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Intern Insights: Warner Bros. Games

Writer's picture: Jason LiJason Li

September 22, 2022

By: Jason Li


Intern Insights is a new series brought to you by the Marketing Society Blog to give you the insider scoop coming straight from your NYU peers on what it's like to work in the companies and industries you’re interested in.

 

Do you play games? Are you a fan of Harry Potter, Superman, Friends, or Looney Toons? Have you ever considered working in a fintech role at an entertainment company? If you answered yes to any of the above, this blog is for you. From my Sophomore summer through my Junior Fall, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at Warner Bros. Discovery under their Interactive Entertainment department as a Business Analyst. I am excited to share with you all my experience working in a business role at one of the world’s largest entertainment companies.


Industry & Company Overview


The gaming industry is one of the most exciting and dynamic industries that sits in the cross-section between entertainment and tech. It is full of culture, stories, and technological innovation. Warner Bros. Discovery is a global leader in media and entertainment and is mainly known for their blockbuster franchises such as Harry Potter, DC Comics, and Sherlock Holmes, alongside various popular shows such as Game of Thrones and Succession on their streaming platform HBO Max. Due to the popularity of their content, Warner Bros. naturally became one of the largest gaming companies and has taken ownership of several gaming studios. They produce major hit games consistent with their most popular IPs, such as Injustice, Batman: Arkham, LEGO Starwars, Mortal Kombat, the recently released Multiversus, and the upcoming Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy.


Courtesy of Ginx TV


The Recruitment Process


Because Warner Bros. is so large, it offers a wide variety of positions in different fields and recruits year-round. There are also Co-Op positions available for 6 months or 12 months, which allow you to gain much more experience, make more money, and work whilst completing school. Job postings can be found on the company’s website, Handshake, LinkedIn, or other third-party career websites. For my role as a Business Analyst, I applied in early April of 2022 for a Sophomore summer internship position. I heard back for an interview within a week and the entire process took approximately 3 weeks. Depending on the role, there might be slight differences in the process but typically, recruitment follows the format of completing the online application → Hirevue (virtual video interview) → 1-2 rounds of interviews. Personally, my final round of interviews was with 5 Warner Bros. employees with positions ranging from Associate to Director.


As for what Warner Bros. looks for, it really depends on the role. For the role I applied to, Business Analyst, I was asked about my favorite product and what I would change about it, proficiency in coding languages (mainly SQL, Python, and Java), data visualization tools (Tableau, Looker), and typical behavioral questions. I will, however, provide you with some insider tea. A couple of weeks ago I asked my manager why he chose to hire me out of hundreds of other applicants. He responded that what made me stand out was my enthusiasm, passion, ability to articulate my thoughts clearly, and eagerness to learn. For the most part, they are not looking for a rehearsed, perfect answer to any question. They are a lot more interested in your thought process and how you carry yourself. Think about it this way; if you’re going to be working with someone, they want to know what kind of person you are. Therefore, personality and fit are a lot more important, especially as technicals can more easily be taught on the job. Many recruiters use the “airport test” to test for fit. If they were to be stuck at an airport with you for hours, would they enjoy talking to you or would they want to go sit elsewhere? So, the best advice I can give is to not pretend. An interview tells you as much about the firm as it tells them about you. If you don’t enjoy the questions being asked, or the style of the interview, it is probably not a good fit for you.


The Role


As a Business Analyst, my main role is to provide support for business decisions through data. I work very closely with product managers and data engineers. I have been mainly responsible for responding to product requests from internal customers by querying databases and packaging answers in an easily digestible way and identifying factors that affect business KPIs including revenue, retention, user acquisition, k-factor, and lifetime value. I mostly worked remotely, so a typical day would start with a team meeting going over objectives and ongoing projects, each person typically has a backlog of tasks to be completed throughout the week, and the team meeting is a chance to discuss any questions or ask for help. There may be several other meetings throughout the day such as economy reviews, project updates, analytics planning, as well as some more "fun" meetings. Every Thursday of each week, my team blocks out an hour to get together and play games, talk about life, roast each other, and just have fun (they told me these meetings got more fun since I’ve joined the team because I’m hilarious and awesome, which I concur). We also have summer Fridays, where work days end at 12 PM every Friday over the summer months.


Takeaways


Overall, I highly recommend applying for a job at Warner Bros. Discovery. Regardless of the role, the principle and culture are the same. Warner Bros. is full of creators and storytellers. Here, you’ll be part of a team to work on inspiring projects that are potentially culture-defining. My experience at Warner Bros. has been entirely positive. I love my team, I love getting to work on products that I know are impactful, and I love the culture of the company. No matter what I choose to do in the future, the technical and interpersonal skills I learned here will help me tremendously.



 

Jason Li is a Junior at NYU majoring in Economics with minors in Business Studies, Computer Science, and Math. He is interested in pursuing careers in consulting, product management, wealth management, and business analytics. In his spare time, Jason enjoys jamming on the piano or guitar, breaking ankles on the basketball court, exploring the world, and making his friends laugh until they cry. Before coming to NYU, Jason took a gap year and traveled to several countries in Central America and Southeast Asia. He is such a fun person (according to his friends) and so handsome (according to his mom). Feel free to reach out to him at zl2906@nyu.edu :)









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