DAUGHTER TO MOTHER
What did you do at work today mum? Not much; I sorted out some glitches in the payroll system so everyone can get their money.
Who were you working with mum? I was working with Kelly; she’s a graphic artist. She was figuring out the best way for people to understand the instructions.
Was your friend Jenny there? No she just got a big consultancy for online shopping and she’s designing a virtual dressing room so everyone can look at their screens and seehow they look when they are trying on clothes; and the Claire is going to set up the website – pretty complex stuff.
Do they have to draw things like Marty does? No – Marty is an animator – she draws all the animations for the games that you play.
Who else works making games mum? Well there’s Nic who does more of the story board type stuff – working out where the game can go – where you make decisions and what directions you take – pretty complicated stuff if you think of all the choices you have.
And there’s Marianne who looks at the way people play – and what characters and plots they create; and she works out what to keep in the game for other people to use – and what isn’t so hot and isn’t needed.
And Julie travels a lot – I’m not sure what it is she does – I think she goes round selling it – but of course most of the selling is done online. Maybe she is an events person and does some promotion.
And Renee is the person who brings it all together– she does the algorithms – all the number crunching – and I don’t know exactly how it works though I am sure she would explain it all to you if you asked her.
Some of the people at the university ask all these questions about games and do research on how games rot your mind or how they are the best thing in the world; but mostly they just talk.
You could always become a professional gamer though – the daughter of one of my friends did that for a while – she went to China for the E-sports and won a bit of money.
I wish they would use games at school – like the climate change one – the fate of the world – instead of all the worksheets they give you
You should ask Lynne to talk to your teachers – she gives courses on how to teach and learn online – she thinks its really exciting – and so do all her students – But its nothing like they get you to do at school.
Do you know any kids that are allowed to use their mobiles in the classroom?
Yeah, PLC Croydon (in Sydney) lets the girls take their phones into the exams. So if we are going to continue with exams we are sure going to need people who know how to ask different questions. No good setting an exam that wants the names of the rivers of Australia if you can look it up straight away on your smart phone. If every girl can phone their mum for the answer or advice
– we’ll need expert questioners – right up your street I should think.
You’d have to ring that friend who is always giving you advice?
You mean Maureen? She is my mentor. I think of Maureen as a person developer – she helps people with their lives and their careers – she brings out the best in people – at work and at home – she’s the one you should be talking to – not me.
What about the one you call the networker
That’s Catherine? She doesn’t give me advice; she gives me contacts. Better than gold! Putting people together, so they can share stuff they are doing and get better answers and do better things with people’s time and money; we need more women like that – it’s a big world we have to connect with now.
When I go to work I’d like to meet people who make a difference – how do you do that?
Oh I don’t know …. look it up on Google. Send them emails and ask for a job. Or go and work for Google or Linked In and make a data base of people who make a difference!
Could you make videos and films of people who make a difference?
You can do that now – you’ve got a more than one camera! – go and film someone new – or do a mash up of all the good people you can find and put it all on Youtube – and if that’s not good enough – go to all the TED Talks – all the people who are there make a difference!
And you know just about everyone you see there has had a coach so they can perform as well as they do – and answer question! I reckon you could do something like that – get people to answer questions.
Does someone have to write the scripts and do the filming and all of that?
Of course – you need directors and writers and co-ordinators and screen makers and product placers and copywriters – IP lawyers and lighting people and camera crews —and don’t forget the financial people who get the money – they’d say they were the most important of all.
Id like to do things with money, mum
Wouldn’t we all. There’s no end to the jobs with money; Kirsten is an investigator following where all the money goes – and then telling other people so they can be the first to know.
And you know Sal, she manages money for other people. Not REAL money of course; entries on a screen … and that’s where a lot of the trouble starts – with hackers.
You could work for eBay or PalPay or internet banking – and keep them safe from hackers.
There’s tons of things to do with hackers; there’s even hackers conferences in the USA – and then there are all the people who chase hackers – who work for the government and do spying and things like that. Or who work for banks and trace identity theft and ATM skimmers.
What about the people who watch CCTV cameras mum? And catch the ones doing the rioting – do you reckon that would be a good job?
You’d need to be able to sit still and concentrate; I think you’d be better at forensics – persisting in asking questions. What about the police force? These days the police are always looking for people – to help them trace bombers or set up twitter accounts.
When I think about it - I reckon Id like to do something with Google
mum, what do you think I could do?
Maybe you could do some marketing analysis – you know, who watches what, and where they go and if they buy anything. And then you could keep the profiles on them so you could predict what they were interested in and how much they might pay for different things. And get yourself some bargains.
Do they have any jobs for people interested in
music?
Course they do; but why don’t you think about Apple instead. Why don’t you stop asking me questions and go and make some music apps for i-Tunes; see if you can do something that you can get paid for.
