We sat down with Jon Raftery, one of our lead engineers who’s recently joined us to find out why he took a leap from the AAA games industry to escape “more of the same”.

You worked for many years in the games industry, why did you leave?

Anybody who has paid any attention at all to the video games industry recently will be aware of the huge number of lay-offs that have taken place in the last few years. It’s been truly heartbreaking to hear about all these talented people losing their livelihoods. And it happened to me.

After many years of happily working on a well-known strategy game franchise, and only two months after a promotion, I suddenly found my job disappearing from underneath me. To say I was surprised was an understatement, as I'd been a very loyal employee through good times and bad. But still, I found myself adding the dreaded green “open to work” banner on my LinkedIn profile. The job market can be a harsh and brutal place if you haven’t dipped your toe in there in a while. I wanted a good job and fast, so naturally I started applying to roles that matched my skill set. Engineer. Team leader. Audio specialist.

As I started taking interviews I found myself getting a very strong feeling of deja vu. After working in a particular role for so long, and being interviewed by people in pretty much the exact position I was recently in, recruiting for the exact same role I’d just left, it all started feeling very familiar. The person sat opposite me... was me, just a few months ago. Did I really want to be doing the same thing in the same sized company for the same kind of game? The games, people, engine, etc, would be different. But I’d still be solving the same problems, fixing the same types of bugs and having the same conversations. Was I ready for “more of the same”?

The answer was no and I started widening my search.

How did you hear about us?

I saw an engineer role advertised and I was intrigued. I’d heard the name “Magnopus” before from a game I'd played on my virtual reality headset; an immersive experience called Mission: ISS where you explore the International Space Station. After some research, I found that the company was active in quite a few different areas.

How would you describe what we do?

Magnopus is not a game developer, yet many AAA veterans work there and the team has developed hugely successful Fortnite events. It’s not a tech company, even though it has a tech platform – OKO – a suite of apps and plugins that allow users to create connected 3D spaces across realities. It’s not a media or production company, although the team has been involved with the recent Fallout television series. And it’s not a boutique XR studio, even though it’s created standout bespoke experiences for the likes of Disney, NBC, and Meta. The team has many talents, but its USP is helping others tackle unquantified challenges using technology and creativity.

Was it easy for you to leave the games industry behind?

I thought that I had allowed my mind to fossilise into an AAA mindset. It was a little scary to imagine myself potentially jumping between quite different projects. Different tools, products, engines. And of course, different people working on them. I asked myself; was it sensible to consider a sideways jump at this stage in my career or should I stick with the familiar?

When I was lucky enough to be offered the job, I had a big decision to make. This wasn’t just a new job, it was a new direction in my career. A big part of me advised sticking to the safe path – more of the same. But if I’d always listened to those voices, I wouldn’t have gone into game development in the first place.

How does Magnopus differ from the work you were doing before?

Everything I’m doing now is as far removed from the job I had, and the jobs I was initially heading towards, as you can get.

A big part of the job that’s new for me is the number of relationships I manage. I find myself working with different companies, people, and processes, and learning something new from all of them. This is a big change from the traditional developer-publisher relationship I was so used to in my previous company, and looking back it's clear just how insular I'd become as a developer. I'm now exposed to so much more and, although the learning curve has been steep at times, it's refreshing always to be taking on new challenges. Within the company, inter-project collaboration is encouraged, and this time next year it's possible I could be using a different programming language, on a different engine, for a different game, for a different client. All while working at the same company.

Do you work in the office or remote?

Magnopus has offices in the US and UK and offers remote work. This is something that's becoming increasingly scarce in our post-lockdown world of work. It's not that I dislike working in an office. I just dislike the time and expense of commuting for a job I can do literally anywhere with a laptop and a decent internet connection. As a bonus, the UK office is always open for anyone who wants to use it, and I'll head in every so often to meet up with my colleagues face-to-face. Often in the pub afterwards as well.

What do you hope people get out of reading this?

I hope this serves as a salutary lesson about risk and reward. I loved my old job, and I'll always be very proud of what I achieved, but sometimes life throws banana skins your way and it's important to reframe them as opportunities. If the axe falls on you, don't rush to automatically limit yourself to “more of the same”. There are plenty of opportunities to thrive if you’re prepared to step outside your comfort zone.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?

Aside from family time and playing video games, I try to counteract my screen time by keeping myself in touch with nature. Lots of long walks in the woods, gardening, gathering berries in the summer, and looking up at all the twinkling dots in the night sky. When you look at a distant star you are essentially looking at the past, as it takes the light so long to reach us. Due to light pollution, most people will live their lives having never seen the Milky Way. It's a sight to behold.

What are you reading/listening to right now?

In terms of reading, I always find myself coming back to the poetry of John "No man is an island" Donne. He has a fascinating life story; from scandalous rake and "visitor of ladies" in his youth, to preacher at St Paul's Cathedral in his later years. That's quite a story arc, and he lived during a fascinating period of history. To counteract this cultural intake I also read lots of trashy Science Fiction novels, the less scientifically plausible, the better.

How do you want to leave a mark on the world – personally or professionally?

I think generally you should try to leave things in a better state than when you found them. There's also a lot of negativity on social media, which I make an effort to avoid. We carry all the world's information around on our smartphones, yet people are mostly using it to watch cat videos or get into arguments with strangers. As a parent, I find this concerning.

What’s your life motto/ guiding principle you live your life by?

The golden rule; "Treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself".

Meet The Magnopians: Jon Raftery