Ever wondered what the most unusual career path might look like? Meet Thomas Strand, our talented and skilled trainee who is also an IT Specialist for satellite communication at the German Air Force!
Working on our G.IO influencer platform and at the same time holding the rank of a Staff Sergeant: we had a super interesting interview with Thomas about his professional career and are now happy to share it with you!
Hi Thomas, can you share a little about your background and your career path?
Hi, I was born and raised in Bavaria in a rather small village. So, I didn’t have access to the internet until I was 18 years old. Still, I played video games all my life. My grandpa bought me a GameBoy when I was 3 years old, the big, chunky, grey one. Battlefield Bad Company 2 introduced me to online gaming, and I never stopped since.
After finishing school, I decided to become an IT Professional and worked as an admin and database specialist for over 5 years. Getting bored easily, I wanted to try something new before I got too old, so I joined the German Airforce and became an IT Specialist for satellite communication and an instructor for the basic training of new recruits. I am currently holding the rank of a Staff Sergeant.
I joined GameInfluencer as an intern as a part of a military training program. It is meant to prepare us soldiers for the time when we leave the military, providing us with the degree “Bachelor Professional of IT Business Management.”
What are your responsibilities at GameInfluencer?
I work a lot with the new Influencer Platform G.IO. I am responsible for troubleshooting on the platform, onboarding new influencers, finding new influencers that might fit the platform and helping them to settle in.
What is the most exciting/interesting part of your work?
Definitely getting to know the world of influencing. I think it is extremely interesting and gives so many people new opportunities in life. Also I love working in English and improving my business English.
What is the most challenging part and how do you handle it?
With my military background I had some problems in the beginning with the complete new environment where I found myself in. GameInfluencer is a different world for me. But everybody is super nice and supportive and there is always someone to help me when I am stuck somewhere.
What was your most favourite project you worked on at GameInfluencer?
Setting up the discord Server for the G.IO platform. It gave me a lot of things to decide on my own and was a lot of fun learning about Discord and setting everything up.
Top 3 your most favourite video games.
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Brotato (it is literally 4€ and I spent already 300h+ in it)
Gothic 1 (so hyped for the remake)
Top 3 gaming influencers you follow yourself.
Read more about our other team members and stay tuned for the upcoming series:
Meet Alex, Head of Business Development at GameInfluencer
Meet Florian, Head of Marketing & Partnerships at GameInfluencer
