Community Developer at Valve Software
Greater Seattle Area
- Current
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- Community Developer at Valve Software
- Past
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- Technician and PC/Technology Salesperson at Geek Squad / Best Buy
- Volunteer Customer Support at Valve Corporation
- Contract IT Specialist at AXIOMETRICS INC.
- QA/Playtester - CAMP packs at Valve Corporation
- General Manager at The Purple Cow
- Host, Server, Cashier at The Purple Cow
- Education
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- Southern Methodist University
- Episcopal School of Dallas
- Recommended
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3 people have recommended Burton - Connections
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107
connections
- Industry
- Computer Games
- Websites
Burton Johnsey’s Summary
My visit with Rony Chammas, a personal friend, at Electronic Arts Inc.’s headquarters in January of 2007 and the informative conversation with Senior Producer Morgan Roarty have inspired me to pursue any opportunity in the exciting areas of game production, management, and QA testing.
I have been a gamer since the days of Wolfenstein and Doom. In fact, my brother and I spent our summer days playing Duke Nukem and Command & Conquer over a serial connection. Being a gamer, I have naturally always been interested in computer hardware and built my first computer at age thirteen. After my first build, I was addicted and began spending my free time reading up on the latest hardware or looking over the newest benchmarks. I have since built several dozen computers and this hands-on experience, combined with my extensive knowledge,led to a contract position for a research firm in Dallas--Axiometrics Inc.
With the release of Counter-strike: Source Beta, I began frequently posting on Valve’s official forums at www.Steampowered.com. Because of my constructive and helpful posting habits and my ability to lead-by-example, Taylor Sherman of Valve requested I join the forum moderating staff. This was a great opportunity for me to learn about game development, the effect of development decisions on customers, and appropriate methods of handling customers.
As Community Developer, I perform a wide variety of duties at Valve from basic customer support and QA to managing various projects, creating new features for our forums, and working with the Steam and game developers to improve our products.
Burton Johnsey’s Specialties:
Gamer with varied background of game playing, C++, x86 IA32 ASM, PHP, mySQL, vBulletin, PC Hardware Proficiency, PC Hardware Assembly, Microsoft Office Suite
Burton Johnsey’s Experience
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Community Developer
Valve Software
(Privately Held; Computer Games industry)
November 2007 — Present (1 year 9 months)
• Community Manager
• Manage various localization projects
• Web development
• Support Rep.
• other odds and ends -
Technician and PC/Technology Salesperson
Geek Squad / Best Buy
(Public Company; BBY; Retail industry)
May 2007 — November 2007 (7 months)
•Facilitating the complete solution of product sales, upgrades, installations and service in the store
•Troubleshooting desktop and laptop computer hardware and software problems, diagnosing and resolving issues to clients’ satisfaction
•Tutoring customers on the operation of their products, services, and/or solutions
•Working in heavy traffic, fast paced environment with little direction from supervisors while planning and executing self scheduled tasks to produce positive results
•Expected to personify and uphold the Geek Squad service standards -
Volunteer Customer Support
Valve Corporation
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)
March 2005 — November 2007 (2 years 9 months)
•Acquiring an extensive understanding of player communities and their impact on gameplay and development
•Gaining valuable insight into issues facing various types of game play and artistic and technical considerations
•Beta-testing a variety of games, applications, and features
•Improving communication skills while managing feedback from current and potential customers
•Enhancing the usability of the forums by consistently enforcing the forum rules and by providing assistance to users around the world -
Contract IT Specialist
AXIOMETRICS INC.
(Real Estate industry)
June 2003 — November 2007 (4 years 6 months)
•Designed, built, and managed state-of-the-art servers, dramatically improving server performance and infrastructure
•Made recommendations as to what systems would most effectively meet the company’s needs
•Provided troubleshooting assistance and maintenance on all computer systems -
QA/Playtester - CAMP packs
Valve Corporation
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)
August 2007 — November 2007 (4 months)
•Cooperating with the Day of Defeat: Source community to assemble popular, high quality maps
•Playtesting maps to assure that gameplay is fluid and visuals are on par with first-party maps
"Some members of the Day of Defeat: Source community have put together a community map collection of three of the most popular third-party maps. The maps, named Coire, Strand, and Vigilance all offer pretty distinctive and unique experiences on their own, and have been play tested and bug proofed by community members over the past several months. This first Community Assembled Map Pack (or C.A.M.P. #1) for DoD: Source will be the first in a series from this group that we'll point out for the community as they are released. If you want to download and check them out, click here for the download instructions."
Source: http://www.steampowered.com/Steam/Marketing/message/1020/ -
General Manager
The Purple Cow
(Restaurants industry)
March 2007 — May 2007 (3 months)
•Responsible for all store operations, including accounting, inventory, merchandising and sales
•Supervised the employees and all work in the diner to meet established goals around customer satisfaction and store revenue
•Assisted with or responded to customer inquiries and complaints as required
•Mentored front of the house employees in customer service and training -
Host, Server, Cashier
The Purple Cow
(Restaurants industry)
June 2006 — May 2007 (1 year)
•Represented the Purple Cow brand of restaurants by striving to exceed all expectations and goals
•Ensured every customer had an enjoyable encounter from every facet of their dining experience
•Managed multiple tasks, paying special attention to details, and communicate wonderfully with customers
Burton Johnsey’s Education
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Southern Methodist University
Computer Science Engineering on Gaming Track , 2005 — 2007
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Episcopal School of Dallas
1993 — 2005
Additional Information
Burton Johnsey’s Websites:
Burton Johnsey’s Interests:
Austin Game Developers Conference, Quakecon, technology, cars (especially Mini Coopers), friends, family, games, programming, politics, economics, management training, problem solving, helping others,
Burton Johnsey’s Honors:
Lindsay J. Embrey Scholarship
Alpha Lambda Delta First Year Honor Society
Burton Johnsey’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
