We're interviewing Christopher Mitchell, currently a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Razer and working in Singapore. Christopher has been involved in gaming and eSports with Razer since 2008.
Hey Christopher. What do you do, both day-to-day and in general?
As a Product Marketing Manager, a person is generally responsible for global branding of selected products. In my case, I’m leading the team for Razer’s Software products and OSVR involvement. My work is pretty broad, from conceptualization, development, go-to-market strategy and launch plans, all the way to the end of the product lifecycle. Day-to-day, that means observing, analyzing the market, bringing market insights to the product development team, defining product positioning and messaging for new products, training the staff internally on these new products, preparing marketing collateral, providing marketing plans to the global and regional sales & marketing teams, and coordinating the execution of all of that globally and within budget.
What are the qualities and skills that make a great product marketer?
Strategic thinking, good understanding of the target audience, and excellent multi-tasking. Creativity on top can’t hurt.
You describe yourself as a professional gamer on hiatus. How has video gaming impacted your career?
It actually honed the top three skills I just mentioned in many ways, as I played primarily Real-Time-Strategy Games. Other skills that I’ve learned from gaming were anticipating what’s going to happen next, setting up a battlefield in your favor, and drawing reasonable conclusions from limited information that’s available to you. In many ways these also apply to a professional career.
How important is your passion for gaming and involvement in the gaming community to your success at Razer?
Passion for gaming is very important. Razer’s motto “For Gamers. By Gamers.” is something we truly live by. We want to make great products that we’d enjoy using or we don’t want to do it at all. Being our own target audience helps greatly in knowing what’s good and what isn’t. If it appeals to us, it’s likely it will appeal to gamers out there.
Talk a bit about your international education and how it's helped you get to where you are today.
Studying abroad (in Canada) prepared me later for work far from home (I moved from Germany to Singapore). It helped me to be comfortable communicating in a second language and made transitioning to a new culture easy. While an education or professional experience in other countries is unlikely to make a significant difference to me work-wise, I found it rewarding and I recommend everyone should consider it if given the chance.
What qualities are most important to you in co-workers and potential hires?
Passion for gaming & doing great work, honesty, and reliability. Many other things can be taught or learned, but those things are innate characteristics that allow you to be great.
Finally, what's your best piece of career advice for job seekers generally?
Don’t chase money, but find something you love doing. There is no perfect job, but if you find something you enjoy most of the time and if your work is meaningful, it’s a better reward than a big paycheck while dreading to go to work.
Razer makes hardware for gamers. They're a lifestyle brand that sells everything from computer peripherals to video game console controllers and one of the most recognized names in the gaming industry. They have nine offices and three R&D labs worldwide, currently hiring heavily in Singapore, so check 'em out.