Rick Rutter 

Careers in Esports Are on the Rise

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The two speakers are shown side by side. Rick Rutter is on the left and Jason Gooding is on the right. The Juniper logo is in the bottom right corner and the News on the Feed is the headline written underneath. 

Interested in a career in esports? Jason Gooding has all the info you need.

In the market for a new gig? Career opportunities in esports are on the rise, as the industry becomes more popular. Whether it’s in administration, marketing, or IT, about 200 careers are available in esports beyond the athlete, according to Jason Gooding, who coordinates the new esports program at the University of Michigan–Flint. 

The Feed’s Rick Rutter talked to Gooding to find out more about the program, and how it’s arming students with the skills necessary to excel in esports. 

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You’ll learn

  • The main disciplines taught by the esports program at UM–Flint 

  • Some of the hottest career areas in esports, from broadcasting to network interfaces 

  • One of the things Gooding is most excited about as the industry continues to grow 

Who is this for?

Network Professionals Business Leaders

Host

Rick Rutter Headshot
Rick Rutter

Guest speakers

Jason Gooding Headshot
Jason Gooding
Esports Coordinator, University of Michigan-Flint 

Transcript

0:00 [Music]

0:00 with esports viewership on the rise so

0:02 are the career opportunities that

0:04 support this growing industry

0:06 beyond the athletes supporting roles

0:07 include everything that traditional

0:08 sports typically have like performance

0:11 and health management marketing

0:13 administration and obviously there's a

0:15 greater need for technology support

0:17 specific programs like the one at

0:19 university of michigan flint are arming

0:21 the future of this industry with the

0:23 skills and needs to continue its growth

0:25 to educate us today we have jason goody

0:27 esports coordinator at the university of

0:30 michigan-flint

0:31 so jason tell me a little bit more about

0:33 your esports program

0:35 well we started the esports program

0:37 roughly as the pandemic

0:39 started

0:40 so it was a little bit of a battle there

0:42 to get it going we started out with 18

0:44 students

0:45 from the get-go

0:47 a year later in our second year we had

0:49 more than increased by 110 percent we're

0:52 roughly around 40 students

0:54 and

0:55 as if if we're lucky looking at this

0:58 coming year which would be our third

0:59 year

1:00 within esports we're close to 68 to 70

1:03 students and we continue to grow

1:06 that's amazing and so in this program

1:09 what are the main disciplines that um

1:11 that you and the team are focused on

1:13 uh one of the first things is teamwork

1:16 um looking at students and they how they

1:18 communicate how they work together how

1:19 they problem solve

1:21 a lot of the games they they play

1:23 together they have to have these this

1:25 split-second decision

1:26 and it could make or break the outcome

1:28 of the game that they compete in and

1:30 what are some of the hottest career

1:32 areas in esports

1:34 well typically you would think it'd be

1:36 in the technology world which it does

1:38 have a strong stronghold you can look at

1:40 your streamers or your broadcasters just

1:42 like you would in traditional sports

1:44 broadcasting those events

1:46 you do have the athletes that if there

1:48 are the ones that are fortunate enough

1:49 to move forward and compete at a pro

1:51 level it is also very lucrative

1:54 income for them but then we also have

1:57 the the size of the supports where would

1:59 come in the network interfaces

2:01 uh the support from the business side um

2:04 health side

2:06 really there's roughly about 250 careers

2:08 that stem off of of the esports industry

2:11 and it is everything from the players

2:13 themselves all the way to the business

2:15 manager or the physical therapist that

2:17 would help that athlete

2:19 along the way

2:21 that's awesome it sounds like there's a

2:22 lot of opportunity in this industry um

2:25 and what is one of the things you're

2:26 most excited about as it continues to

2:29 grow

2:30 well as i look forward

2:32 what i'm excited about is to see how u

2:33 of m flint is able to compete on the

2:36 the level playing field that is provided

2:38 by esports and so we're not limited to

2:41 just the the smaller universities but we

2:43 do compete against the schools

2:45 in the big ten like in ohio state

2:47 michigan state or even ann arbor's

2:49 campus at u of m

2:50 in ann arbor and with a level playing

2:53 field in esports it is quite unique to

2:55 see how we are able to take these these

2:58 local students and have them compete at

3:00 that high level

3:01 and it can bring some notoriety back to

3:03 u of m flint which would be an awesome

3:06 return

3:08 absolutely well jason thank you so much

3:10 for joining us today and sharing a lot

3:12 of the information on esports and all

3:14 the growth and and many of the career

3:15 opportunities that are available

3:17 at the university of michigan flint and

3:20 for anybody out there checking around

3:22 make sure to check out some additional

3:23 content on the feed and thank you very

3:26 much all right thank you

3:32 you

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