For Software Engineering Manager Andy Beck, MobilityWare’s “Wild West” days weren’t exactly as rough-and-tumble as the name suggests.
Rather, this period of time was defined by opportunity. When Beck joined the mobile game development company during its early days, he had the chance to try his hand at game design, UI/UX development, programming and production, despite a lack of professional experience.
“We were driven by youthful excitement and given a great deal of freedom,” he recalled.
As the company grew and began to hire new team members, numerous processes and job roles were formalized, galvanizing employees around the same overarching aim — to architect and program games that bring joy to players around the world. Throughout this growth journey, Beck has evolved as well, learning how to organize roadmaps, manage stakeholders and lead a team.
“Now, I help guide more junior engineers through the same lessons I learned in the industry and drive the team to create more robust, complex and fun experiences for our players,” he said.
As MobilityWare has expanded over the years, many of its people have had the chance to pay it forward to their peers as a leader, including Associate Director of Ad Operations Kapil Gala. Prior to joining the company, he had never received so much support from a manager regarding career growth.
“He never said, ‘no’ when I asked for more responsibilities, even going so far as to proactively search for new tasks I could help him with,” Gala said.
Eventually, Gala got to take part in leadership training, which he considered a “game changer” for his career. With encouragement from his manager and others, he has been able to acquire the skills needed to excel in his role and continues to learn to this day.
“I’ve always wanted a company that treated me as a valuable member of the team by investing in me and my career growth, and I’m happy to say I’ve found that at MobilityWare,” Gala said.
At MobilityWare, team members have the chance to grow themselves while making an impact on the gaming industry — and each other. Not only has this truth defined Human Resources Generalist Jessika Crane’s experience at the company, but it’s the reason why she loves showing up to work every day.
“I can without a doubt say that I have found the perfect fit for myself,” she said.
ENDLESS WAYS TO EVOLVE
While peer-to-peer support plays a large role in employees’ development at MobilityWare, there are many other resources available to help team members build their knowledge. According to Crane, employees have access to internal lunch and learns, training, guest speaker sessions and an online learning platform with over 21,000 expert-led courses covering both hard and soft skills. She added that team members can also receive tuition reimbursement, which she has seen greatly impact her peers. “I’ve been overjoyed to see so many of my coworkers accomplish their goals in higher education by attaining degrees and professional certifications,” Crane said.
Pushing the Boundaries
The moment Gala expressed interest in transitioning to a leadership position, his manager did whatever he could to make the move possible.
“In time, my manager became my mentor, encouraging me to stretch beyond the limitations I had placed upon myself in my previous jobs,” he said.
With his manager’s help, Gala got involved in leadership training, took on tasks that increased his visibility across other teams and started reporting to additional higher-ups. He added that he also had the chance to help lead cross-promotion operational work, which involved developing new processes, managing timelines and making templates designed to drive alignment on his team.
“By allowing me to take all of that on while also guiding the team, he pushed me to see what I could achieve under pressure and how I could create trust with my teammates,” Gala said.
While Gala has experienced significant growth due to the overwhelming support he has received from his manager and others, he believes his evolution is far from over. He shared that he’s eager to help build out a resilient team capable of handling any challenges that may arise.
According to Beck, it’s common for leaders to go above and beyond to support their direct reports. He recalls a time when a manager surveyed his team to gauge interest in leadership positions. When three of the team’s four engineers, including Beck, responded positively, the manager decided to give each of them a chance to serve as a team lead.
“It allowed all of us to experience the requirements of the role while still having ongoing guidance, abstracting some details that weren’t important for us at that moment and helping us grow as future leads,” he said.
When helping team members stretch their skills, managers at MobilityWare all rely on one tactic: pushing people outside of their comfort zone. Crane said that her manager is always enabling her to take on new tasks, which has allowed her to grow in unexpected ways.
“If there’s something that I’m interested in learning, I voice it to my boss —in a matter of time, she’s throwing me into the mix and giving me the tools I need to learn the desired area of expertise,” she said. “Her tireless belief in me has empowered me to pursue career opportunities I never thought possible.”
Moving Mountains and More
If there’s one thing that Beck has learned throughout his leadership journey at MobilityWare, it’s that it’s possible to move mountains. But what about timelines, resource allocation and quality of deliverables?
Over time, he has learned about the importance of setting realistic timelines, the threat of canceled features due to a lack of time or resources and the need to properly review scaled-back features before shipping them. Beck added that managing expectations early on has proven to be one of the most critical aspects of his leadership role, as it has allowed his team to avoid future headaches and mandatory overtime, a practice that is commonplace in game development but considered antithetical to MobilityWare’s core values.
Yet for him, the most important skill he has honed is how to empower others. Given his professional development at the company so far, Beck believes the future looks bright for him and those on his team.
“Mentoring more junior engineers and building exciting new products to me is a dream come true,” he said. “I believe that the future will allow me to manage a larger team that builds even bigger and better experiences for our players.”
“Mentoring more junior engineers and building exciting new products to me is a dream come true.”
Gala added that he also considers himself grateful for the professional growth he has experienced at the company. Although his core responsibilities have shifted now that he’s a manager, he still performs some of his team’s manual tasks to ensure he doesn’t lose touch with the work that brought him where he is today.
Given how much Gala has evolved during his time at MobilityWare so far, he’s excited to see how he impacts the company — and those on his team.
“I wake up every day ready and excited for work; a truly amazing feeling that I get to share with my teammates,” he said.
This feeling of excitement Gala experiences every day echoes that of Crane, who said the company has given her the chance to pursue “the career she always dreamed of.” For her, the greatest aspect of working at MobilityWare isn’t simply the opportunity to build one’s career — it’s having the chance to see other people thrive and help them do so.
“Being able to give back to our team members brings me joy every day,” she said. “From helping my coworkers choose the benefit plan that is right for them to celebrating life’s milestones and lending support during tough times, my job gives me the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of my coworkers.”
