Lucia Šicková from Pixel Federation: Why couldn't we build a global company from Slovakia?

Lucia Šicková is the co-founder of the game studio Pixel Federation, where she currently serves as Chief Learning Officer. She also heads the initiative for better education Edufactory. In the world of successful companies with a global reach, you often meet people who dedicate one hundred percent of their time to work. However, if such a person manages to fully devote himself to several charity projects and family at the same time, there is nothing left but to say "hats off". We visited Pixel Federation's headquarters on a Tuesday morning and at first glance it was clear that we had entered a modern tech company. Thanks to the airy space and a number of pleasant relaxation zones, the offices are a place where anyone would want to work.

How did a small company become one of the most popular Slovak companies? "Pixel Federation was originally founded by four of us. We worked as employees in one company and we knew that we had the ability to do some things differently and better. At the beginning, it was a bit of a naive idea, because none of us had full responsibility for the business at that time. In any case, this vision gave us a good start. We knew that what we wanted to do was games and we gradually started building the company into the form you see it in today. The first investment came and I have to admit that at the beginning we were not completely successful. Fortunately, we had a great team of people around us who were with us from the beginning. We knew that together we could create something interesting and that's how it is to this day. A big asset is that we are able to react flexibly. Not only to market changes, but also to internal conditions that are constantly evolving. At the beginning, of course, we had no idea where we could move or go, but we saw Slovak companies that grew out of Slovakia and had global success. That was for us great inspiration. Of course, I mean companies like Sygic or Eset . Such success was not our main goal, but subconsciously it was always present in our heads. The question constantly came to us: "Why can't we also build a global company from Slovakia."

However, nothing happens by itself, without complications and obstacles. What was the biggest challenge for you in the beginning? "The biggest challenge for me was the need to have children. At the time we were starting the company, and I couldn't imagine how I would be able to combine family care and work. However, when this situation arose, I felt that we could handle it all. I was a bit stumped on that. Trying to combine childcare with a highly volatile company didn't make sense. That's why, when the second investor came in, I decided to sell my share and focused on just one division, which we were starting at the time. In addition to the children, I focused only on web solutions, and when they grew up to kindergarten age, I went back."

It's all about having the right people on the team and a lot of energy.

Looking back on your beginnings, would you have done anything differently? "Whether I would have done it differently is difficult to evaluate. Even if we were to say to ourselves now that we did something wrong, it doesn't mean that the opposite approach would have turned out well. There were definitely a few things we did right, such as balancing individual skills. Thanks to this, we were able to cover many areas from the very beginning, from design to programming, technical knowledge to strategy. Each of us was strong in something different, and thanks to this, we were able to push the project from multiple sides. It's all about having the right people on the team and a lot of energy. People say about me that I'm an eternal enthusiast and when I get excited about something, I don't let it go."

How do you manage to combine such a demanding job with taking care of your family? "Of course it's challenging. I have three children, a job, and like everyone else, I need some time for myself. I found a way to manage it. My life revolves around the calendar and I plan everything – work, sports, and free time. I tackle things anew every day and change things based on my current possibilities. I'm into art, and running helps me a lot. Thanks to it, I cope with work stress. Of course, I spend most of my free time with my children, and I'm glad I made the decision for them. The time I chose wasn't ideal, but on the other hand, I'm convinced that there is no ideal time to have children. In your twenties, you feel like you're too young, in your thirties, you feel like you're not really suited to it, and then you're too old. The fact that I decided to have children back then comes back to me a hundredfold every day. I don't regret any of my decisions."

We are therefore trying to change people's view of the possibilities they have. Our working motto is freedom and responsibility.

You have the position of Chief Learning Officer written on the door, what can we imagine under that? "Caring for people and their education. This topic is fundamental to me and within the company we are trying to translate it into various processes. We have built an internal academy, set up a system of career growth through education and overall we are trying to change the mindset of our people. We come from our education system with pre-sets, we lose curiosity, the desire to learn, we are beaten by categorization and standardization, with which this system "scraps" us. We are therefore trying to change people's view of the possibilities they have. Our working motto is freedom and responsibility. We give a lot of space to various events and activities and we expect that people will approach them responsibly and that energy will also return in our direction. I also deal with this topic outside the company through CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities. Of course, there is also a hidden business intention behind it, since we are the only game studio in the area. But the potential of talent is limited because the education system is failing, and not only in our country. All over the world, it is built on outdated models that are currently dysfunctional. That is why we support small parallel systems that test new possibilities. If they prove successful, they can gradually become part of the education system. At the same time, we are trying to support various schools and activities that we have created together with Sygic, HubHub and the Leaf organization.

A teacher should be a mentor to the student, not an all-knowing authority, because few are like that these days.

