Helen sits in front of a computer.

Helen pursues career in game design industry after returning to education

16 February 2015

Picking the right course when starting college or university is one of the biggest decisions a person can make, but Helen Andrzejowska proved that changing your mind doesn’t mean giving up on your dreams.

Helen initially attended Rotherham College to study the National Diploma in Art and Design and after completing the course she attended Sheffield Hallam University to study fine art. After a couple of months on her degree course she realised that it wasn’t for her and thought that her only option was to go into employment.

She returned to her job in retail but felt that she never really fulfilled her full potential. After considering her options, she opted to return to education and study Media, Animation and Games at Rotherham College. Helen has a passion for concept art, which made the course perfectly suited to her.

She said: “I would definitely recommend my course to other students, as I found myself learning something new every day, and creating things that I never thought would have been possible by someone who had literally no knowledge on the subject when starting the course.

“The tutors are all really great, and make sure the course runs smoothly, not to mention their knowledge on the software and subjects is amazing.”

After completing her course, Helen has progressed to Huddersfield University to study BA Hons in Game Design. She has opted to do a sandwich course which allows her to gain work experience after her second year of her degree.

Since starting her course at Huddersfield University, she has used the skills she learned at College to help her progress on her degree course.

“My course at Rotherham College really prepared me for my university course; I think I would have dropped out by now if I hadn’t done it”, she said.

“Some of the other students on my course who joined after doing Art or IT A-Levels have found it more difficult because they didn’t do a specialised college course.”

Helen is taking part in group projects with students from programming courses and media courses creating a fully functioning game from scratch. She also has ambitious plans to go to Japan and do work experience for Sony Computer Entertainment.

To read more about Helen’s story visit www.rotherham.ac.uk/mystory

Categories: News