Netflix Gaming Headhunts MU Grad from 2022

How does a degree in sociology lead to a career in Netflix Gaming? If you'd asked Ellie Rohrback the same question when she was a freshman at Millersville University in 2018, she probably wouldn't have been able to come up with an answer. She is a gamer herself, and says cozy games, deck builders, and roguelite games are some of her favorite genres - though Mario Kart 64 is an all-time favorite.

She was a sociology major with a minor in criminal justice with plans to become a police officer someday, but all it took was one semester for her to realize that policing wasn't quite right for her. Instead, she became interested in research, specifically criminal justice. After all, says Rohrback, "Sociology is the study of humanity, and why it behaves and acts the way it does. I'm so glad I choose it as my field of study."

Refining her interests and specialties during her undergraduate years provided dividends for Rohrback. "Through MU's Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change led by Dr. Carrie Smith at the time, I was a research assistant for an educational course led by the MU police department," she says. "In that program, they brought in speakers who talked about their experience in criminal justice careers to give students a chance to ask questions, with police chief Pete Anders leading the effort." The research, she explains, was to better understand if the topics they discussed were valuable to the students.

Upon graduation, Rohrback secured a job as a research assistant for American Institutes for Research. She originally applied for a role as criminal justice researcher, but the job had already closed by the time they got to her application. Instead, the company invited her to apply for a different position and offered her the job. Rohrback relocated to North Carolina to begin her new job.

In that role, Rohrback extensively used a tool called AirTable, which is a cloud-based, no-code platform that, according to their website, "combines the visual simplicity of a spreadsheet with the structural power of a relational database." Her prowess with the platform landed her a consultant position specializing in AirTable development for a company called ed Elevate Your Data. And that, strangely enough, is what led Netflix Gaming to Rohrback.

It all happened quickly. In just four short weeks, Rohrback left her first full-time position, switched to consultancy work and was head-hunted by Netflix via LinkedIn to help with the database tool. "Games at Netflix is relatively new," she shares. "Because it is rapidly developing, they were running into some difficulties developing to scale, which is where my experience with AirTable came in. Through that tool, we developed workflows to track communication across the board."

Netflix Gaming's previous ad-hoc system needed an administrator. "Their old system had grown and grown over time, but things started breaking down. That's when they decided they needed to bring in someone who knew how to build the system."

Today, she works at Netflix Gaming as a senior production operations manager, and her role has expanded significantly. As the company's gaming program expanded, Rohrback and the team received additional funding for their own custom tools, which she helps to advise on. "I help to support the producers working on the games," she explains. "Productions like this are very complex and change constantly - that's why they need experts to help manage all of the communications and workflows."

Rohrback says it was the research and methodologies courses she took at Millersville University that ended up preparing her for a role like this. "The courses that a lot of sociology students at Millersville University were nervous to take, like statistics and research methods, gave me skills I use in my job every day," she shares. "Those classes took me by surprise, and I really liked them. While you might not become a researcher, which was my goal, someday your boss is going to ask you to keep track of tasks, measure KPIs and more. I encourage students to invest in those classes, and to try and get a solid foundation on those skills. I guarantee you'll use them."

Her quick career changes, Rohrback says, ". . . feels wild. I really enjoy what I do: I feel like I'm adding value and giving back," she shares. "The work that I do is impactful, and I really don't think I could have predicted that this is where I'd be just four years after college." She notes that some unexpected parts of classroom learning proved to be incredibly valuable to her. "I built a lot of soft skills through my time in classes and internships, like building standards for myself and my work. Millersville University really set me up for success."

Check out MU's sociology program.