During the final year of my Bachelor’s degree, I realised that I had a very few things on my CV. It wasn’t because I was lazy or too caught up with my studies, but more because of legal issues and boundaries that were imposed on me as an international student in the UK.

You probably don’t know this, but as an international student you are not allowed to work more than twenty hours per week during term time. With student visas being valid for two years, you have to use the summer – that most national students spend on placements before starting the third year – to return to your home country and apply for another visa. There’s another rule that says you can only apply for an extension from within the UK if your course starts within twenty-eight days of the expiry date of your current visa, which often means that you have to make the application from your home country. Once, I had to return home simply because my current visa would expire thirty days before my new course started. Annoying? Very!

Therefore, during the final year of my BA, I realised that I needed to get some more content on my CV – and fast.

I’ve always loved videogames, and learned most of my digital and language skills through them. So, I decided to start a blog about my passion. I posted screenshots and interviews with developers; I covered events like MCM, Eurogamer and PLAY Expo; and slowly but surely, I built-up a stable audience of two thousand unique visitors per month. The blog even led to an invitation from Microsoft to go to Los Angeles and report on the Rise of The Tomb Raider reveal at E3. 

Later that same year, I produced an animated film that became nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. I also approached PLAY Expo with an offer to host the largest Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Celebrations of the year at their event in Manchester. This led to me landing the role of Special Events Coordinator at PLAY Expo. The role was not only exciting and rewarding, but also allowed me to be part of an incredible celebration with the heroes of my childhood. The event featured in both national and international press, and RetroGamer Magazine even ran a special feature for Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary where it dubbed me, “Lara’s Biggest Fan”. It’s odd to think now that all these incredible things were only made possible because I decided to start blogging 3-4 years ago, but it’s true!

I believe that a successful life and career are based on having a purpose: we are all different and unique, and each of us brings something creative into this world. The problem is finding what that is so you can then embrace it and share it with others. I view my blog as the digital platform where I discover and reveal my “uniqueness”.

Certainly, there are times when I get a complete creative-block and can’t come up with anything new and exciting for weeks; but overall, I think my blog has had (and continues to have) a huge and very positive impact on my life and career.

Blogging will allow you to stand out and let your personality shine. It can be particularly helpful for quiet, introverted people to make themselves heard. If you’re that shy person, then use your creativity and content to market yourself!

Did I also mention that running a blog is a fantastic thing to mention at job interviews? Many companies have blogs of one kind or another. Check if your potential employer has a Twitter account: Twitter is also an online (micro)blogging platform!

Your blog is your chance, ability, and strategy to reach people. Blogging can also make you easy to find as you build your online reputation, while you continue creating content on this journey of self-discovery and growth.

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University Alliance is an association of British universities. Its membership is made up of technical and professional universities with a mission to drive growth and innovation in Britain’s cities and regions through research, teaching and enterprise activity, with a particular focus on links with business and industry and applied research with real-world impact.

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LJMU’s World of Work Programme is a globally unique initiative which aims to make graduates most valued by employers. 

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As part of my degree I had to produce a detailed report for the Independent Study module. I wrote mine on Square Enix Europe. I’ve got 85% for it and decided to publish one chapter

Eidos was founded in 1990 by Stephen Streater. The
company initially focused on video-compression and non-linear editing software
for the Risk OS, in the process revolutionising the video editing industry.
This was helped in no small part by Streater’s use of his PhD research on image
processing to create a new video compression technology, a technology they sold
to Oracle for £36m.  “I thought we’d sell our technology to Larry
Ellison (Oracle)," says Streater. “Eidos had the only
technology that could do full-screen, full-motion video in software. And in a
$200 computer you can’t put in a $400 accelerator card.” 

After they got the £36m in 1996, Eidos bought
Domark and Centregold Group, with its subsidiaries Core Design and
US Gold. From this point on Eidos focused on video-games, completely abandoning
video-editing; the distribution element of Centregold was sold to focus solely
on developing and publishing.

In 1996 Eidos published Tomb Raider (developed
by Core Design) – the most influential video game in its history.

In 1998 Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to
Tomb Raider and its protagonist, Lara Croft.

By 1999 Eidos acquired developers Crystal Dynamics
and Pyro Studios.

Stephen Streater leaves, multiplying his original
investment – , £4 – by a million.

Streater set up Forbidden Technologies,
licensing video editing technologies from Eidos, which by now was almost
completely concentrating on games. 

By 2000 Eidos published a number of successful
games including Legacy of Kain(developed by Crystal
Dynamics), Hitman (developed by IO Interactive), Deus
Ex and five instalments of the Tomb Raider game
series. In 2000 Eidos also won two BAFTA awards for Deus Ex and Sydney
2000. In 2001 Eidos won another BAFTA forChampionship Manager.

Despite their other successes, Tomb Raider remains
the most important entity in the Eidos empire. Eidos shares regularly close
high on the NASDAQ and London Exchange before the release of a new installment
of the successful series.

Part of SCi

In late 2004 Eidos announced that it was in early
discussions with a small number of companies in relation to a possible
takeover.

In early March 2005 it was revealed that the
company’s pre-tax losses had grown to £29m.

A couple of weeks later Eidos announced that it took
the second takeover bid from SCi – another well-known British video games
publisher and developer. SCi offered £74m and a clear plan to restructure the
company in an attempt to cut annual costs. By May Eidos became a part of SCi.

In 2008 SCi’s annual report revealed that the
company had suffered a £100m in loss. CEO Phil Rogers linked this to the
organisation’s restructuring. SCi then changed their own name to Eidos Plc.
including changing their stock exchange index from SEG to EID.

Part of Square Enix and rebranding to Square Enix
Europe

In 2009 Square Enix acquired Eidos Plc for £84.3
million. It was announced that Eidos would remain independent. Contrary to this
it was then announced that the European Division of Square Enix would merge
with Eidos to form Square Enix Europe. All the studios owned by
Eidos retained their names including Eidos Montreal and Eidos Shanghai.

This merger was accompanied by some cuts in
jobs.

Despite this little changed in the routine of the
company. Phil Rogers remained CEO and Square Enix kept its promise not to
interfere with inner affairs of the former Eidos.

See this timeline for a brief history
of Core Design and Eidos

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