Chapter 1. Exploring Careers in the Digital Media Industries: The Internet, Digital Media, Social Media, and Digital Gaming

Introduction

Exploring Careers in the Digital Media Industries
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
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Activity Objective

Students will explore and learn more about career paths in the digital media industries.

Сlick the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides. Students must complete the slides in order.

Featured Jobs

The jobs highlighted below show just a small sample of the many opportunities available in the digital media industries. Many of the positions in these areas, such as social media specialist, app developer, and search engine optimization (SEO) manager, provide experience that can be carried to different industries. The job descriptions below are just examples. Use career search sites or company job opportunity pages to search for current listings in these fields.

Gaming Expert Job Description:

Major responsibilities include customer obsession, adaptability, drive for results, influencing for impact, and collaboration.

“Our Gaming Experts are passionate gaming evangelists and brand ambassadors, who are the face of [the company]. Through providing a level of gaming expertise and knowledge, our Gaming Experts help our customers to see what is possible with technology, ultimately empowering them to achieve more.”

Social Media Specialist Job Description:

Major responsibilities include responding to posted content, engaging with customers via social media channels, and monitoring social media channels to make sure all questions and concerns are answered accordingly.

“Social Media associate will own customer’s feedback and provide Noticeably Better Experience in their resolution. The associate will work closely with peers and leadership to provide a seamless resolution to every customer’s issue in a timely manner. This associate must be passionate about being part of a growing team with a household brand name.”

App Developer Job Description:

Major responsibilities include developing apps for use in planning, mapping, data collection, and more; understanding user requirements; working with design and development teams; and identifying issues and improving code quality.

“Work on the latest location-aware technology in a fast-paced, engaging environment and play a part in changing the way we work, live, and experience information. This is a great opportunity to design a next-gen Esri product on one of the most diverse and widely used platforms in the world. We strive to do meaningful work that helps entire industries and love working closely with a small team. If you are passionate about development, thrive in an entrepreneurial setting to explore new possibilities, and take pride in the quality and impact of your work, we’d love to hear from you!”

Marketing Manager, Gaming Job Description:

Major responsibilities include building quarterly integrated marketing plans, evaluating market trends, managing agency partners, leading campaign execution across channels, and synthesizing learnings into actionable insights.

“The Marketing Manager will be responsible for lower funnel marketing campaigns using various digital channels. He or she must have a strong understanding of the gaming developer audiences. This role requires the ability to collaborate with analysts, growth leads, and cross-functional marketing partners to develop, test, and optimize campaigns. The ideal candidate has a solid understanding of digital marketing, ad operations, CRM, and marketing measurement. This person will be asked to demonstrate thought-leadership, creative thinking, and the ability to work in a highly cross-functional environment.”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Manager Job Description:

Major responsibilities include implementing and developing a robust SEO strategy, conducting extensive research within the industry, liaising with several internal departments, defining KPIs and reporting on a weekly basis, evaluating and suggesting UX changes, and staying at the forefront of the industry ensuring best practice is always maintained.

“The SEO Manager will be responsible for the strategy, technical knowledge, execution, and analysis to improve inbound performance for the US & CA sites as priority, but will also support for all [company] websites. This role requires the manager to leverage creative and analytical skills to understand the customer, execute the SEO strategy, quickly iterate and optimize to drive growth and efficient performance. The SEO Manager will be a proactive communicator and an ambassador for SEO; educating key stakeholders of the importance of SEO, helping it to become ‘business as usual’ in all work.”

Tips from Industry Professionals

In today’s booming world of digital media, it is no surprise that the fields in these industries are a great place in which to start a media career. Here are some tips from professionals working in digital media:

On the Value of Coding

  • Games: “Should people learn to code? I think so! Even if you aren't planning on becoming a programmer, it really helps you get a feel and an appreciation for the medium you're working in—and will help you talk to your programmer teammates in the future.” —Lisa Brown, Designer, Insomniac Games
  • Web Design: “You'll want to learn HTML and know how to write it from scratch, not using Dreamweaver. And then the CSS — also learn how to write that from scratch. Certainly the Adobe Creative Suite is great, but for the most part it's really knowing how to write that stuff from scratch.” —Eric Bonzer, Web Designer, Spinutech

On Sharing Ideas

  • User Experience: “Share your idea with anyone who will listen. There is a temptation to keep it to yourself so no one will steal it. The truth is, finding someone with the time and money to do it better and faster than you is so rare, and the value of sharing your idea is so much more. I shared the idea when I first had it, and I felt validated and motivated to pursue it.” —Alexa Andrzejewski, Co-Founder of Foodspotting and Mobile Experience Director (User Experience [UX] Product Manager) at OpenTable

On Workplace Culture

  • Developer/Engineer: “I experienced far more discrimination and harassment in college than I did while working in AAA. So some of my advice would be don't let the unfriendliness of certain gamer cultures scare you away from the video game industry.” —Allison Salmon, Game Developer and Software Engineer, Learning Games Network

On Job Opportunities

  • Gaming: “You don't need to be a physicist or a mathematician to work in gaming. We need people across a whole broad range of careers. Things like sales, HR, design, artwork, drama students for motion capture. We need business analysts, people who are just really good at Facebook and YouTube. You need a huge range of people to make a game.” —James Schall, Senior Director, SEGA

Digital Media Resources

Reading about industries that interest you is a great way to learn more and to help narrow your career goals. The resources and event sites for the digital media industries listed below are a good place to start your research.

Digital Media (general)

International Digital Media and Arts Association (iDMAa): idmaa.org

iDMAa is committed to providing leadership, information, advocacy, recognition and networking opportunities to digital media and digital arts educators in the U.S. and around the world.”

Digital Media Association (DiMA): dima.org

DiMA is fighting to promote streaming innovation and investment policy that supports a growing digital media industry providing consumers with more choice and greater access.”

South by Southwest (SXSW): sxsw.com

“The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference & Festivals celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery.”

Gaming

International Game Developers Association (IGDA): igda.org

“The IGDA supports and empowers game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers.”

Entertainment Software Association (ESA): theesa.com

“The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet.”

Social Media

Social Media Association (SMA): socialmediaassoc.com

SMA brings together the media community both online and offline. Our members are forward-thinking people interested in business and media innovation. We are entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, influencers and strategic decision makers. Our goal is a non-competitive environment where we can learn, share and have fun together: informing, inspiring, and empowering business through social, digital, and future media.”

Social Media Week (SMW): socialmediaweek.org

“Social Media Week (SMW) is one of the world’s premier conferences and industry news platforms for professionals in media, marketing and technology. The mission is to give professionals at the intersection of media, marketing and technology the insights, ideas and opportunities they need to advance themselves and their organizations in a globally connected world.”

A Closer Look: Zuckerberg Tells Harvard Grads to Take on Big Projects

Watch the video, then use the text boxes below to answer the following questions.

Source: Bloomberg/BoClips

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