Activision Blizzard kicks off Level Up U

The gaming giant Activision Blizzard, which gave us the juggernauts Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, and so many others, has started a bold talent training program to diversify their engineering staff and keep up with ever growing demand.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says, “This is the first of many Level Up U programs, and our plan is to expand to other skill areas such as art and animation”

The Dean of Level Up U is Tad Leckman, a twenty-year industry veteran who has taught at UC Santa Cruz and created similar training programs for Riot Games, Lucasfilm Animation, and Industrial Light and Magic.

Not just a class, but a direct feeder into Activision Blizzard’s ranks. Level Up U participants join as full-time employees. At the program’s end, their new roles will be assigned based on their proven skills and infuse proverbial new blood into the engineering sector. This is a primary goal of this “first-of-its-kind” venture which is the result of last October’s $250 million investment into gaming industry opportunities for underrepresented populations.

The trainees come from inside Activision Blizzard and from outside the gaming industry, bringing the transferrable skills they formerly employed in medicine, aerospace, finance, and other industries. Of the 104 participants 45% are non-binary people and women; 40% are from ethnic backgrounds long underrepresented in gaming.

“It’s the kind of industry where you have to know somebody who knows somebody,” says candidate Lola Akintoye who left a job as a programmer in financial research to work for this opportunity to break into gaming.

Michelle Wong worked in Quality Assurance at Blizzard and was previously unsuccessful in attempts to move into engineering due to lack of training. “At Level Up U, I’m hoping to gain the technical skills I need to bridge that gap”

Website: https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/

The gaming giant Activision Blizzard, which gave us the juggernauts Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, and so many others, has started a bold talent training program to diversify their engineering staff and keep up with ever growing demand. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says, “This is the first of many Level Up U programs, and…