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The lost Interview & AMA - 3rd Line Poker Product Expert Edition


Andy-Relax

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Almost exactly a year ago @Jami-Unibet sent me a handful of questions with the intention of posting the answers on the community as part of the series about getting to know some of the Unibet Staff. I replied to these question with an 1800 word essay, which Jami quite rightly refused to read, so it was left to collect dust in our respective mailboxes.

Fast forward to 2021 and with @Stubbe-Unibet getting all fancy with video interviews and all that jazz, he decided it was time for this interview to see the light of day and you can now read it in full below.

If you have any questions relating to the Q&A or anything Unibet/Poker related, please post them in this thread and I'll try to get to them as quickly as a can.

 

The Interview

Tell us a little about yourself, what’s your background and how did you find your way into the Unibet Poker team?

I think most people on the community will have some idea of my background by now but if you don’t, I have two pretty good resources for you…

https://www.unibetcommunity.com/t5/Blogs-Stories/Blog-How-to-be-really-good-at-being-average/m-p/24382#M917

https://www.kindredgroup.com/news--insights/2020/from-passion-to-profession--how-our-loyal-poker-customer-andrew-became-a-product-expert/

With regards to joining the team, the recruitment process was something I’d never experienced before. All my previous jobs came through family connections, so they never really involved any formal processes or interviews.

It all started with a post from Stubbe in the UAT group about the vacancy being open. I asked him a few questions about the role and what was involved with it and then fired off an application and a terribly written CV. Thankful, the HR department at Kindred didn't pay too much attention to the CV and organised a phone interview.

As I was still working in my previous job at the time, I ended up having the phone interview sitting in a McDonalds car park about 45 miles away from my home while I was on my lunch break. This was the first of many unique and interesting moments during the process.

The first face-to-face interview was over Skype (a new experience for me as well as I hate cameras and never use video calling) with the Head of Poker, Kristopher. I got asked about my history in poker, things I liked and disliked about the client and other poker related questions. I got an email a few days later informing me that I was through the first round of interviews and a 2nd face-to-face interview would be organised to take place in Malta.

This didn’t go quite as planned.

There were no direct flights from Aberdeen to Malta, so I had to go via London in order to get out to the island. This meant setting off at 6am on a cold Scottish morning to the airport to catch the first of the two flights of the day. There were storms forecast but when the checked my bags in there was no mention of any flight issues. The flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow was choppy but it landed fine and I made my way to the terminal transfer. It was very quiet, and all the TVs were off, but I just assumed that was due to some of the bigger international flights being cancelled and didn’t think much about it. Hopped on the transfer bus and 20 minutes later I’m in a different terminal and ready to go through security. I’m just pulling my passport out my pocket to give to the lady at the desk and I see a TV screen with departures on it. The flight to Malta was cancelled!

To make matters worse, it was Sunday so I couldn’t contact anyone at Kindred to find out what the best plan of action was. I also had the issue that my bags were checked in for both flights, so I was now in one terminal and the plane and my bags were in another one. This took a few hours but eventually I got them back and decided the best thing to do was try and get home. With all the planes being grounded at this point I had to get a rental car and make the 10+ hour drive back to Aberdeen.

This had its own set of issues as I got on the wrong rental shuttle bus (the two companies both had similar coloured logos and I was tired) so I had to walk to the right company in the wind and rain and then 2 minutes after driving out of the rental car park I realised that the gear knob for the car I’d been given wasn’t attached to the rest of car. I’d had enough of the day as it was and just decided to make the drive anyway as I knew I’d spend most of the journey in 5th gear anyway.

The rescheduled 2nd interview had to be conducted over Skype with Kris and Stubbe. I did a presentation in my bedroom with the laptop on an upturned mirror on the bed, a monitor (still attached to its desk clamp) propped up on a cardboard box behind it and me sitting on two speakers up against a wall so I could have a blank looking background. It looked terribly unprofessional but they could only see me and a light grey wall for a background so I think I got away with It 🙂

It seemed to go well so after that it was just a case of waiting for an email that hopefully had some good news.

Awkwardly, when I got the email saying I would be offered a position I was sitting at my desk in my old job. It was a strange experience hiding my excitement in the office while texting friends and family to let them know the good news.

The next frantic month was filled with planning, packing and goodbyes, and then it was off to Malta…

Cue two weeks of forced self-isolation with a 1 ½ year old in the company apartment with minimal toys, little ability to get groceries and an 8” x 4” covered balcony as your only option to go outside. It was one of the toughest experiences I’ve ever been through mentally and not something I want to do again in a hurry. I started work in the second week of the isolation so being handed a laptop and some cartons of milk as your induction into a new job is probably not something most people are ever going to experience! The team were very helpful in getting me up to speed quickly and answering my never-ending stream of questions which made things a lot easier.

Once the two weeks were completed, we got moved into our new apartment and “normal” life could begin.

 

What does a normal day look like for you working at Unibet Poker, and what’s the best part of your job?

I’m not sure if there is a “normal” day yet considering we’re all still working from home for the most part and I’ve never done a full day in a busy office yet.

