#MeetIronGalaxy – Sujatha Nagarajan

Iron Galaxy has grown a lot over the years. Today, we’re talking to one of the first 15 people to join us - employee #12 to be exact. Sujatha has proudly worked on a lot of Iron Galaxy games, including Street Fighter 3rd Strike: Online Edition, Marvel vs. Capcom: Origins, Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, Darkstalkers Resurrection, Divekick, and Rumbleverse. She started with us in Chicago, but these days she makes her contributions remotely from India. Read on to learn more about Sujatha.

Iron Galaxy: Hi Sujatha. What’s your current role at Iron Galaxy?

Sujatha Nagarajan: Senior Software Engineer.

IG: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

SN: Understanding and debugging a massive code base written by another team.

IG: Hopping between various partner code bases must be a unique challenge. What’s one skill you learned growing up that you use the most in your role?

SN: Being able to imagine stuff in 3D (with a quirk of closing my eyes when doing so).

IG: That’s when we know you’re in Super Sujatha mode. What has been your proudest moment as a member of the Iron Galaxy team?

SN: One of my recent proudest moments is when Rumbleverse launched.

IG: If you could give someone who wanted to follow in your career’s footsteps one piece of advice, what would it be?

SN: To keep reading technical books/journals/papers and keep learning.

IG: Forever chasing knowledge, can’t go wrong with that advice. What is the best thing about working at a video game development company?

SN: It’s seen as a cool career by all generations.

IG: What is your favorite perk associated with your job?

SN: Having team members/project leads/Producers who are considerate about work-life balance.

IG: We all must rely on one other to get our tasks done. Working one’s best 40 hours a week is a priority held by the whole company. How collaborative are you with different teams across Iron Galaxy?

SN: Pretty collaborative.

IG: What’s the most rewarding aspect of creating things that other people experience?

SN: The sheer look of amazement and fun that people exhibit when they play the game for the first time.

IG: There’s truly nothing like it. What is the best impact you’ve seen a video game have on someone’s life?
SN: Social aspects. It brings people together.

IG: What’s it like working remotely from India?

SN: It has been good so far. I needed to develop remote specific skills like different modes of communication that are essential to clarify and drive points across. I do miss face to face interactions and usually compensate by doing a lot of catching up during my Chicago office visits.

IG: We love every time you get to stop by. We overheard you are a part of graphics and programming groups. What about graphics and programming is appealing to you?

SN: The sheer knowledge and experience that folks have and the way they communicate to people of various levels of understanding always amazes me. Being a person that’s a non-English native, learning the way IG experts conduct technical communication has been highly crucial to me.

IG: You are a member of The Fusion, Iron Galaxy’s AAPI employee resource group. What’s something you’ve enjoyed about being a part of The Fusion?

SN: I’ve enjoyed being able to connect with other Fusion folks on similarities and differences in our respective cultures. It’s interesting to learn about each other’s cultural mindsets.

IG: What’s been your favorite IG project to work?

SN: I am not able to pick favorites. My first project (Street Fighter III: 3^rd Strike Online Edition) with IG will always remain fresh in my mind. Each one after that is special to me in its own unique ways.

IG: That’s special to hear. How has game development changed during your time at Iron Galaxy?

SN: The scope of each project has gradually become increasingly profound and complex.

IG: Sounds like a deep answer to unravel another day. What is your hometown?

SN: Bangalore, India.

IG: Aside from playing video games, what is a favorite hobby of yours?
SN: Running (5K/10K).

IG: A good hobby for taking a break from the screen. What is something you feel everyone must do once in their life?

SN: Participate in running marathons.

IG: Multiple marathons. Assignment understood! If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

SN: Curd rice.

IG: Yum. That reads tasty and we bet that would accompany a lot of meals well. What is your favorite travel destination that you have visited?

SN: I am not much of a travel person, but Niagara Falls is one of the most beautiful and amazing natural wonders of the world.

IG: What is one place that you hope to see one day?

SN: Antarctica. I wish to step foot there at least once in my lifetime.

IG: Magical places. You might not be a travel person, but you definitely are intrigued by exciting places. What’s one genre of games that you think is underrated?

SN: Games that apply deep psychological connection like “A Space for the Unbound.”

IG: The game you played with The Fusion, our DEIA employee resource group that celebrates AAPI voices and cultures. Excellent choice. What is your favorite book or series?

SN: The Harry Potter series and self-help/psychology books.

IG: If you could pick a song to play every time you entered the room, what would it be?

SN: It is a Tamil (mother tongue) song from 2018 composed by A. R. Rahman.

IG: We’ll queue this song up for your next arrival to one of the studios! Name a scene from a movie that makes you cry, every time.

SN: It is a Tamil (mother tongue) movie scene from Anjali. The scene features an emotional connection between a mother and her mentally challenged and terminally ill third child, during the last few days of the child’s life.

IG: What movie have you seen the most times?

SN: Avvai Shanmugi. It is a hilarious Tamil remake of the Doubtfire movie.

IG: What is your favorite series to binge?

SN: Supernatural.

IG: What is one superpower that you’d like to have?

SN: Teleportation.

IG: You get one wish. You can’t wish for more wishes. For what do you wish?

SN: Customized memory growth that I can control at any point of time.

IG: Spoken like an engineer. Always optimizing. Given a time machine, which historical period would you like to experience first-hand?

SN: None. I am happy with the present.

IG: What fictional universe would you choose over our own? What if there was no coming back?

SN: The Harry Potter world. If there was no coming back, I’d want to know about that in advance so I could keep my finances in order and prepare my family in the human world for goodbyes.

IG: The parent and witch in you is speaking loud and clear. If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would you invite?

SN: Malala Yousafzai. She is a huge inspiration.

IG: Which historical figure would you want to show the modern world? What do you think they’d say?

SN: Thiruvalluvar was a poet and philosopher who wrote 1330 short couplets in Thirukkural. Each of them holds relevant and current for every single generation. If Thiruvalluvar were to visit 2024, he would say “Hey, I told you so. Go hit my book.”

We have a bunch of recommendations to take away from this interview, thanks Sujatha! Learning about your unique experiences throughout your time at IG gives newer employees perspective and things to expect looking forward at our careers. We’re eager to catch up with you during your next stop in the States, but happily look forward to catching you online in our next virtual meeting. Good luck on your current project and can’t wait to see what you work on next.

#MeetIronGalaxy is a series where we interview members of our studios. Learn more about producers, designers, artists, and more by reading Q&A discussions on our news page.