How a Macon company is helping gamers become IT experts
For decades, a stereotype has lingered around video game players: that spending hours a day in front of a screen turns their brains to mush.
This isn’t exactly the case. Gamers often pick up employable skills, even if they don’t realize it, said Macon information technology professional Jason Clarke. Think: problem-solving or analytical reasoning skills. They can take apart and reconfigure a computer monitor, use scripting languages to customize games and optimize their home network devices to deal with high data loads.
Clarke has made it one of his life’s missions to equip gamers or the otherwise tech-savvy to roles in cybersecurity and IT. He’s the co-founder of SON Technologies, a startup that uses immersive, game-based training environments to further hone and refine these skills for both K-12 students and adults.
Having celebrated its fifth year of operation, SON was the first Macon-based startup accepted into Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center, a science and business incubator, and has ambitions for further growth.
Students enrolled in the program will receive a series of industry-level certifications upon completion that serve as the backbone for a Certified Ethical Hacking certificate, which is a qualification given to IT professionals who can use the same tools as a hacker to assess the security of a system. The adults come out with CompTIA Security+, which is a foundational certification for a career in IT security.
Through these programs, the students and adults receive skills employers are looking for in future workers. There are a few ways they’re introduced to these skills, such as prerecorded lessons provided by a virtual instructor and sandbox environments.
These jobs are in demand. As one example, about 16,000 positions for information security analysts are projected to open each year, on average, over the next decade, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 29% from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations.
SON — which stands for Swagged Out Nerds — pieces together an esports and anime convention in Macon every year called Isekai, which it views as a primary recruitment tool for its student and adult programming. But the program is already in schools in Bibb, Twiggs and Houston counties.
“When people think of gamers, you think of the 40-year-old that’s in his mom’s basement,” Clarke said. “But that’s not the case, right? You have some really smart, cool, fast individuals that have employable skills. So we wanted to change the narrative behind that.”
Stat of the month: 400%
The increase in applications for film and television projects seeking tax credits in California since the state doubled the available funding. This isn’t the greenest of flags for Georgia, which is competing with other states to land a smaller pool of projects and keep them in the United States.
Weathering the future
Meteorologists across several of the country’s news stations, including one of Atlanta’s own, are befuddled by new essay questions included in applications to become a federal meteorologist.
Among the questions now listed on National Weather Service job applications: detailing how the applicant would use their skills to advance President Donald Trump’s executive orders and improve government efficiency, as well as how their commitment to the Constitution inspired them to pursue that role.
In a post on X, Atlanta News First meteorologist Ella Dorsey said the questions have “absolutely nothing to do with meteorology skills and capabilities.”
The job listing is part of the NWS’ hiring of about 450 meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians after major job cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency. The questions on the application are certainly new and are all included on federal competitive service job vacancy announcements above a certain level, according to a memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. They’re not required to be answered, but agencies are encouraged to use them for competitive merit promotion hiring.
Megalopolis: Once more for the road
Hollywood trade publications and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution produced a whirlwind of headlines about Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million opus “Megalopolis” over the past year and a half. Less-than-savory press aside, “Megalopolis” was a major employer for Atlanta crews and marked one of the few auteur-driven productions to make use of Georgia’s massive soundstages.
During the monthslong shoot, documentarian Mike Figgis served as a fly-on-the-wall, capturing much of the triumphs and turmoil on a Nikon Z8. What became of this footage? The 107-minute “Megadoc,” which had its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in late August. The film will hit the Tara Theatre on Sept. 26.
Speaking of Venice ...
Around this time last year, Freedom Parkway was covered in at least a dozen destroyed cars. Atlanta is certainly no stranger to vehicular mayhem, but this scene was more fiction than fact. It was part of Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film “Bugonia,” which premiered at Venice and will release in theaters nationwide in late October. Peep 1:53 in the first trailer, and you’ll see some familiar sights on the skyline, such as the stair-stepped Georgia Pacific Tower and Truist Plaza, to name a few.
THE SCENE
This column has been adapted from the July edition of The Scene, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s LinkedIn newsletter about all things in the Georgia entertainment business. Keep up with the latest insider news about what’s happening in the business of film, music and TV by subscribing on the AJC’s LinkedIn page: linkedin.com/newsletters/the-scene-7260320785393766400/
About the Author
Savannah Sicurella is an entertainment business reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
