Levelling the Playing Field in Gaming and Software Engineering

For Catherine Rivera, working in a male-dominated industry wasn’t always a level playing field – in fact, it was far from it. After some negative experiences where she faced overt discrimination solely based on her being a woman in the gaming industry, she’s now working for a company that is helping close the gap in another male-dominated industry.

Catherine is now a Software Engineer at a global engineering services and nuclear organization based in the U.S. In her current role, Catherine utilizes her game development skills to create virtual reality experiences for clients so they can preview how infrastructure and energy systems work in the real world.

She hasn’t forgotten the challenges that she faced in her earlier roles as a woman in the gaming industry and how transformative it is to work in an environment that is genuinely supportive of women in technical fields.

“I remember going into an interview with a gaming company where I had a connection through a fellow university classmate. The four men interviewing me said they liked my skills but that they didn’t like me,” says Catherine. “When I told my classmate what happened, he said they were intimidated by me, which is why I didn’t get hired for the job.”

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Sadly Catherine’s experience with discrimination because she’s a woman in a male-dominated industry isn’t uncommon and serves as a reminder why International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8, 2025, is an important event. The day honours the achievements of women across all aspects of life – social, economic, cultural, and political, while also advocating for gender equality.

While women continue to make strides in working in the gaming industry, there’s still some ways to go before equality is achieved. According to Statista, in 2021, women accounted for 23 percent of the workforce in the video games industry in Canada and for 41 percent of women were directly working on games.

Fortunately for Catherine, her current company has been supportive of gender equality right from the moment she joined, where HR provided training specifically around gender and sexual discrimination.

“If you have a problem, even if it’s with your boss, and you report it to HR, they don’t put it back on you to resolve the issue, which can be intimidating, especially if you’re worried that reporting it will jeopardize your job,” she says. “The company’s HR department will correct it right away and they don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour.”

She says that while there is healthy competition at the company she works for, women colleagues focus on uplifting one another, which fosters a collaborative and friendly environment.

Now that Catherine has found a more equitable workplace where she is valued for her expertise, she’s able to focus on impactful projects.

“To create a walkthrough, data is taken from Google Earth and combined with 3D models created in Autodesk before I put it through the Unreal Platform to put lighting, texture, and animation into it so it creates a virtual reality of what the station will look like when it’s completed,” says Catherine.

Developing Curriculum with Women in Mind

Outside of her role at the engineering firm, Catherine has been actively involved in the curriculum as a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) member and Instructor for the new Certificate for Programming for Game Development, which launched last fall.

As a PAC member, she collaborated with fellow educators, colleagues, and industry professionals, integrating insights from her experience as a teacher, designer, developer, and gaming enthusiast.

“My role was to ensure the curriculum remained relevant and aligned with industry standards, equipping students with the necessary skills to succeed,” says Catherine. “Specifically, I contributed to shaping courses related to game structure, principles, programming, and industry best practices, ensuring they reflected modern workflows, tools, and expectations.”

She adds that with this collaborative effort and firsthand industry knowledge, she’s confident that The Chang School has built a strong foundation for the certificate, providing learners with a curriculum that is both practical and future-ready.

In terms of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) and incorporating that into the curriculum, Catherine says that given that game development and engineering are traditionally male-dominated fields, it’s essential to embed EDIA.

“This certificate is designed not only to teach technical skills but also to encourage diverse perspectives in storytelling, inclusive design practices, and accessibility in gaming,” she says. “By integrating real-world case studies, industry guest speakers, and project-based learning that prioritizes EDIA, The Chang School helps ensure that learners are prepared to create games that resonate with a broad audience. Through collaboration and industry-driven insights, we have developed a curriculum that fosters innovation, inclusivity, and a strong foundation for aspiring game developers.”

Further, to ensure EDIA was appropriately addressed in the program, The Chang School used a tool to ensure the program and course level learning outcomes were done in a manner that considers all equity-seeking groups, including Indigenous people, women, people with disabilities, racialized people and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Additionally, members of the curriculum committee and PAC were selected due to their commitment to integrating equity-seeking groups into the video game industry or their expertise in integrating EDIA principles into curriculum and learning outcomes.

Advice for Women Getting Into the Industry

Her advice for women looking to get into male-dominated industries like game development or software engineering?

“Be creative and just do what you love to do. Don’t be intimidated by those people. That’s a lesson I learned as I sometimes used fear as my guide in the past, which held me back from truly succeeding. I’ve been through discrimination because I’m a woman but it didn’t stop me from doing what I’m passionate about, which is why I’m still here.”