# Exploring Professions in the Competitive Gaming Industry Part of the Competitive Gaming Merit Badge Digital Resource Guide: [Introduction & Overview](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/index.md) *7. Careers in Competitive Gaming* > **7.** Do the following: Professional player is the job most people think of first when they hear "esports career" — but it's a tiny fraction of the industry's actual jobs. Behind every tournament are dozens of roles: coaches, broadcast producers, event coordinators, statisticians, and network engineers, to name just a few. This requirement asks you to research that wider industry from three angles: college pathways, career roles, and real job postings from major publishers. ## Requirement 7a > **7a.** Research two colleges that offer varsity esports programs. Record the following information for each: availability and amount of gaming scholarships, offered gaming or IT-related degrees, games played by the esports team, league or association in which the team competes. Collegiate esports has grown fast — hundreds of colleges and universities now field varsity esports teams, many with scholarship money attached, the same way a school might fund a soccer or debate team. As you research your two colleges, look beyond just "do they have a team" and dig into the specifics. Download: [Career Exploration Worksheet](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/career-exploration-worksheet/) Use the College Esports Programs section of the worksheet above to record your findings for both schools side by side — it makes comparing scholarship amounts and degree options much easier than separate notes. ## Official Resources [NACE School Directory (website)](https://www.nacesports.org/school-directory): An official directory of colleges with varsity esports programs, searchable by school and region. ## Requirement 7b > **7b.** Research three gaming-adjacent careers that support or connect to the esports industry but are not esports athlete roles. Examples may include: game designer or developer, shoutcaster or broadcast producer, data analyst or statistician, marketing or event coordinator, IT or network support specialist. For each career, identify the main responsibilities, education or training requirements, and how the role contributes to the success of the gaming or esports ecosystem. Every professional tournament you might have watched for Req 6b runs on the work of people who never touch a controller during the broadcast. A shoutcaster needs to know the game inside and out to call the action live. A network support specialist keeps the servers running so a match doesn't lag out in front of a hundred thousand viewers. A data analyst studies match statistics to help teams prepare strategy. > **Tip** > > Pick three careers that actually interest you, not just the three easiest to find information on. If you enjoyed the broadcast analysis in Req 6b, look closer at production and commentary roles. If Req 5's PC build was your favorite part of the badge, IT and network support roles might be a better fit. Record each career's core responsibilities, the education or training path people typically take to get there, and — the part that's easy to skip — *why that role matters* to the larger esports ecosystem. A broadcast without a producer, or a tournament without network support, simply doesn't function. ## Official Resources [100 Jobs in Esports (website)](https://www.flipbookpdf.net/web/site/0f69cbe0b3ab4127778010bc84c0383f86c1f5a5FBP25582848.pdf.html#page/5): A catalog of real esports industry job titles, useful for discovering roles beyond the obvious ones. [Hitmarker (website)](https://hitmarker.net/): A job board specifically for gaming and esports careers, showing real current openings and requirements. ## Requirement 7c > **7c.** Visit the "Careers" or "Jobs" page of a major game publisher (such as Blizzard, Riot, Epic or Nintendo). Choose three jobs that interest you. For each, identify the required education, skills, and experience. This is where research turns concrete. Real job postings tell you exactly what a company expects — not a generalized description, but an actual list of required degrees, years of experience, and specific skills. > **Be Prepared! Reading a Real Job Posting** > > - **Step one**: Separate "required" qualifications from "preferred" ones — postings often list both, and they mean different things. > - **Step two**: Note any technical skills by name (a specific programming language, design software, or certification) rather than vague terms like "tech-savvy." > - **Step three**: Look at the listed responsibilities, not just the job title — two jobs with similar titles at different companies can involve very different day-to-day work. Choose three roles across at least one company — or spread across a few — that genuinely interest you, even if they feel out of reach right now. Part of the value here is seeing what a realistic path toward that job actually looks like. ## Official Resources [Careers at Blizzard Entertainment (website)](https://careers.blizzard.com/global/en): Official job listings from the studio behind Overwatch and StarCraft, both major esports titles. [Riot Games - Work With Us (website)](https://www.riotgames.com/en/work-with-us): Official job listings from the studio behind League of Legends and Valorant. [Epic Games Careers, Jobs and Employment Opportunity (website)](https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/careers): Official job listings from the studio behind Fortnite. [Careers at Nintendo of America (website)](https://careers.nintendo.com/): Official job listings from Nintendo of America, covering roles across game development and esports-adjacent titles. You've researched the industry from every angle — history, character, health, safety, technology, service, and now careers. Extended Learning is where you can keep going beyond the badge itself. --- - Previous: [Attend an Esports Event](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/req6c/index.md) - Next: [Extended Learning](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/extended-learning/index.md)