Levelling Up: No More Robots’ Pip Hoskins

Pip Hoskins, marketing lead at No More Robots, talks about how passion and outlook can often mean more than having the right qualifications

What is your job role and how would you describe your typical day at work?

I’m the marketing lead at No More Robots, and as with most marketing jobs, it varies from day to day, depending on whether we’re announcing a game, ramping towards a launch or supporting a game post-launch! A lot can change when you have games to look after, but primarily I’m shouting everywhere I can about all of our games, listening to players, feeding back to developers and playing silly roleplay games with our community!

At No More Robots, we’re working from home for life, so we have two team calls a day to set up the day and check that everyone is doing ok (we laugh a lot and occasionally play a round or two of a competitive game in these, they’re great fun!), but we aim to make sure everyone is comfortable in the day’s work and if anyone needs any extra support we make sure they get it.

What qualifications and/or experience do you need to land this job?

This is my first industry job. I started as the only marketer at No More Robots, with a zoo-based teaching degree and work experience selling silver and streaming to ~80 people. There are definitely people who see marketing degrees as a must-have, but passion and a showcase of relevant skills speak much louder to me!

While I was a streamer I built a community, chatted to developers and got involved with their communities, as an active participant or, in some lucky circumstances, a moderator. This pro-activity looks fantastic and sets you up for the real deal. Also, getting to know social platforms and store-fronts is a great way to better understand what works/doesn’t work in marketing. Keeping one step ahead and working out the next thing is such a big part of our job, showing you’re already thinking about that is fantastic.

Current marketing qualifications are amazing, and cover so many interesting facets of the job – they’ll take you far, for sure. If you don’t have one though, please don’t be discouraged! So many teams are made up of people who don’t have relevant degrees or started in entirely different roles – if you can practice and showcase your skills, nothing should stop you!

If you were interviewing someone for your team, what would you look for?

Aside from the above, because a lot of our job is based on communication, I’d look for someone who is clear in how they communicate and upbeat in how they answer and approach questions/problems. We repeat ourselves a lot and it can be very easy to get bogged down during busy periods, so being able to stay above that and remain upbeat and level is a must!

What opportunities are there for career progression?

We’re a super small team, so for us career progression moves along with the company! There’s a clear route for any juniors, and for folks who’ve taken on roles at our company who’ve wanted to move sideways in the industry, they’ve been supported and moved into positions that suit them better! We’re also organising training for all of us during quieter periods, which is so exciting, especially for us new to the industry!