Diversity Internship Training Programme

We build ground-breaking games and content for some of the world’s biggest publishers including Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Sega. Sheffield is our largest studio and headquarters, situated just north-east of the city centre, where we’ve built and contributed to some of the world’s best-loved game franchises.

The Role

The Sumo Academy’s Diversity Internship Training Programme (DITP) gives people from under-represented groups the opportunity to receive training and mentoring in game programming to see what it would be like as a career. It aims to reach out to talented applicants who haven’t previously considered the potential of game programming as a highly creative and rewarding occupation.

The DITP is also an opportunity to develop your programming skills and prepare to make a successful application to our forthcoming Level 7 Game Programmer Apprenticeship programme. As a Level 7 programme, this provides apprentices with the opportunity to gain the knowledge, skills and behaviours to support their pathway into a senior, technical roles within the games industry.

Graduates of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science degrees are particularly well placed to train as game programmer, but applications are welcomed from any background with previous professional experience and/or a proven aptitude for programming.

The Diversity Internship Training Programme is undertaken remotely with the opportunity to visit Sumo’s Sheffield HQ at the beginning and end of the programme (COVID restrictions permitting).

What you'll receive during the internship

• Training and support in C++ programming: the primary language used in game development
• A comprehensive overview of the duties of a game programmer as set out in the apprenticeship’s occupational profile
• Background to the games industry, different studio models and typical career pathways and progression routes for programmers
• The opportunity to talk to game programmers and former interns/apprentices about their day-to-day roles

Key Requirements:

• You must at least 18 years old
• You must be able to demonstrate a strong aptitude for programming. For example, through self-study or in a module from your degree programme
• You must meet the diversity requirements
• You must have not received significant prior training as a game programmer
• You must already be living in England, have a valid and eligible residency status (prior to application)
• Applicants for the Diversity Internship Training Programme must be from one or more of the following groups:
  • Women and marginalised genders
  • Ethnic minorities
  • From a background in which a university education is uncommon
  • People with a disability
• To be eligible for the Diversity Internship Training Programme you must also be eligible to apply for the Level 7 Game Programmer Apprenticeship programme, in particular:
  • You must already be living in England, have a valid and eligible residency status (prior to application)
  • You must not already be enrolled on another apprenticeship, or in full time education which would overlap with the apprenticeship
  • Your prior learning in programming and game development must not exceed more than 50% of the knowledge skills and behaviour set out in the occupational standard for a Level 7 Game Programmer

In practice, this final condition would typically exclude graduates of game programming degrees from taking this apprenticeship. Graduates of Computer Science degrees without experience in game development might expect to have the length of the apprenticeship shortened from 24 to 12 months (the minimum length for any apprenticeship).