A Look Back at Blizzard’s 2017 Internship Program…

User Interface is what players interact with on-screen in our games. As a UI engineer on the World of Warcraft team this summer, I’m in charge of implementation, but I also collaborate closely with our designers. The main challenge is to put yourself in the mindset of a new user. Being able to step back and consider your design implementation from a fresh perspective is key.

The UI team is made up of several people with a few engineers. The whole team ended up being my mentor!  I’ve been encouraged to seek feedback on my code and I love the people I work with. They understand the whole process and give me great guidance. I feel I can talk to anyone on my team, it’s like a little UI family.

Initially, my manager gave me small tasks, but soon trusted me enough to give me associate-to-mid-level projects. I can’t share what I ended up working on this summer, but players will see it one day! You do very real work. It’s amazing to know my work will be put into the game I’ve been playing nearly 12 years. It’s surreal to see your name in the game credits. I’m in the Hearthstone credits from when I was an intern for them last year!

Initially when I thought about Blizzard, I imagined everyone would be too smart and busy and wouldn’t want to talk or help an intern noob. But of course, you can talk to anyone, even Mike Morhaime!

I didn’t go to an Ivy League school, I don’t think you have to. When I discovered my passion for UI, I locked myself in my room and learned all I could. That’s the bigger difference. I think the people who are most successful are the ones who channel their passion into projects related to what they want to do for a living. Get involved. I volunteered teaching girls how to design and program video games.  Whether you volunteer time, get involved with your campus game club or whatever, it’s something to add to your resume. Also, be active in searching out opportunities. You must be the driving force in your career. Apply to a position you want when you see it. Even if you don’t get it, it’s all good experience.

It was a lot of fun this summer! We had great events, scavenger hunts, boat rides, outings designed to help us relax and network. We had things like movie night, a barbeque with a live band, and interactive lunch talks with leaders throughout the company. The program made sure we had time to get to know our fellow interns. We grew to be friends outside of work through the events. I can’t believe how many super awesome and passionate people I’ve met here so far. It can be difficult to find fellow gamers and people you really relate to, but at Blizzard I’ve found friends for life.

I’m stoked Blizzard is encouraging more female engineers to apply for internships. Last year I was the only female engineering intern, but this year there are a dozen! One of my roommates is a fellow female engineer and I love it!  If you like computers and technology, you should consider it. Computer Science isn’t easy, but if you’re into it I say go for it. The industry needs more women!

I love Blizzard culture! I bring my puppy, Rexxar, to work almost every day. People are happy here, and I see why folks tend to stay. As for myself, I graduate in December and I’m happy to say I’ve got a job offer from the World of Warcraft team. Apply for your internship and come work with me!

My internship this summer was as an Associate Program Manager for Blizzard’s Web & Mobile team. I helped manage day-to-day operations, facilitating meetings, documenting process, tracking sprint cycles…basically learning how to unblock road blocks. It’s my job to figure out who to talk to and work with outside my team, so I do a huge amount of networking and communication back and forth. The other side is more product management, and helping to come up with features for our millions of users. I’ve participated in ideation process for future features. Some of my work I can’t discuss, but I did some things on the BlizzCon app that I hope our fans get to experience soon!

My mentor was fantastic. He wanted to teach me the development cycle as much as possible in a 3-month internship.  My mentor turned out to be a huge safety net. At first I was afraid to make mistakes. I didn’t want to be the intern that messed everything up, you know? But my team did nothing but support and encourage me to take ownership and take risks. Blizzard is designed to be very collaborative, and an environment where even failing isn’t necessarily the worst thing. Everything is a learning experience, and they really want you to improve.

Networking was an important goal of mine this summer, and something I wanted to do with the short amount of time that I had. Over the last ten weeks I ended up having lunch with a different person every single day. I ended up networking with over 40 people throughout the company that way. Every single person found the time for me. It was so humbling. Having Blizzard employees and veterans who have been there for a number of years happy to take their time to invest in my growth was very impactful for me, not just professionally but personally. It speaks volumes across what Blizzard stands for, and how real their core values are.

I got to attend a company-wide off-site summit just for Program Managers, which was an awesome opportunity to hear from experienced people and to meet like-minded folks throughout Blizzard.

As the summer program, Camp Blizzard really helped me feel welcome and comfortable. They really do a great job of making you feel part of the larger intern family, and provide so many opportunities to hang out and become friends with one another even as we pursue our individual career goals. My favorite event of the summer was a tiki boat cruise where we got a chance to bond, chat up the University Relations team, and just enjoy Southern California. It was crazy – where else are you going to end up on a tiki boat cruise? Overall, there’s so many great events, and then there’s the swag! They give away so much loot, it’s incredible.

The Intern Expo wraps up the summer. It’s your time to show off to the company what you worked on and learned over the summer, as well as the impact you left at Blizzard. It’s like a huge, old-school science fair, we all build displays and everyone comes by and checks everything out. My whole team came by for support, and it was cool to see everyone attend. The other employees create such a welcoming environment and are really interested in what you accomplished. Blizzard embraces interns. It’s funny because I saw all these people I respect so much and here they are being impressed with what I’ve done; it was like the icing on the cake before you leave. And there’s nothing like seeing (company co-founder) Allen Adham just cruising around, chatting up interns, taking it all in!

(Impostor syndrome is a concept describing individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud.")

I think a lot of students look at Blizzard or any other AAA studio and think: That’s not me. I can’t do that. Imposter Syndrome, that feeling of self-doubt, that your skill-set isn’t up to par, can be crippling. It’s a real thing, and I wish people wouldn’t let it dictate their decisions. You can push past it, you really can. Don’t think you’re not ready if you match the job requirements. Find out. Apply. Worst case, learning to take feedback and learning from that process if you don’t get it will help in the long run. Don’t get down on yourself!

I have so many friends who are super talented but didn’t apply because they felt for sure there was no chance. If you’re going to try for something, really try for it. I spent hours on my submission, wanting to get everything as polished and organized as I could, and it paid off. So many people see this as some impossible thing. They read about it, think about it and dream, but they don’t actually apply and take that risk. Take it!