Nick Lowe - Vice President

What do you do?
I'm a Vice President at Interzone Entertainment LLC, a global company with offices on four continents, and a Director of Interzone Games Pty Ltd, the Australian subsidiary. Basically, I run a Games Studio!

What do you love about your work?
I work with people who share my passion for games and are dedicated to creating a game together. That's pretty awesome.

What is the money like?
Starting salaries in the video-games industry are nothing to write home about. However, performance is rewarded and there is huge scope for personal progression and growth.

How did you get to where you are today?
I never imagined that a games company would setup in Perth, so I assumed that I would need to start my own. Seven years ago, I made a list of everything that goes into making a game. For five years I worked through that list. When Interzone established itself in Perth I was on the last page of my list of things-to-learn. I decided that "doing" was better than "preparing" so I jumped at the chance to work at Interzone. The skills I had developed served me well, and 18 months later, I'm running the Perth Studio. Yay!!

What made you decide to work in ICT?
When I was in primary school my Mum won a Commodore Vic-20 in a supermarket raffle - it was the only way were going to afford a computer in our house back then. I helped my dad hook it up. The first game I ever played was "Gorf" and I was blown away. From that point on I wanted to create games.

Is the ICT industry what you expected?
No. After leaving university, I was rather intimidated by the industry. I was concerned that I would be competing against professionals with years of experience in areas that I never touched upon at university or in my own time. However, I found that I was very well equipped to succeed.

What do you find interesting about working in ICT?
You can create whatever you want with a computer. You can generate audio and video in real-time in response to user input. You can create an entire virtual world with its own logic. That just isn't possible in any other form of media. It's incredibly exciting!

Where do you see your job in ICT taking you?
I expect to be running my own games company in future. I'd like to setup and oversee a number of studios... or maybe I'll do something else more artistic or technical. I didn't think that I'd end up a manager so quickly!

What advice would you give someone considering a career in ICT?
For the video-games industry, your passion for computers and games needs to be your primary driving force. It's a lot of hard work and you need to be personally invested in the projects you work on.

Why would you encourage others to get into the ICT industry?
If you're a creative or technical person, you really want to get into computers. There is so much capacity for expression in digital media, and technology is always substantially improving. There will always be something new to explore.

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