Esports: the careers you never knew existed

If you thought esports was all about playing video games — think again. There is so much more to the industry and it continues to grow rapidly!

Competing and playing the games is just a small part of this modern phenomenon that has become a billion-pound business with millions of fans worldwide. Now there are hundreds of jobs and opportunities on offer — making it a popular career choice for young and old alike.

As you’d expect, video games are the central theme, however, the variety of jobs available applies just as much in esports as in, say, the sports and fitness sector. So, there are coaching and management jobs, marketing and content creation posts, and journalism and broadcasting roles. It’s definitely not just an industry for gamers!

A qualification in esports and the skills you will gain are in big demand and will be valuable for a huge range of roles and careers. As in many businesses, dedication and hard work are key to success — don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s an easy option where you will sit and play video games all day.

An esports course focuses on your computing skill set, development of business and enterprise initiatives along with digital literacy and cyber skills. But this is not all — there is a long list of transferable skills which are useful across multiple sectors.

Esports can:

• Promote leadership skills and teamwork which is developed by practicing effective communication and collaboration with other players and learning how to work effectively with others

• Improve cyber and digital skills, as well as artificial intelligence knowledge

• Increase perceptual and cognitive skills, including improvement of short and long-term memory

• Promote sustained concentration levels, logic and reasoning which is developed by problem-solving within the games

• Improve resilience through the element of winning and losing

At New City College the esports Level 3 Extended Diploma is delivered in state-of-the-art digital content creation and live tournament spaces with a strong focus on the technical aspects of esports.

The pathway focuses on digital skills associated with professional esports play and with professional esports technical roles.

With large broadcasters investing heavily in the esports industry, and many European countries now broadcasting esports on major channels, there is excitement building within the sector — many experts are predicting an esports explosion.

Progression with an esports qualification could lead to the following careers:

• Fitness trainers, nutritionists, psychologists

• PR/Marketing Executive

• Sales/partnerships manager

• Business management

• Production crew

• Shoutcaster/host

• Journalist/content creator

• Product Manager

• Admin/Referee

• Community/Social Media Manager

• Event Manager