Colleges have long helped students get jobs in finance, education and other industries. Now a handful of U.S.-based universities are catering to those interested in careers in the competitive video gaming world.
The University of California Berkeley, University of California Irvine and the University of Utah all offer to connect students with positions in esports, not just to for competition, but for sales, business and admin roles.
A lot of these jobs didn’t exist before, as esports organizations transition from startup culture to become larger enterprises. More established companies are also offering health benefits and 401Ks, according to the East Bay Times.
“We are taking a different approach,” Andy Phelps, a professor and director of American University’s GameLab, a graduate level games program, told CNN. “The teams here have been club-oriented and student run, so it’s not a direct university owned and pushed enterprise.”
At some other colleges, such as Baruch College in New York and American University in Washington, DC, students run clubs where they can compete on a collegiate level. Pro eSports organization Team SoloMid (TSM), partly known for its League of Legends competitive play, will be recruiting at those schools for its summer 2020 internships and the potential for full-time positions. TSM is also looking to partner with Stanford and UCLA.
Some students such as 20-year-old Julia Shen, an English major at UC Berkeley, worry about finding jobs in esports as the industry is still searching for sustainable business models.
“eSports is such an unstable career path,” Shen, the leader of student group, Cal Women in Gaming, told CNN. “It’s the industry where parents are like, ‘Oh, you probably shouldn’t do that.’ But it’s nice that these companies are willing to put in the time to help.”
TSM’s efforts are guided by its new head of human resources, John Ponce.
“There was no HR before me,” said Ponce, who said he’s received dozens of LinkedIn messages from students looking for a job in esports. “We’re going to get the bulk of our talent from college students who want to get to esports.”
Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of Evil Geniuses, one of the oldest eSports organizations, shared how she got her start in the industry without becoming a player.
“I worked in private equity,” said Jameson, who told students her esports company is looking for talent in finance, marketing and business. “Where my strengths really fall is on the business and operational management side of things.”
UC Irvine was among the first schools in the world to build a specialized eSports program in 2016. Mark Deppe, director of Irvine’s esports program, told CNN Business that part of the challenge in developing the program has been addressing negative associations.
