EA New Grad Q&A: Animish Gadve
EA Staff
2013-05-08
Every summer, EA awards scholarships to a select group of interns and co-ops and here on The Beat we’ll be interviewing this year’s recipients and hearing what their experience has been like entering the workforce and learning more about the gaming industry. Last week, we heard from Bradley Buchanan from the PopCap team and this week, we interviewed Animish Gadve, a software engineer for All Play.
How did you find out that you would be receiving a scholarship?
I was converted from an intern to a new graduate hire and I was told that my label lead Nick Earl, wanted to personally welcome me on board over a phone call. Needless to say I was very ecstatic. But that was a decoy reason, he was actually calling to break the news about the scholarship. Honestly, I was silent for about 30 seconds. I had to fake a phone call disturbance to recover from that. It was a great feeling.
How will receiving the scholarship impact your life?
The very reason I moved to United States and get my Master’s degree was to become independent. This scholarship just puts me on a fast track to achieve my goals. As an International student, Master's degree isn't cheap. Student loans were looming large as I was graduating, but this scholarship definitely puts me at ease. Plus, having the ability to spend your pay on nice things and not just student loans is always a positive!
What was the most valuable part of your EA internship?
At EA as an intern you get to do a lot of activities outside of your work – anything from a video competition to studio tours and other activities. This opens up a lot of networking opportunities. I made a lot of friends during my internship and although some don't work at EA, we still keep in touch. As an intern at EA I think the most valuable part is the exposure you get to the technology, extremely smart people and the industry as a whole.
What has surprised you the most about working at EA?
Personally before my Internship I was expecting to not have any primary tasks, probably will end up fixing some bugs. On the contrary, I was designing and building features before I could realize. I always felt like a regular employee here which definitely broadened my outlook on what was possible.
What are you working on now and what’s your favorite part of the job?
Although I started my Internship at Pogo, I am a full time Software Engineer for All Play making mobile and tablet games. It’s a great challenge to work in the mobile and tablet space. Things are changing all the time. The platform and the player patterns are so volatile that you have to be very quick and adaptive to make a viable product. This is one of the biggest reasons I’m engaged in what I do. Change is always good for learning and I feel I have a lot to learn.
What lessons have you learned since joining the team?
Being quick on your feet is an absolute necessity to survive in today's tech market, more so than ever. I have gone through a lot changes in my short stay at EA. I think this is a very valuable lesson both personally and professionally.
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