Ctrl Shift Game: From IT to AAA Game Production

What the talk is about

Abby LeMaster describes how she moved from university IT and network support into AAA game production. She explains how she landed a PlayStation production internship with no games experience by presenting her IT skills as transferable: improving processes, negotiating with vendors and bringing groups to consensus. She then outlines what producers actually do — budgets, milestones, risk, quality gates and team health — and how roles differ from coordinator to executive producer. She speaks openly about years as a contractor without benefits, crunch and burnout, and how one conversation with a mentor pushed her to change jobs, using a job-hunt spreadsheet, recording and reviewing her own interview answers, a redacted portfolio and the STAR method. Useful for career switchers and junior producers.