Destiny was a whirlwind of learning, debugging, and supporting content creators. Working as a Senior Production Engineer, I encountered a broader range of game development tasks than ever before. I did build automation, platform cert, workflow optimization, project management, usability research, deskside support, prototyping, map polish, and UI content work. There is no better school to learn how to juggle multiple competing priorities.
Early on, I was tasked with improving our incredibly complex development servers, which blend peer-to-peer, host-client, and centrally hosted networking models onto a single PC for development. Though this project took years to complete, it totally transformed our networked development experience. Designers stared in disbelief at the single “Go Online” button that consistently and rapidly set up a workstation for networked development. The work of my team has brought the vision of Always Online development from a distant and unlikely pipe dream, into the realm of possibility for a near future release.
My favorite part of this time at Bungie was managing three Associate Production Engineers. I was the primary person responsible for their professional development, training, and scheduling. My ideas about management clarified into mentorship and teamwork in a way that made team leadership an immensely fulfilling experience.