Finding the real Unity Brighton

Some time ago I was heading up recruitment for a video games company in Brighton when I heard through the grapevine that Unity Technologies were setting up a studio in the City. I knew of Unity, I understood they were democratising the gaming World but I knew little, if nothing, about the inner workings of the Company itself. I did a little research and not a lot came up other than they now had more than one million registered users, they had just set up an office in San Francisco and that Unity had originated in Copenhagen. I didn't pursue my research much further.

A few years on and I came across a collection of adverts online for Unity Brighton, looking for Sales and Support staff. I imagined a small serviced office with a gaggle of people on the phones, feverishly talking to users and sending out logo emblazoned T-shirts and key fobs. I had by this time moved to another games studio, one of the UK's largest and still Unity was dismissed as being any kind of threat to us when searching for local technology talent. I suppose we never felt the connection between what we were doing, developing games, and what Unity were doing which was developing technology. I also for some reason felt that the hardcore stuff was happening in San Francisco, Tokyo or Copenhagen and that Brighton was just some kind of satellite office for local support services.

When I look around me today, sat in the newly built Brighton studio of Unity Technologies, I realise just how wrong and uninformed I really was, but I also understand how easy it is to think the way I did. Unity are a company who really do put their users and the product at the top of their agenda, followed closely by their employees and innovation and right at the bottom is the PR. Unity has never had to "big itself up", in fact that kind of goes against the original concept. Unity was a product that was discovered by everyone rather than a product that was force fed to people. In the same way, as a company, we are still in many ways private and a little bashful, I mean that in terms of the "back end" rather than the "front end" of Unity.

Unity is a truly global company and we have more than 1000 people spread across 20 studios, each one with their own unique character and purpose. For the sake of this post I am talking about the Unity studio I know best which is based here in Brighton in the UK. There are 2 other studios in the UK, in Stratford Upon Avon and London, but Brighton is by far the larger of the three. I just wanted to post about the Unity Brighton that I have found and explain why for me it is unique and why I was so wrong to think it was just another tech company.

I think so much is mentioned about the "spirit" of Unity but just for a few minutes I'd like to talk about the physical bits of Unity, our home here in Brighton.

Unity Brighton have a brand new studio, set over 3 storeys with huge floor to ceiling windows and shiny new things everywhere. What I find most unique is we have a whole floor which is for nothing more than hanging out, playing, chatting, eating, drinking and occasionally bad singing and dancing. We have a VR room, a cinema size TV screen, Sky TV, kitchen, bar area (complete with draught lager, craft ales and wine cooler), sofas, booths, pool tables and my personal favourite 2 HUUUUGE terraces with views across the City and Ocean (OK the English Channel!!). This is what is great about Unity, most places offer up a cosy corner or a chill out room but no, Unity offer up a whole floor !!!

Next lets talk about the desks...the desks....the amazing desks that move up and down with the touch of a button. The general routine is for the morning to be a standing time, we raise the desks and each of us stand for as long as the night before allows us to. If it was a heavy night the weaker ones will succumb to sitting but the longer you stand the more relieved you feel when you finally get to rest your legs. This isn't just great for posture, blood pressure and metabolism but it could also extend your life. You heard it here first folks, working at Unity is good for your health and you will (probably) live longer :-).

Tech wise we all get to choose between MacBooks or Thinkpads, everyone has 2 (some even 3 or 4) 24" Dell Ultrasharp Monitors complete with adjustable arms built into the desks plus all the gadgets you can think of. Around the office we have VR headsets everywhere, the latest consoles, games and on the 2nd floor we have one of the largest lego collections I have ever seen. I know there are other tech amazing things going on here, like we have a one billion TB per second broadband, OK I don't know the exact figure but I believe it to be phenomenally more than we could even try to overload (I know there are people here trying though). I also know that if you can justify it they will get it to you, if you are a tech head then welcome to Nirvana :-)

Now to the most important bit, the people. Unity Brighton does have a Support division and it does have Business Development, but it also has Documentation, it has R&D, Sustained Engineering, QA, Graphics and most importantly HR & Recruitment :-). It has a collection of the smartest and most forward thinking people I have ever worked with. As an example we have 2 ex CTO's from large UK games studios now working at Unity Brighton, we have a group of programmers with 15+ years experience as well as a lot of young and innovative graduates and people who have come to Unity from leading Tech Companies because it allows them to develop technology without limitation. We have more than 100 people, each and every one of them talented and ambitious and determined to make Unity an even bigger success than it already is. These people are from all around the World, we have people from New Zealand to New Jersey from Bulgaria to Nigeria, we seek and have talent from every corner of the Globe.

One word I like to use when talking about the Brighton studio is 'inclusive'. It is a word used often enough but difficult to put into practice. At the studio you will definitely find people with common experiences, passions and viewpoints. I have never seen people integrate into the team so quickly as I have seen at Unity Brighton. It is crazy watching people enter the studio on their first day and then a few hours later walking out for lunch with a group of people and then debating on slack channels by the end of the day, sharing tales and dodgy gifs. It is just one of those places where you connect with everyone, I think the fact that we all enjoy our work and are so proud of our product brings everyone together. It also helps that we have such a great team in the office that organise so many little gatherings and activities such as the Unity BBQ, Friday afternoon drinks, free pizza, cinema trips, group trips to gigs etc.

One thing we have found most problematic communicating as recruiters within Unity are the job titles. We have some unique roles within Unity and many of them tend to sound a little disconnected from the Games Industry (or any industry). These roles aren't always anywhere near as different as they sound. One we tend to find troublesome are our Developer Relations Engineers. These guys are awesome programmers, usually with a pedigree in producing AAA video games. As a group they have more collective technical experience than most AAA studios and they work to help solve the trickier problems developers face whilst creating games using the Unity Engine. Our Enterprise guys will visit studios and offer up premium solutions onsite, so as you can imagine when you go into a studio suggesting this you have to be very confident in your abilities. This is hardcore games programming, in any other company this would be classed as Head of Technical Development or Lead Developer, or some other fancy title designed to give you an instant feeling of importance.

In Unity because of the flat structure we don't really have leads or seniors so those job titles don't exist, this for some is difficult to take onboard. Unity also have no problem in classing these roles as support and this can also be a tricky word for some, especially if you are currently a Technical Director or Lead Programmer. This is what makes Unity unique and when people take time to look beyond the job title and see the scope, the variety and the respect the role demands then it hopefully clicks with them. These roles are fantastic but we don't do vanity or ranks at Unity. If you are an absolute legend you'll get respect and kudos but no fancy new title.

Finally with Unity we always find ourselves discussing the benefits beyond those mentioned above. The "Unity spirit", the special culture within Unity, the shared goals and achievements, the trust, the respect, the lack of barriers, these are all what make Unity special. This has been mentioned before by me and I don't think I need to say much more on this matter, Unity rocks, simple as that. All of the gadgets and warehouse sized spaces mean nothing if there is no heart to it all and heart is what Unity has in spades.

When I misjudged Unity I think it was because I never really took the time to look deeper than the product. I think sometimes its difficult to see the 'Employer' behind the product if the product is so often dominant. After 6 months of working for Unity I think now I can finally say I have fully discovered how special we are. It is time we made ourselves a little more discoverable, a little more transparent and we displayed the real talent, excitement and potential we offer. We won't ever make a huge scene, we will just quietly carry on changing the World, innovating and growing but I hope that by sharing our experiences bit by bit we can help everyone see the real Unity Brighton.

To discover more about Unity Brighton take a look at our instagram account https://www.instagram.com/unity_uk/ and check out all of the great opportunities at Unity Studios around the World careers.unity.com