From scared graduate to working at one of the companies that defined my childhood, it sure has been a roller coaster year. People always beg me for this post so here it is!
Let me first apologise. Don’t expect to find out any company secrets or anything, I’m going to keep this relatively vague with some things, sure I love my reader(s) and friends but I also enjoy being employed!
How Mike? HOW?!
The question I get asked at least once a week. And it is quite a hard one for me to answer, simply because I didn’t take the standard route that most people use to get into this industry. The standard route of course being pretty much living on a company job website and praying they get back to you when you apply for that job. I took the agency route, games companies do a lot of hiring via agencies and for some reason a large amount of people keen to get into the industry don’t know this 
Well that’s how I got in, the right job came along and I jumped for it.
What is it like?
Working at Sony is like some sorta dream, we don’t really work, we just play video games most of the day and already have access to the PlayStation 6 slim (joke). This is what most people assume but it’s really not like that. The business has a “work hard, play hard” kinda ethic. Sure I have my own PS3 on my desk, but I rarely get to actually play it as the work really never stops. The PSN store runs pretty much all day, every day which means that it constantly needs working on, to keep the user having a good experience. So from when I start to when I leave, there is always something to be done 
Perks you ask? Well as mentioned before I have a PS3 on my desk which I use mainly for testing and Q.A but of course I use it to game aswell. Staff get a discount on Sony Products (yay) and we have our own canteen and Sony bar, which sells BOOZE! And not to mention the free games you get once in a while….
What the hell do you even do?
The second question I get asked nearly every week. I can’t go into too much detail in regards to what I do sadly. I work in the Store Operations team and the name pretty much gives my role away. I help to erm operate the store, in terms of looking after new (and old) content, making sure those pesky prices are always right, ensuring the store looks sexy and professional and I also deal with store and community issues when they crop up.
It’s a fun and exciting job, with each week bringing fresh and sometimes tear inducing challenges. But it’s really great to be a part of something big and actually having the power to make a difference within such a large and well known company.
Highlights
I was still pretty much a noob when the PS Vita launched, however I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty. It was all quite manic and exciting due to new PS Vita store. It meant for a lot of preparation beforehand and I will never forget the moment when the button was pressed to bring the store live 😀 Tis deffo a dream come true to be part of a console launch, fingers crossed it won’t be the last I’m a part of….
The new PSN store was a secret I had been sitting on for months. Not being able to really tell anybody what I was doing at work seemed to raise more suspicion in my circle of friends also. Getting the store out was a monumental task for me and the team, yet somehow we managed to pull it off. It was a huge weight of my shoulders when it finally got announced and the positive feed back from screens really made all the hard work worth it. When it at last got released to the masses I think I almost cried, as people actually thanked me for adding such an amazing experience to the console (it wasn’t all me folks). Sure it’s not perfect just yet, but rest assured I’m working hard to get it as close to perfection as it can
Okay wrap it up
And that folks, is pretty much it. My first year at Sony has been astounding, it’s helped me grow professionally and as a person, it’s amassed me great bunch of new friends and unsurprisingly, I could see myself being here for many more years (if they want me).
Thanks for reading!
