Leveling Up Video Gaming Experiences at Disney
With the new collaboration between The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games, consumers will get to explore an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences. Ever wondered how amazing games and experiences like this make it to your screen? There’s no better person to ask than Mariana, an Online Engineer based in the Nordics who works behind-the-scenes to ensure that Disney Games run smoothly.
Working for The Walt Disney Company was a dream and a gift that Mariana wanted to give her younger self. “Disney has a rich history with many iconic and beloved stories. I grew up alongside these stories and characters, so they genuinely mean a lot to me. When I saw the job posting, I got really excited. I thought of five-year-old Mariana, and I knew she would have been equally excited about this opportunity. I just know she would be so proud of me now that I’m part of the team!”
As part of the Platform Tech Team in Games and Digital Entertainment, Mariana is responsible for making games reliable, always available and easy to monitor so that players never have to worry. “My responsibilities involve designing, developing and maintaining backend infrastructure on our game projects so that we bridge the gap and integrate different systems with our own. In a way, my team makes sure our games are well integrated within all other functional Disney and Epic systems without you even noticing them.”
Keeping up with an ever-changing digital landscape is challenging, but it's also what makes Mariana's work so rewarding. “You get to solve a different part of the puzzle and challenge yourself every day, learning as you go. We are developing some tooling for our current project but are already thinking ahead on how to make these features modular and reusable. The cherry on top is when you get to see all these little puzzle pieces fall into place and how they work together in the final product.”
One of the coolest parts of Mariana’s job is the unique opportunity to meet and work with many different people across different teams within Disney and Epic, learning from them about different technologies and frameworks. “The people I get to work with on my team are some of the most inspiring people I've ever had the privilege to work with – they really make it feel like an adventure every day.”
Those inspiring people are what surprised Mariana the most about working for Disney. “I have been working in the video gaming industry for the past five years, and I’ve had the chance to work with people very passionate about the brand and the projects we worked on. Disney has brought this to a new level for me. People here are so excited to deliver great experiences and a little bit of magic to everything we do. It is lovely to be excited to come to work every day.”
To people looking to break into the video gaming industry, Mariana says, “My best advice is the principles I have followed throughout my career – be curious, ask questions, never stop learning and trust yourself. Trust your creativity and never stop trying to bring some joy and whimsy to everything you do.”
Ready to level up and press play as an online engineer in the Nordics? Click here to apply!
