If you’ve been following our livestreams, you probably already know that our Community Manager Adrian was a school teacher in Japan. To find out more about how his experience as a school teacher aligns with his current role as Kongregate’s community manager, we sat down with him to talk about his job search and which of the skills he learned as a teacher are still relevant to his job. We shared it. Current role.
cue: We’ve talked before about how your previous experience as a teacher relates to your current position as a community manager, and I’m really curious to see how that experience was applied during the interview process.
A: To be honest, I applied for the job with a resume that was not directly related to the position. I used my cover letter to explain how my teaching experience in Japan can be applied here. It turns out it was instrumental in securing the interview!
My previous job, like my role here, involved many methods of how to present information effectively. But now, instead of teaching students, I’m passing on information to my team and community members. Both jobs involve presenting information in the most accessible way to the audience.
cue: You’ve been here for over a year now, what skills and experience as a teacher do you think are particularly relevant now?
A: In my experience, two notable aspects stand out. Firstly, there is increased awareness of effective communication, and secondly, it is about accommodating diverse communication needs.
As essential as language is to communication, it can sometimes overpower other important factors. While I was teaching in Japan, the language barrier forced me to rely on alternative methods of communication beyond words.
I often used visually appealing worksheets that included strategic formatting and white space to grab the reader’s attention. This helped prevent students from getting lost. If a student gets lost, it becomes very difficult to bring them back.
While teaching in a private school for the past three years, I have faced the unique challenge of teaching young Japanese students between the ages of 12 and 14. This included effective presentation skills, classroom management and coordination. Comment section. This special period is one characterized by rapid growth and emotional vulnerability. We’re dealing with a lot. We learn about ourselves and the world around us.
Nowadays, understanding these emotional states of growth remains an important part of my approach, especially when working with diverse groups of individuals.
cue: Have you had any interactions with communities that have adopted such technologies?
A: One of our recurring scenarios is addressing reported negative behavior.
My approach may seem slower than expected to onlookers, but that’s intentional. We want to follow all necessary steps when providing support or investigating your issue or report. It is important to establish a review system to ensure there is a clear record of alerts when consequences are applied or actions are taken. There is a process.
Setting boundaries and communicating consequences is very important as a community manager. I investigate all reports. This may seem slow to those who want an immediate response, but it ultimately minimizes future complaints and builds a stronger community. This helps establish trust and fairness, so no one feels like I am being unfair. Break the rules; You will receive a series of warnings. If you disobey enough warnings, you will face some form of disciplinary action. Everyone knows the rules. If action is taken, there is no confusion as to why the action was taken.
But being a community manager or teacher isn’t just about making rules and issuing bans. Ultimately, the role of a CM is to create a space where people in the community feel welcome.
A big part of my job is designing and creating fun activities for the community and players to participate in. If you think about it, CM and teachers are really similar! Teaching students really helps me organize events for the Discord community.
Young students have a keen sense of fairness. Any perceived imbalance – even if it is not in their favor – can be upsetting. Their sensitivity to equity helped me scrutinize my activities to ensure fairness.
In my current work, I often need to adapt games or Discord bots to events, which aren’t always a perfect fit. But that experience allows us to anticipate situations where something might become unfair or unbalanced and find ways to resolve it.
cue: Is there an event going on on Discord right now?
A: Every other week we release a new Companion that players can earn on our website. So, we are holding a Who’s That Kongpanion event starting the Thursday before the release. This is where I share an outline of what the next Companion will be and community members write in to speculate on what the next Companion could be. For today’s badge. The creativity you see in that activity is so much fun, and we’ll be showcasing that art in our next livestream!
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After returning to the United States from Japan, Adrian worked as a Community Manager at Kongregate for over a year. Some of his favorite games on his site include Konkr.io, Burrito Bison, and Diebrary. Recently, he even dipped his toes into making TikToks after getting some good-natured ribbing from live stream co-host Sophia.