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With International Women’s Day in recent memory, we want to offer you another feature that focuses on women in aviation. This time though we broaden the scope and shift the angle slightly to take a look at three female developers who are all working at Wargaming as part of the development team for World of Warplanes. Find out about their paths into the gaming industry and their current roles in the company from the interview below!
How did you get into video game development?
I love to play video games and know how to draw. After graduation, when I was thinking what kind of job I wanted, my husband advised me to try the gaming industry.
Did you face any obstacles as a female in the industry? If so, how did you overcome them?
I never encountered any problems related to my sex. If you put your soul into your work and always try to improve your skills, people will give you a chance and value you, regardless of whether you’re a woman or a man.
What are some of the challenges you faced during the development stages of World of warplanes, or now?
Before joining the development team, I had been working as a texture and concept artist but, in World of Warplanes, I create maps, so I had to learn a lot of new tools and invent new approaches and algorithms in my work. That was a very interesting challenge. Right now I still am improving my skills and trying to help others do the same.
How do the amazing women of the past inspire your day to day work in creating games?
It's mainly my passion for video games that inspires my work.
How did you get into video game development? 
I test the quality of the graphics for all Wargaming projects. Eight years ago, a friend of mine offered me a job at a company that makes computer games. He couldn't explain what I would be doing, and said only that I would be checking something. At the time, I didn't know anything about 2D or 3D-modeling, but I really wanted to do something non-traditional. At that time, the Art QA (short for ‘Quality Assurance’) department had just begun its work. We invented many of the of quality control technologies that we use now on our own. Work was sometimes very hard but it has always been very interesting and varied. My longest workday lasted 26 hours but looking back I realise that every hour of my work brings joy to someone, and that inspires me.
Did you face any obstacles as a female in the industry? If so, how did you overcome them?
Obviously my work deals with the world of military equipment. Girls usually dream of dresses and shoes, not so much of wing fairings and tail empennage. Also I still don't believe the scientific explanations and think planes flying is the work of magic – much like levitation.
In all seriousness though, I had to learn and read a lot of literature to understand the terminology and theory of designing aircraft. When you inspect a new aircraft, you "feel" its character and you see how it differs from its predecessors. Seeing how much work and sleepless nights its creators put in allows you to envision something alive, something real that transcends the blueprints and drawings. People's love for beautiful and powerful aircraft is what gives me strength to overcome any obstacle in my job.
What are some of the challenges you faced during the development stages of World of Warplanes, or now?
The most difficult thing was to live in a world of constant changes. We change things all the time in search of the best solution that would satisfy our players. My work is very dependent on specifications. When I inspect an aircraft, it must match the specification that I’m given. Now imagine that this specification is changing every day - you can see how the process can get very frustrating. The main challenge is the pursuit of authenticity. In our game, it is very important that the plane properly resembles its historical counterpart. So in cases when we have only three old photos to go by for the creation of a plane, we have to leave no stone unturned and find a way to still make it happen.
How do the amazing women of the past inspire your day to day work in creating games?
For me, they are an example of courage. The great women pilots went against public opinion and flew into the sky because of their unmatched passion for the world of aviation. In my case, the only way to do amazing work is to love what I do. Fly because you love it!
How did you get into video game development?
I started as a regular player then got interested in playing on the Super-Test server (only available for select players). I joined the World of Tanks Super Test community, became an active tester and later even started to help with the coordination and support of the Super Test myself. This earned me a recommendation to become Super Test Manager for World of Warplanes, and here I am.
Did you face any obstacles as a female in the industry? If so, how did you overcome them?
Well, I can't say that there were serious obstacles other than some very technical issues at times. The only thing that is uncomfortable for me sometimes is the language that my male counterparts use. It can be, let's say… not so nice. But sometimes, I find myself using it as well, to make myself clear when time is short and work needs doing!
What are some of the challenges you faced during the development stages of World of Warplanes, or now?
I am a person of order and rules. I like things to be done right according to the workflow and time. So the biggest challenge for me was to get my male co-workers to understand that I’m not going to compromise, and that the fact that I am a woman will not give them the chance to avoid following the workflow.
How do the amazing women of the past inspire your day to day work in creating games?
If we're talking about things that inspire me, I would say that I try to notice all the good parts of every person I meet in life and I try to add those qualities to my own character. I’m idealistic to a huge extent, so I have my own ideal “image" of me which I try to polish every day. So the main message here would be: you can be inspired by every single person you meet in life and all people are amazing when you get to know them better.
That’s it for today’s interview. Keep checking back to find even more interesting insights from our developers in future articles right here in the news section.
Did the interview get you inspired to try your luck at game developing, pilots?
