Saturday, January 6, 2007
Post Trip
I got back from my trip yesterday. I must say that this trip was just an insanely awesome experience! Everything went off without a hitch and everyone I met was very friendly and wished me luck in my career.
Jeff Sullivan is an Xbox live developer account manager (I think thats the correct title). This means that he acts as a liason between Microsoft and developers in order to help developers maximize Xbox Live's feature set. This can be a difficult task because Microsoft has a very clear vision of the online experience that they want to offer in games on the platform, while each developer has his own perspective of what experience they want to offer.
Jeff's job varies drastically from day to day. One day he will be on conference calls and answering emails and the next day he will be flying to Europe or trying out games to familiarize himself with the products and get ideas about Xbox Live features.
Jeff himself is a really approachable and laidback guy. He definitely loves his job and is very enthusiastic about Microsoft and the Xbox360. Coincidentally, Jeff worked at Outrage games on a project called Rubu Tribe, which I also worked on during my internship in high school. It turns out that Jeff left the company 4 months prior to me starting there.
I'll write more about my awesome trip later.
Jeff Sullivan is an Xbox live developer account manager (I think thats the correct title). This means that he acts as a liason between Microsoft and developers in order to help developers maximize Xbox Live's feature set. This can be a difficult task because Microsoft has a very clear vision of the online experience that they want to offer in games on the platform, while each developer has his own perspective of what experience they want to offer.
Jeff's job varies drastically from day to day. One day he will be on conference calls and answering emails and the next day he will be flying to Europe or trying out games to familiarize himself with the products and get ideas about Xbox Live features.
Jeff himself is a really approachable and laidback guy. He definitely loves his job and is very enthusiastic about Microsoft and the Xbox360. Coincidentally, Jeff worked at Outrage games on a project called Rubu Tribe, which I also worked on during my internship in high school. It turns out that Jeff left the company 4 months prior to me starting there.
I'll write more about my awesome trip later.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
The night before my trip
I just got back from a 5 day Chicago/Nashville trip. I went apartment hunting in Chicago and then celebrated New Years in Nashville. I am tired, but excited because tomorrow, I will be travelling to Seattle, WA. Kathleen Stevens, the person in charge of the Michigan Apprentice program has been very helpful in planning my trip out for me, so I feel that I am in good hands.
Tomorrow I will be travelling for more than 8 hours. I plan on sleeping on the plane as much as I can. Then I will check in to my hotel and maybe take a walk around.
My wonderful girlfriend just bought me an Xbox 360 for Christmas, which is great because I have now had a chance to play on Xbox Live. I look forward to talking with Jeff about all things Xbox Live.
Tomorrow I will be travelling for more than 8 hours. I plan on sleeping on the plane as much as I can. Then I will check in to my hotel and maybe take a walk around.
My wonderful girlfriend just bought me an Xbox 360 for Christmas, which is great because I have now had a chance to play on Xbox Live. I look forward to talking with Jeff about all things Xbox Live.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Introduction
Hello Everyone,
my name is Dan Howery and I am a recent graduate of the University of Michigan. I have my bachelors in Computer Science Engineering and I am now employed at Electronic Arts (EA) in Chicago. My title is Software Engineer Level 1 which means that I will be programming video games. I start at EA in mid January. I have worked on four 3D video games for the PC during my time at UM. The last game that I created (Betty and Buster's Battle Kart) won first place at UM's video game showcase competition. Here are the links to 3 of my games:
Blood Ball
Disc Golf Ultra
Betty and Buster's Battle Kart
When I heard about the Michigan Apprentice program I was really excited. I felt that this program was not only a great opportunity to learn more about the video game industry, but also to network with a Michigan Alum as well. Jeff Sullivan is the alum that I am going to get to shadow for a day. He is a manager in developer relations at Microsoft. I do not know the full extent of what his job entails, but I am thinking that he probably works with several developers and helps them take full advantage of Xbox Live's features.
my name is Dan Howery and I am a recent graduate of the University of Michigan. I have my bachelors in Computer Science Engineering and I am now employed at Electronic Arts (EA) in Chicago. My title is Software Engineer Level 1 which means that I will be programming video games. I start at EA in mid January. I have worked on four 3D video games for the PC during my time at UM. The last game that I created (Betty and Buster's Battle Kart) won first place at UM's video game showcase competition. Here are the links to 3 of my games:
Blood Ball
Disc Golf Ultra
Betty and Buster's Battle Kart
When I heard about the Michigan Apprentice program I was really excited. I felt that this program was not only a great opportunity to learn more about the video game industry, but also to network with a Michigan Alum as well. Jeff Sullivan is the alum that I am going to get to shadow for a day. He is a manager in developer relations at Microsoft. I do not know the full extent of what his job entails, but I am thinking that he probably works with several developers and helps them take full advantage of Xbox Live's features.
