dzareth

I wasn't in the industry. I've answered this more in other questions and I'm running out of time today! Thanks for asking the question, and good luck in following the dream.

I worked at McKinsey so I can speak directly to that!

I loved working at the firm--ultimately I was tired of travel and realized that if I didn't try to follow my childhood dream of making games I'd probably look back and regret it.

Consulting is great: a lot of difficult and varied challenges, but high-pressure environment which I really learned a lot from. There's a lot of variance in the work: I worked in strategy, operations, marketing, sales, insurance, banking, mining, logistics, grocery, retail, high tech.

... but here's the thing: making video games is so much more meaningful to me. It's as cross-functional, but it's in an industry that I fundamentally enjoy. The hours are more sustainable, and there is no required travel (in my role).

I studied computer science in undergrad and an MBA later on. I work across actual financials: revenues and costs, economic profit, telemetry and research findings, etc. I am more focused on the recommendation and I think about the right tool for the job.

Keep an eye out for roles, I think there are definitely roles for people with a solid accounting background. Careers website might list them all.

My hiring decision was based on my professional qualifications for the role, and today when I make hiring decisions that's my only factor. The exception would be for certain jobs where there is a specific business need for gameplay knowledge (such as the "balance team"). Of course, most people are highly passionate gamers at Riot.

There is an internship program but it doesn't always have all the roles, also keep an eye out for the "associate" or "entry" level roles. I can't answer anything specific here, but check our careers site is my best advice.

I encourage people to do their best in their grades and to be showing impact and leadership. Aim high and get the best job you can, and that is great for you until you land your dream role in the industry.

My background before Riot was at McKinsey, and I work with colleagues who were at one of the big-4s... so work hard, learn as much as you can and keep your focus on delivering value for your clients!

Yes, we also want League to grow and I'm glad you share our goal. Most of League's most successful growth comes from players telling their friends!

We think a lot about how to encourage interest in the right types of players and in a way which is cost effective too. Over time we are experimenting with different channels. Some channels create a lot of interest, but with players that might not actually want to play League... I think the esports might see us become more and more mainstream, and when K/DA came out the overall interest was much broader than League players.

Hey, and one great bit of news: League is continuing to grow, it's a great time to be playing.

I love operations, I had a tonne of enjoyment working on operational efficiency projects in a past set of work experiences.

Depending on what set of skills you have it might apply more to a "dev manager" role--assuming you've got some agile/lean background.

We think about business unit (mostly game) and corporate (company) strategy, or corporate development (like m&a, etc.). We occasionally have internships, keep an eye out.

I think there are many backgrounds, mine was from a management consultancy, but some might come from a corporate strategy team or investment banking, etc. There are a lot of different paths.

I think that people who are committed to great work increase their chances. Get a repo on github, share your projects and models. Solve interesting problems, and basically have fun building models and discovering things.

In terms of how you do what I'm doing today, I spend a lot of my time managing the managers of the people who are doing the core craft work. Management is a completely different skill to doing craft, and I think it's never too early to start thinking about how to help people grow and advance in their careers, but it requires you to also understand their craft.

Follow that dream, and I wish you success.

I can answer the data question: we're looking for knowledge of statistics and logical thinking, SQL, Python if you're an analyst. Data engineering is more Java, data modelling, computer science. Check the career website for more details. Apart from technical skill, analysts are embedded on product teams, and I like to tell my organization "you are game developers first, and second"--or in other words, you exist to make the game of League of Legends better for players, not to make cool decks or fancy spreadsheets.

Depending on what sort of operations... certain types of operations might be more aligned with the "Dev. manager" roles...

Hi /u/JA_JA_SCHNITZEL love the questions. Thanks for following it.

We look at revenue-related metrics for sure these are a part of our strategic plan and an important part to managing our operations. But it is not the reason why we exist or our central focus: instead we might focus on numbers of players, player satisfaction, League's new player retention, game hour per account trends, etc. In short the types of metrics that help us to understand player health.

Regarding markets, we're aiming to be the most player focused game company around, and that means for players globally. During our 10th year anniversary we announced that we're adding support for Arabic, for example. League's already a very global game. Apart from geography, I think some of our future titles are aiming to serve the n...

It's all good at bilgewater, I'm a massive coffee afficionado and they make some great espresso. Caffeine somehow has no impact on me, I enjoy the flavor and experience.

There are many backgrounds into Riot, and it depends on the career and leveling--keep an eye out for finance and also analytics roles. Generally speaking my advice is to just do the best you can in your degree and in your work: get great grades, be involved in clubs, network and get to know people.

Before Riot I worked at McKinsey & Company, a consultancy that works for challenging projects for businesses and government. I had been there for about 5 years, and figured that I wanted to pursue my lifelong passion for games. I'm grateful that Riot is the type of company that values broader experience, not just games industry experiences...

/u/mombawamba It depends on how little your interest in statistics is! I find that our analytics and data scientists are pretty statistically savvy, even the folks with a physics or math background. (I've heard them say a similar line).

There are definitely roles for people with your background, look at analytics jobs. It's likely to have SQL, python, requirements.

I joined from a non-gaming background, so keep looking!

Hi /u/olasbondolas, thanks for asking. Economic sustainability philosophy stuff was written about in this article... it covers a lot of the bases.

But, my quick response here is that we think about our revenue as a second-order impact of satisfied players, who have things that they are happy to purchase. If we have a healthy game with happy players and if we understand what those players need the revenue is going to be great. We're involved in the entire process from conception through to assessment of whether we nee...

Hi u/ravenhusky!

Firstly congratulations on finding a career pathway that excites you! Honestly, all sorts of roles open up time-to-time, so closer to the degree ending time check out our careers website and potentially there will be a great fit at that time.

I'm working more in the area related to strategic finance, or in other words finance on products to help ensure that we're running responsibly. There are also corporate level teams that focus on accounting, tax, treasury, purchasing, procurement, fin-ops, ... you know the whole line of finance roles. So the day in the life will be pretty different.

Strategic finance on League is about partnering with teams to help make sure they are making great decisions. Let's say that we're working with a vendor to help us with some cinematics, ...

Welcome to League!

Thank you for this mastapiece

I came here for this!

Love the Witcher so much, congrats!

The people in that group liked that name. It's not for you, that's fine. It's not even for me or anyone outside of that group. It's something positive for that Rioter group, why does it matter so much to you?