Developing the Future: Why Fostering Early-Career Talent is Essential at Zynga
Fresh perspectives are the secret sauce to stay ahead in mobile gaming. While our senior teams at Zynga offer deep expertise in scaling great games and continuously delivering engaging gameplay experiences to our players around the globe, it is our emerging talent that often provides a fresh perspective and questioning lens to ensure we stay on the forefront of an ever-evolving industry.
To support the transition from education into a gaming career at Zynga, and to give new starters an effective on-ramp into the games industry, our team has created a number of strategies to support emerging talent. By fostering relationships with universities, delivering insightful guest lectures from our professional leadership teams, hosting question-and-answer sessions with students and offering studio visits, Zynga strengthens relationships with prospective talent and inquisitive minds to support their transition into the workplace.
Zynga’s partnership with the University of Toronto & Sheridan College and Level Up, a core part of the university curriculum and a showcase of student talent in game design, animation and computer science, is a perfect example of bridging the gap between education and the workplace. Twice a year, the Zynga team hosts students from the cohort and provides feedback on their games in preparation for the event. Each cycle, it is a privilege to be a part of student journeys and see the drive, skill and new approaches they bring to the industry.
Providing specialized paid internships is one of our most popular offerings to assist the transition. This includes the Graduate Program known as the Rotational Product Manager Program, which offers new Product Managers a rotation across two different games to learn the ins and outs of LiveOps and game growth.
A recent intern project successfully pinpointed previously untouched segments and mapped new opportunities to reach them. These insights refreshed our internal research, providing our teams with a modernized, data-backed narrative to improve our collaboration with brand partners. To increase operational speed, the intern automated manual research tasks, significantly reducing the time it takes to process actionable insights.
Our studios are known for their immersive culture and collaborative environment, particularly for incoming hires. Junior talent is fully integrated into studio life from day one and given ownership of features and deliverables enjoyed by millions of players each day, quickly integrating new-hires into our vast ecosystem and showcasing just how much impact their work has on our global audience.
Collaborative workspaces, shared catered lunches and regular team activities break down traditional silos, offering informal opportunities for teams to share ideas outside of formal meeting structures. While many of the studio perks are standardized across our organization, we believe there is power in retaining the original culture of each studio. Each studio runs localized initiatives such as internal game jams, studio-wide hackathons and design challenges, giving early-career team members a low-stakes platform to experiment with bold ideas and learn from industry leaders. We are proud of the local communities that have been built across the world and the burgeoning, often flourishing, game development industries in regions such as Serbia, Turkey and Spain.
In addition to the established programs in place, our team is always on the lookout for new ways to support talented individuals. Our recent sponsorship of the International Art Museum of America Youth Art Contest showcased the talent of hundreds of young artists and made it very clear that the future of our industry is in safe hands.
Ultimately, keeping mobile gaming exciting relies on blending seasoned wisdom with bold, fresh energy. By actively investing in and celebrating the next generation of gaming professionals, we can ensure that our industry and our company are always evolving.
Early-career talent isn’t just about bringing people in to learn; they push our entire organization to think differently. Investing in young creators keeps our culture sharp, our tools modern and our studios adaptable in a fast-moving industry.
– Jennifer Capano, Head of Early Careers, Zynga
Key Gaming Internship dates
We have two early-careers recruitment cycles at Zynga. Our Winter cycle launches in September, and our Summer cycle launches in December.
