skills and you must have a technical approach to work.’

Entertainment management

Throwing parties for a living may be the ultimate in mixing business with pleasure but is it all champagne and canapés? Penny Cork, 26, works for a London-based entertainment company which supplies acts, artists and entertainers for corporate events. While her role is varied, her main responsibility, she says, ‘is to get more work. Basically it’s to take over the world and for every single company to use us for entertainment.’

Penny organises a marketing budget for exhibitions, promotional material and PR. ‘The other side of my role is to look after my core clients and I’ll arrange their events from start to finish. There’s also a creative element to it when we have to come up with weird and wacky ideas for bespoke entertainment,’ she says.

‘You must be organised. You need to have a keen eye for detail and you have to be meticulous to make sure that everything needed for an act is booked, arranged and up to scratch. You also have to be good at extracting information from the client to get exactly what they’re looking for. You have to be enthusiastic and prepared to work long hours.’

Penny has helped produce some amazing events, from three-day shows in Berlin to entertaining 2,500 people in venues like the Natural History Museum at a cost of £15K and from organising national DJ competitions to Ian Brown gigs. Which she describes as ‘looking after him for the night and making sure everything on his rider is there and making sure he’s happy and everything’s running smoothly. Which is pretty rock ’n’ roll.’

Broadcaster

Speaking to an audience of thousands throughout the day can be an exciting or terrifying prospect, depending on your outlook. Chris King, who combines the work of newsreader, producer and music presenter at Silk FM radio, definitely takes the positive view. ‘It’s the biggest buzz that anybody can get,’ he says.

Chris’s career has progressed rapidly since he finished his Communication Studies BA at Glamorgan University a year ago. At that point he contacted local radio stations in his home county of Cheshire, offering his services supported by plenty of radio work experience from his student days.

The only reply came back from Silk FM, the station based around Macclesfield, and there was a snag; like many starting out in radio, Chris was going to be on the air and living on air. ‘They said come along, we can’t pay you but we’ll train you up and let you get a bit of experience,’ he recalls.

‘I read the news, create the news, do interviews. I love it. You feel like you’re making a difference,’ Chris says, speaking immediately after interviewing Agriculture Minister Alun Michael for the station.

After his working day has ended, Chris continues to address his audience with the help of recording technology. ‘I present the evening show as well – it’s multitasking. I play chart hits and oldies,’ he explains.

In due course, Chris will be looking for upward moves - ‘you have to in this business’ - but Silk FM has provided the first, enjoyable step in his career. ‘You do have to be in the right place at the right time, but when you do get in there, it’s well worth it,’ he says.

Further information

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