We asked Daisy what she learnt during her placement, Daisy said “I gained insight into the various roles at PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment, including Localisation, QA Testing, and Project Management. I learnt how to efficiently test games, identify different types of bugs, and find incorrect uses of Sony’s designs (Images of controllers with the trademark removed). I developed an understanding of project management methodologies, where we were put into teams and used the waterfall layout for managing tasks in a robotics club start-up project.”

Lily expressed “I learned what life in the industry looks like and that there are many job opportunities in tech that I would enjoy doing.”

Laiken said “I learned a lot of valuable information about the different departments in their office. We visited each department for a talk on their team, how they got there and what processes they are part of in PlayStation. Most departments had a task relating to their work for us to complete, for example in project management, we attempted to create spreadsheets managing what tasks were complete.”

We asked Daisy what activities they participated in during their placement “We conducted a research task to analyse competitors, similar to how the PlayStation marketing team operates. In 4 groups of 2, we assembled some old PCs by connecting components like the disk drive, hard drive, and RAM with minimal instructions. We also tested games to identify bugs and participated in a project management exercise, where we planned the launch of a pizzeria business in 2 teams of four.”

Lily expressed “We listened to different workers from different sections of the company. We also did some practical tasks like putting together a PC and game texting.”

Laiken shared “Most departments had a task relating to their work for us to complete, for example in project management we attempted to create spreadsheets managing what tasks were complete.”

In regards to what our students enjoyed the most, Daisy highlighted “I enjoyed having a tour around the server room, learning about the career journeys of the staff, and testing pre-released games such as Project Cars and Minecraft, which were in their early, buggy stages. It was also great to collaborate and connect with others on the work experience programme.”

Lily expressed “I enjoyed getting to talk to people in the industry so I could figure out what section I would like to go into and how to prepare myself for that role.”

In terms of how it has prepared our students for the jobs of tomorrow, Laiken shared “This has prepared me for the future by making me aware of the different job roles in the games industry. It has definitely motivated me to keep working hard so that I can work for PlayStation in the future on their XDev team.” Laiken said “My favourite task was when we spent the whole day with the Certifications Operations team, and tested a lot of old bugs on games that have already been released. It was really interesting to see the process the games had to go through before they could be certified and approved for release. My favourite department that we visited was XDev, or external development, who help smaller studios release their games on PlayStation.”

In terms of how their work experience at SONY PlayStation has prepared them for the jobs of tomorrow, Daisy said “This experience has given me a comprehensive view of the career paths available at PlayStation, including roles in software development, IT, and game testing. I now have a better understanding of the work environment and the skills required to work in the gaming industry.” Lily noted “It’s helped me understand that there are many jobs out there that I wasn’t aware of before that I would enjoy doing. Specifically, the software engineering and game testing sections.” Laiken expressed “It has prepared me for the future by making me aware of the different job roles in the games industry that I was not aware existed. It has definitely motivated me to keep working hard so that I can work for PlayStation in the future on their XDev team.”

A huge congratulations to our students on their achievement!