What are the biggest problems you see in current education and its preparation of people for the real modern world? "The system teaches them knowledge, and at the same time, it should teach them how to handle knowledge. It should teach them that knowledge is available from various sources and that the credibility of these sources needs to be verified. Only then will they be able to apply the information they have acquired to real practice. The teacher should be a mentor to the student and not an omniscient authority, because few people are like that these days. If that happens, they are not working in the education system. The teacher should change the primary setting so that learning is a joy for students and they are able to adapt. These are skills that we, as employers, consider very important and, given the speed at which the world is changing, absolutely necessary."

The gaming industry is similarly complicated as the film industry.

Are you having trouble recruiting people? "I would start with soft skills. Very few people who come to us know themselves. They don't have a clear idea of ​​what they are good at and what they fail at. Let's call it self-assessment. The second thing is teamwork. Only a few people have the experience that a difference of opinion is not a problem and that another opinion can also be correct. The ability to cooperate with other areas is missing. Another topic is conflict management, communication or giving feedback - all of these are skills that are missing. As for the so-called hard skills, there are few system solutions that cover game development. There are a few subjects in schools that partially deal with this topic, but there is no separate game development department. Students come to us who know how to program something, but do not understand other "crafts". The game industry is similarly complicated as the film industry. It consists not only of the IT industry, but also of artists, game designers, who are actually system architects. These functions have to understand each other on a broader scale. It's not just about understanding individual functions, but also that you understand the product as such. We have a lot of young people coming to us after school and we have to teach them all this from the ground up."

I would make teachers mentors who open students' eyes, instead of strictly monitoring, grading, and handing out penalties.

If you could change education with a magic wand, what would be the first thing you would do? "We must say to ourselves as a country that education is a priority for us. If all our people go abroad, we will not be able to fulfill our potential as a country. I am a positivist, I believe that change can be made, we just need the right people. Maybe someone who goes through our activities will be the one who will bring the change to completion. We need to start with teachers, who have an extremely responsible role. Their impact on future generations is enormous. They shape their personalities and often they are not even aware of it. They prepare them for life. Students are lost in everyday tasks, curricula, mandatory subjects and grades, and the essence is lost, which consists of simple questions: "Who is this person? What makes them happy? What are their skills?" Only in this way can you find out how a particular person can be an asset to the labor market. I would make teachers mentors who open students' eyes, instead of strictly monitoring, grading and handing out penalties."

What challenges does today's young generation face? "Every generation is a little different, I don't think it's tragic with today's millennials. They do things differently than the generation before them, but at the same time they are able to create these things in an amazing and creative way. I love working with young people and kids, because when you light a spark in them, they have super energy. Just lighting that spark is often the hardest thing. The system often dulls them so much that they can be extremely passive."

Take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way outside of school, and there really are plenty of them these days.

And what advice would you give to young people who want to acquire the skills you mentioned? "Take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way outside of school, and there really are many of them these days. When recruiting, we are interested in what the person has tried to do outside of school. How they have tried to apply their knowledge. We look at their portfolio, not their degree."

Is this what you are working on as part of your corporate social responsibility program? "You could say it like this. The Edufactory project is a non-profit organization that we created when Pixel Federation was founded. It started with a 3D animation course. We looked for young people who were interested in learning 3D animation and worked with them to acquire animation skills. Today, Edufactory does a lot of activities within education and we have three main pillars – children, young people and community. In each of them, we then fund or support various activities. For young children, we support the Hemisféra project, which teaches children to program games and animations in a playful way. The children who are the most skilled then come to us for an internship and camp. We also support educational game projects and help them with consultations. We created the Nimbus project, within which we showed people at schools various educational games that are being created in our region. Together with Sygic, HubHub and Leaf, we fund the Butterfly Effect programming school/accelerator. We support educational the Edulienka group, which teaches children in a different way than standard schools, in smaller groups and in a respectful manner. Children discover, work in teams and on individual competencies and are not graded. Our financial resources help develop this project. We also strive for awareness within our community, as we invite many experts to Slovakia for internal education needs. We present them at various community events, where we also share our know-how.”

The most important thing is the involvement of the parent, who must know what their child is interested in and what problems they are solving.

When you mention young children, what do you think children's access to technology should be like? Should they have access to it from a young age? As the time of our very pleasant conversation is running out, we have no choice but to ask about your plans for the future? "Our goal is to take the products and the company to a new level. We are looking for more senior talents at home and abroad to set our challenges a little higher. As for Edufactory , I am currently devoting most of my energy to Butterfly Effect - and we would like it to change the way we think about digital education. It is an educational platform where successful digital companies share their know-how with young people. In the labor market, we need people with technical skills, but also business acumen, who are able to cooperate with each other. This academy is proof that commercial companies can cooperate with each other and with schools and change stereotypes in our country. We are currently trying to include foreign universities in the project. As for the family, children are still growing and changes are happening day by day, so it is difficult to say what awaits us tomorrow (laughs)."