We Believe In People! To celebrate this core value of ours, we asked some of the people we believe in to share their Kolibri experience. From their first day at the office to daily life at the company, getting used to life in Berlin, and much more… so today, meet Barry!
What’s your name and what do you do here?
My name is Barry and I’m a Brand Artist here at Kolibri Games.
What does a Brand Artist do?
I make all the art that is not for our games. Instead, I do art for the website, for the office, etc.
What color would you use to summarize Kolibri?
The Kolibri color is Berlin grey. Because we’re in Berlin and because I’m going to be looking at the color grey for the next 6 months.
Where are you from?
I’m from Los Angeles, California.
Why did you come to Berlin?
I didn’t come here for the job. My wife and I were here a couple of times for holiday and we pretty quickly figured out that it’s an awesome city and that it was time to live somewhere else for a little while.
Would you ever go back?
For holiday. If I were to guess right now, my guess is that I’ll be in Germany until I’m too old to make my own decisions.
Is there something you miss?
Berlin is super flat. I miss living in a landscape that is a little more varied than Berlin.
What was your biggest culture shock?
Getting a package delivered in Berlin is utterly maddening and you should never do it.
What was your first day at Kolibri like?
Awesome! The two trial days that are part of the recruiting process allowed me to get to know a bunch of people, to present my work to the team and get feedback on it. Once I was offered the job and came in, it didn’t feel like my first day at all.
What does your typical day look like?
It’s fairly unstructured. I come in in the morning, a few minutes before work officially starts, and just write down everything I plan to do on that day on a piece of paper. Those first 15 minutes set me up for the day really nicely. Mostly, I then just sit down and work through my list.
If you could choose to go into any other position in the company for a day. Which one would you choose?
I think it would be fascinating to spend a day answering player emails or responding to support requests. I would love to find out what people talk to us about.
What’s the first game you remember playing?
The first game I remember playing was Zork, the text-based adventure game.
What stereotype you had about working at a games company did not become true?
We don’t ride around on razor scooters and play ping pong all day. We also don’t have bubbly water on tap.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned here so far?
I’m not a “move fast and break things” person. I’m a “move deliberately and fix things” person. I’ve learned how to work a little more quickly. I’m still more deliberate than some people, but I’m getting better at getting things done more quickly while giving myself room for improvements in the next iteration.