Kathie Flood

Summary

Making a video game is an odd mixture of science and art, and you never know what problem you'll be asked to solve next. That sort of challenge is exactly why I love my job as the Program Manager for Project Gotham Racing at the Microsoft Games Studios.

The best word to describe my career path is probably ‘accidental.’ I didn't have a major picked out until my junior year in college. I dumped way too much money into arcade games back then, but it didn't occur to me that you could get an actual job working on games. I knew I wanted to work on fun, challenging projects with smart people, but that's about it. My first job was as a technical writer responsible for documenting operating systems’ API sets, so I described how OS function calls worked and wrote sample code that exercised those functions. After several years of this, I realized I wanted to be closer to the nose end of the dog, rather than the tail, so I moved into Program Management to be part of the design and development process. I was in the right place (Microsoft) at the right time (mid-90's) with the right skills (technology background, project design and management experience) and interests (sports) when Microsoft decided to get into the entertainment software business.