Navee Mentee Interview – Megan

What’s your current job or area of study?
I’m currently in my last year studying games art and design, at Norwich University of The Arts. I’m in my second year. So I consider myself to be quite early in my career and I wasn’t sure
at the start of the mentorship what I would get out of it, but I thought it was a really good opportunity, I didn’t want to pass up on it. I specialize in 3D asset production and so does my mentor.

How did you find out about Navee?
Coincidence. I found out through word of mouth, because one of my parents found out about it from a friend.

Why did you apply specifically?
I thought it was a really good opportunity to get a bit of insight into the industry and to get some help with my work and to just push me further out of my comfort zone, which I think I’m very
prone to staying in my comfort zone and that stops me from being able to grow. Yeah, I think I just saw it as an opportunity to grow and to make some progress in my career.

What do you think Navee has helped you with?
Yeah, lots. Confidence is a big thing. I think just talking to people, and getting feedback on my work outside of uni. Just advice, feedback, on technical things, workflow, just artistic opinions
and things, working in groups and that and to get a bit of insight into the industry and how things work and what I could expect. How to optimize my work so that it’s best for working in a team
and for the next person who takes it on in the process. I think, overall, getting an insight into the industry and just getting a bit of help with my work and seeing my work improve, I think is a big thing that’s come out of it and see my confidence as well.

Has anything changed as a result of the mentorship?
End of last year, I did apply to one of the Grads in Games competitions, which I probably wouldn’t have done if I didn’t have Laura as my mentor, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that. And it was something that I knew that I could work on and we could talk about it and we could use it as a talking point. So she could see my work in progress and I think that was kind of when we started to really look at my work. Now that has ended, she’s helping me with feedback on my uni work and stuff. I probably wouldn’t have done that competition, if I didn’t have the mentorship.

How have you and your mentor worked together to achieve your goals?
Our first two meetings we established a schedule because we both agreed that we like the structure there. And Laura said that she was happy with Thursday evenings, so we’d go every
one to two weeks, every Thursday evening. And that worked really well because then we both got in that habit. So just like an hour meeting, catch up. We’ve done that for the 12 hours that
were in the program and that took us up to April where we had that meet up in Cambridge. So, we’ve decided to stay in touch and we’re going to have meetings like every month or so. Laura
has been really nice and said that she’s happy to keep helping me. She’s agreed to keep in email contact and that so that’s really helpful. We’ve been using something Robin suggested,
the GROW method, setting goals and things, we’ve been using those in our meetings. I’ll set myself a little goal, things that I want to achieve that week. We’ll talk about how realistically we
can get through that. What obstacles might be in the way and what are the immediate next things for me to do? Then we’ll review that in the next meeting and see how much progress I’ve
made, what areas I might need to improve on, and how that’s working out. And that’s worked really well to help me achieve the goals I set.

Any other points you’d like to add about mentorship etc.?
I mean, it’s been great. I’ve spoken to a few friends at uni who have been asking about it, and I’ve said if you see the opportunity for a mentorship 100% do it. Yeah, I feel like it’s really
invaluable to just have that outside opinion and be able to ask those questions that you want to ask. Especially to have someone who’s in a role that you’re aspiring to be in, to be able to look
up to them and then just ask them the questions that you need and that. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m really grateful to the programme for pairing me with Laura, and that we get on really well, I
felt that there’s a friendship there as well.