Download SPCC's Career Focus Magazine - Summer

CareerFocusFeatureStay in the game at workEach certificate you earn brings new opportunitiesEvery kid has probablyplayed rock, paper,scissors at one timeor another. Someadults even play it tomake decisions amongthemselves. Now,imagine a game wherethe rock is replaced by a katanasword, the paper by a throwingstar and the scissors by ninjamagic.Brian Mangum of Indian Trail notonly imagined it, he has helpedcreate it. In fact, if all went asexpected, it is probably availablefor your iPhone right now. Yeah,there’s an app for that.“Ninja vs. Samurai” was in thepre-production stage in mid-Marchand was slated for release by earlyMay. It is the second game createdby Vendetta Studios, a partnershipbetween Mangum and Jason Cook.Their first game, “Omniball,” a 3-Darcade-type ping pong game, canalready be downloaded from theiPhone app store.Vendetta is a small company thatwas created 10 months ago but it isliterally spread from coast to coast.Cook is from here but recentlymoved to Hollis, Maine. “He’s verycreative,” Mangum said. “He kindof runs all the creative decisions;I do all the technical and businessdecisions.”There are two other employees, aprogrammer who lives in Floridaand an animator who lives inCalifornia. “We were able to findand put together a team throughthe power of the Internet,”Mangum said. “That comes withits challenges, too, one beingtrying to get everyone together fora staff meeting.”Vendetta Studios is actuallyMangum’s second job. HisBrightflow Technologies is a onemanoperation that specializesin Web design, PC repair, virusremoval, PC customization,network evaluations, networkimplementations, supportand smart phone repair andimplementation. His workload is“The long-term goal is to make my livingin gaming, and wear a T-shirt and jeansto work every day; do something I’mpassionate about every day, becausethen it’s not work.”spread about 50-50 between smallbusinessand individual clients.“Small business is kind of a nichebecause they don’t have the budgetfor an IT staff but they have moreneeds than grandma’s house, so itworks out.”Things have worked out very wellfor the 1995 Parkwood High Schoolgraduate since a football injurycost him a full scholarship to MarsHill College. But, first, there werea couple of detours. Mangum hadbeen majoring in psychology atMars Hill but had no ideawhat he wanted todo for a career. Awide receiver,he would haveliked a shotat the NFL,but theinjury tohis hip andknee endedany thoughtsof that.He finishedhis sophomoreyear at MarsHill, then spenta year at N.C.State. He workedin constructionduring that timeand saved hismoney.“That’s when Imoved back homeand realized there’ssomething else Ineeded to do,” he said.He tried his hand atland surveying forthree to four years andBrian Mangum’s officeis a convenient chairwherever he can findone. Mangum alwaystakes his laptop andBlackberry with him,and stays connectedno matter what theworkday holds.decided he needed to take someCAD and drafting classes toadvance his career. He turned toSPCC.Then, his plans changed. “I got amailer from SPCC with a list ofprograms and I saw electronicson there,” he said. “I thought,‘that’s great, that’s what Ilove, so let’s try that.’”Averaging 12 to 14 credithours a semesterBrian Mangumand working nights at a hotel,he didn’t get much sleep, but hefinished in two years.After graduating in 2003, he tooka job as a hardware engineer inthe corporate offices of Dillard’sdepartment store, “primarilytroubleshooting circuit boards …all that surface level stuff that Ilearned here.”Then, he said, the industry startedto shift. “It was easier to replace awhole board than the components,”Mangum said. “I became likethe Maytag repairman. I wouldsupervise an IBM engineer whilehe worked on our equipment,because it was still underwarranty.“With that shift,I thought it bestto start studyingthe software sideof things2I Summer 2010 I CareerFocus South Piedmont Community College I www.spcc.edu I 704-290-5100 or 704-272-5300