Spotlight: Christian Lewis-Monto, Programming Intern

5th Dec 2024

• What’s your favourite game to date that you’ve played or worked on?
  My favourite game to date is God of War. I am a big fan of the franchise and enjoy playing all the games. I would say I enjoyed “4” the most as this was the first game that was completely different to the previous 3, making the whole journey and experience new.

How did your career begin and how did you get your role at d3t?

My interest in computers and programming began whilst I was in school, where I spent some of my spare time trying to learn more about it. Fast forward to the end of school, I decided that I would study mathematics. After doing just that, I found a course in games programming and decided to go into that, as this was a combination of mathematics as well as computers – both of which are my passions.

During my second year at university, one of the current employees at d3t – and a previous student of the university, came to give a talk. This is where I learnt more about d3t and that they did in fact run internship programmes! When the applications opened, I sent in my covering letter and CV, and luckily, was given the opportunity to take on the test and interviews.

What is it like working at d3t?

Working at d3t has been truly amazing. From the first day, everyone has been super welcoming and friendly. This made on-boarding smooth and very easy, and if there were any issues, I always felt free and welcome to ask questions.

As time has progressed, this has not changed. The support from everyone has been amazing!

However, I think the biggest thing that I really love about working at d3t is that learning is encouraged. That combined with the ability to constantly ask questions and to learn from various members of the team with loads of experience, has honestly made me feel that I have become a better programmer in a such a short space of time.

What do you do day-to-day as a Programming Intern?

The first part of my day involves logging in and catching up on emails and messages. Once I am all caught up on those, I spend some time planning my day and looking at what work I have been allocated. I then continue with my tasks for the next hour or two before we have our daily stand-up meeting.

My tasks can vary day-to-day, sometimes it might be to look at a very simple bug that is quick to fix, to some more involved tasks that take a few days to complete. Due to this, each day is slightly different as no two problems are the same, and each problem comes with its own challenges/learning.

Tasks are not always just programming-related either. Sometimes there must be conversations with stakeholders to find out more information about the task and its intended behaviour, or other times it might be writing documentation for a task that is to be or have been completed.

After spending some more time on my tasks after stand-up, it is time for lunch break. This is normally either spent gaming with colleagues, be it video games or board games, or socialising in the kitchen.

After lunch its back to the tasks I was working on. Sometimes, this time can be instead spent in meetings; however, that tends to be on occasion – a fortnightly meeting, or one near the end of the milestone.

What has been your most memorable moment working at the studio?

I honestly don’t think I can choose the “most” memorable as there have been so many moments. Most days, if not all days, there has been some moment that has been memorable. This can vary from the atmosphere and jokes during lunch breaks, friendly competition playing games, to more work related like completing a task. It honestly is such a great feeling to complete a task or problem that you have been working on for a few days.

If I had to choose out of those, I would say the best part is the environment and banter. The learning and work are really amazing, but what makes it even more amazing is being able to do it in an environment that is warm and friendly.

Do you have any tips for people looking to get into the games industry?

I personally believe that the best way is to be inquisitive and willing to learn. The constant curiosity is what aids in getting deeper understanding of concepts/systems. The willingness to learn naturally makes you take on tasks that are more of a challenge, which contributes to being a better programmer.

We are hiring

Stay tuned for more spotlight features coming soon. In the meantime, if you’re feeling inspired and want to join our team, check out our vacancies page!