Employee Spotlight: Atul, Pixelberry Engineer

Welcome to the Pixelberry Employee Spotlight! One of the most rewarding parts of working at Pixelberry is reading messages from our players about how our stories have impacted your lives. We’d like to do this in reverse and share about how Pixelberry has shaped our lives, too.

Today, we'd like to introduce you to Atul, from the engineering team, who wants to both share his experiences at Pixelberry and highlight the current Covid crisis in India.  

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Atul! So how did you end up deciding to be an engineer?

Ever since high school, I knew I wanted to be in the gaming industry. I appreciated how intricately video games could tell a story while giving me the illusion of control. I was also good at programming, so it was a natural progression into a software engineer inside the gaming industry.

I tried different routes on the way here. I briefly thought about moving to a producer role or a network engineer role, but both of these were short-lived. I missed programming. I missed the ability to write code and see it create magic in front of my eyes.

Why did you choose to join the Pixelberry Team?

For me, it was the interview process and the people I talked with during the interview.

The CEO of my previous company introduced me to the Head of Engineering at Pixelberry Studios and he took it onto himself to guide me through the interview process. This was the first time that an executive was personally filtering candidates and I was hooked from the first phone call. 

The further I went into the process, the more I learned about Pixelberry as a company. I am a huge proponent of equality in the workplace and this place checked every box. There is a healthy mix of people from all walks of life. People on my future team had more years of work experience than my age. The company focused heavily on work-life balance. This was too good an opportunity for me to let go.

Pixelberry has given me the ability to learn and grow. I joined the team in January 2020 and my skills, both technical and interpersonal, have grown many-fold. My current manager is extremely empathetic and understanding. My team lead is probably three computers dressed in a trench-coat and the best developer I have ever known. I am really glad to be part of this team.

Do you have any recommendations for anyone who wants to get into this industry?

The journey is hard, but rewarding at the end. Seeing someone play a game I helped make is probably my biggest achievement. A lot of friends reached out to me to tell me how much they love playing Choices. All I could do was just sit there and smile and feel proud to be a part of this team.

To get your foot into the gaming industry, you need to understand games and not just play them. You need to understand what goes into creating them and what is fun. There are enough YouTube tutorials, like Brackeys and The Coding Train, to get your started. They make programming seem a lot of fun. Also, keep small targets. Don't take on massive projects that will take months or years to complete. Get rest. Software engineers in the gaming industry solve problems that are very different from the ones by software engineers in the tech industry. It is necessary to think out of the box. We need to make it work AND make it fun - tweaking every nook and corner until it comes out perfect.

If you are one of those people who don't think Yelp gives you enough filters and have created your own, consider joining the industry. If you replaced your refrigerator bulb with a multi-color one just for fun, consider joining.

You've talked with some of our Pixelberry team members about the current Covid crisis in India and how deeply it has been affecting you... Can you tell us more about this?

India is currently battling a second wave of Covid. It's way worse than what the media is portraying it to be. Between Covid and mass genocide of rival political party members, I have lost friends and family. While there's less we can do directly from other parts of the globe, please reach out to people you might know or consider giving to nonprofits who are helping those who are sick and dying.

India is battling a massive shortage of Oxygen, medical supplies and hospital beds. The entire medical infrastructure is spread thin. There was a case where an old man gave up his hospital bed for a stranger. He said that he had lived his life, but the stranger had kids and family to take care of. That old man died after 3 days in his house.

The government is overwhelmed. A lot of countries have come forward to help India in its hour of need by sending supplies. India is a country which has mostly been divided by religion, but it's impressive how people have come together to fight Covid. There are several NGOs offering free Oxygen cylinders, free food deliveries to Covid patients, welfare checks for the elderly, working with them until they can get proper care. There are even more individuals who are sharing resources, amplifying any leads they have on medicines, and donating their salaries.

There are a few organizations who are on the ground and helping people. Hemkunt Foundation, Khalsa Aid, DSGMC and others are helping Delhi, which was hit the hardest. If you feel led to give, here is a donation link.

Thank you again for sharing your story with us, Atul. Our hearts go out to your family and the people in India. To our Community, thank you for reading our first Employee Spotlight. Till next time!

<3 The Pixelberry Team