Just now a typical day for me starts around 6-7am with the clattering of plastic or a prod and the word “Up!” from my daughter. Then I get a couple of hours with her to do breakfast and a little playtime before getting ready for the workday.

An average workday would normally start with an email check, Skype/Teams check to see if anyone has contacted me and then I’d look at any customer issues that had been escalated overnight. This can include things like dealing with client disconnections and crashes, issues with promotions, missions and challenges or general customer queries. Then I’d head to the Community forum, 2+2 and anywhere else we have an official presence to see if anyone has any questions/issues that I can help with. Next up is any combination of home game creation, Unibet Open package crediting, leader board pay-outs, CS training, meetings, Twitch related tasks... or anything else anyone wants me to do 🙂

The best part about my job is just how varied it can be. No two days are the same and I’m able to get involved in lots of different aspects of the poker product and help try and make it the best one there is.

 

How has your views changed about the industry now that you are on the other side of the curtain?

Now that I’m in the industry I have a much better appreciation for just how many people are involved in making Unibet tick. There are so many individual little cogs that are required in order to make the machine work that I didn’t really think about too much as a customer. Customer Support, Responsible Gaming, Legal, HR, facilities... the list goes on and on but they’re all vital in their own way to make sure everything runs smoothly.

 

Do you still play poker yourself, outside of work? Any other games?

Of course! I love the game so still try to find a few nights a week to play. Besides it being fun to play it also acts as market research as I can test new features from competitors and see what things I like and dislike on their software. This helps immensely when we’re trying to work out things like new tournament ideas or what new features to add to the client. Don’t have a lot of time left for other games outside poker, I couldn’t get my PlayStation in my suitcase and my aging laptop can’t handle any games released in the last 5 years.

 

What has been the thing you thought would be different/biggest surprise when working for Unibet?

The biggest difference/surprise for me has been how much freedom I have in my role and how I’ve just been trusted to get thing done. From day one Kris has just allowed me to get on and do my job in the way I want to do it. I’m free to prioritise what tasks need done in what order and get to be involved in lots of things that are not technically under my job specs.

 

What does “By Players, For Players” mean to you?

For me it’s about creating a customer experience that I would want if I was a player and ensuring we’re always trying to do things that are in the customers best interest. It would be very easy for us to just make decisions that make the most money for Unibet but sometimes those decisions are not in the players best interests or what the players want so we try not to do it. A recent example of this was when we introduced home games at Unibet. If we wanted to make lots of money, we would have added rake to every game but we felt it was more important to try and recreate the live home game as much as we could, so this meant them being rake free as well. We make no money on them but the customers get the best experience we can offer.

 

If someone from Community is thinking about a career in iGaming or at Unibet, what tips could you give them?

Get involved and be active in the community.

Without the Unibet community I wouldn’t be sitting in the Kindred office in Malta right now typing this out. I had no formal iGaming experience and no real qualifications at all but the time I’d spent on the community writing my blog and feedback/suggestions as well as helping to answer other members questions served as an alternate resume for my ability to do the job.

Talk to people already in the industry to get an idea of what it’s going to be like.

It was a conversation with Jeppe at UO Malta in 2019 that planted the seed for me that I should really try and pursue a career in iGaming. Try and get as much information as you can about how things work so you can do some research on your own.

Finally

Just send the application in!

You can’t join the team if you don’t apply.

https://careers.kindredgroup.com/ - Remember to put me as your referrer 😉

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Poker Janitor

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3 hours ago, Andy-Unibet said:

nterview was over Skype (a new experience for me as well as I hate cameras and never use video calling)

#metoo

Especially when i had one and all the communication before that was in english so i assumed interview will be too and i did my preparation, notes in english and talked to myself english couple days before interview to improve maybe rusty skills to the point others tought i've lost my marbles for good. Ofc it was finnish interviewer which threw me right off straight from beginning and had to rewind my thoughts for minute or two 🤣

Not really question here but lesson to be learned if someone is thinking about applying. Better ask than assume 🙂

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That's a really nice life story Andy! What a struggle to get to Malta!
When I was reading I was thinking how  will I do in such situation with my 2yo daughter. I guess it wasn't that easy to just leave home?
Anyway congrats for the brave decision! 👍

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10 hours ago, HardGain said:

That's a really nice life story Andy! What a struggle to get to Malta!
When I was reading I was thinking how  will I do in such situation with my 2yo daughter. I guess it wasn't that easy to just leave home?
Anyway congrats for the brave decision! 👍

For me, leaving the UK was pretty easy to be honest. I really disliked my job at the time and all my immediate family were either a 4 hour drive away or lived in a different country so there wasn't much tying me to Aberdeen. My daughter being so young was actually a bit of a benefit because it meant we had a window of a few years to be able to return if live in Malta wasn't working without it affecting school life and things like that too much. 

There was some normal stress around getting everything closed off before moving, selling everything we didn't need and storing the rest but that's to be expected in any move so I don't think it was any worse than normal.

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Poker Janitor

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