Microsoft Reactor

Arrrrrrr, ye swarthy land lubbers. Come set sail with your pirate captain, the Dread Pirate Jim and his pirate crew as we set sail on the seven seas to find the finest treasure in the land – knowledge!

In this series our trusty pirates set sail on the Sea of Thieves, and share their galleon with a range of special guests from across the tech industry. Each episode will mix sharing tales of tech quests large and small to pass the time whilst we sail, with intense piratical action as we try to claim treasure. This is the only series from the Microsoft Reactor where you can both learn how folks have achieved greatness in their fields, whilst watching how good or terrible they are at video games. So come join our crew, bring your questions for our guests, and let's all #BeMorePirate!

In this episode:

Pirates need to learn the ropes before they can successfully contribute to a crew, and games developers are no different!

In this episode our crew is joined by Professor Chris Headleand, the head of the department of games design and technology at Staffordshire University in the UK.

As our crew quest for gold, they will be talking about topics including learning games development, how to get internships and jobs with games companies, what tools there are to help you create games, and more!

Speakers:
Jim Bennett, Regional Cloud Advocate, Microsoft
Jim is a Regional Cloud Advocate focusing on building out and skilling communities in the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on the Microsoft Reactor in Redmond, Washington. He’s British, so sounds way smarter than he actually is, and is happy he moved to Redmond in time to be locked down at home and not see the office he came to work in, or the places he wanted to visit. In the past he’s lived in 4 continents working as a developer in the mobile, desktop, and scientific space. He's spoken at conferences and events all around the globe, organized meetup groups and communities, and written a book on mobile development.

Professor Chris Headleand, Head of Department - Games Design & Tech, Staffordshire University