James: This Game Dev is on (Gold)fire!

/in , , , ,

James Simpson joined Stone Soup, all the way from Oklahoma, USA. He is not just a game developer, who studied Entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma, but he also has his own company named Goldfire! He explains that he started his company to develop his own ideas, and for the last 10 years he’s been doing just that. His team includes developers, engineers,3D artists and voice actors, and he has employees from many different parts of the world.

James’ company logo

Life as a Digital Nomad: The Journey has just begun

James was ready to explore the world when the Pandemic hit, so he had to postpone his plans a bit, but, maybe finally being out of quarantine gave him an extra push to pursue his dreams:  He and his wife began their journey in Portugal, just a couple of months ago. There, James finally got to meet a colleague he’s been working with for the last 2 years, but had never seen in person! His year-long plan continued with his arrival in Athens, where he plans on staying for 4-6 weeks.

Welcome to the Mediterranean, James

Coming from Oklahoma, the differences between his home and the countries he’s visited so far are hard to miss. Both Greek and Portuguese people seem open, friendly and approachable, and the landscape of the two countries is similar as well. But what made James choose Athens as his second destination? Well, for one thing the history: James even got a permit to take drone pictures of the Parthenon, as drone photography is one of his favorite hobbies. The city’s weather and mediterranean lifestyle sure helped, and James is excited to meet Athens’ culture and people.

Game on!

James’ newest game is titled “Arctic Awakening”, and it’s gonna be set in the snowy landscapes of Alaska. This sci-fi mystery game invites players to explore the frozen scenery. Since this is his first game where he’s building a snowy landscape, James sure faced some challenges, but Goldfire has always been very open to their audience: As you can see in their website, they post news about the process of each project, while making sure their audience can partake in the whole process.

(Co)Work-Life balance

James, who sure has a lot of responsibilities, is definitely a planner when it comes to his work. In his personal life, however, he prefers to go with the flow. He likes his work and home environment to be separate, so, coworking spaces are ideal for him.

Plus, Working with professionals from different backgrounds helps him focus on his own thing, while also giving him the opportunity to get out of his shell and socialize. 

If you wanna learn more about James’ games (we sure are looking forward to playing “Arctic Awakening”), you can find him here.

Meet Sergio, a freelance dev who fell in love with Athens!

/in , , , , , , ,

Sergio is a freelancer specialising in informatics who first visited Athens six years ago while travelling. He came back to the city as a digital nomad and spend some of his time co-working with us.

Life in Athens

Having a Spanish origin, he feels very much at home in Athens and enjoys the Mediterranean climate and relaxed lifestyle of the locals. He has already toured a few of the islands as well as mainland Greece. What excites him the most is how easy it is to get away from the city into the countryside and ‘zone out’ as he put is. 

‘I love nature. It makes me feel recharged and gives me fresh energy which I can then put into my freelance work. As a remote worker I am fortunate to get the chance to do that!.’

Working in informatics

After completing his studies in Media, Sergio moved to Germany in order to to pursue a career in informatics. He is currently working as a web developer for a German finance company. During the pandemic he had to work from home most of the time, but accommodating himself into co-working spaces changed his mindset for the better. 

‘I feel so much more concentrated when in an office due to the fact that I get to work without distractions. I especially like Stone Soup as a space because of the warm and welcoming feeling this place has. The atmosphere is quite the opposite from the stiff corporate environment I was used to be around and I really embrace that.’ 

Video games & more

Sergio’s hobby is prototyping video game ideas and developing graphics for them. He finds it way more exciting than anything else and he hopes to be able to make a living out of it in the future. 

‘Having a project of your own is really fun and rewarding at the same time. For me it has been great working in an office space because I manage to split my time effectively in between my job and my hobby as well!’ 

Sergio’s GitHub profile link : https://github.com/colado

Introducing Our Operations Intern: Katerina

/in , , , ,

Hello Stone Soup community! I’m Katerina and I joined the team two weeks ago. Many of you may have already bumped into me at Stone Soup these past few days, but let me properly introduce myself.

I’m 23 years old and I live in Athens, in a lively neighborhood, not far from Stone Soup. Soon after graduating with a Philology degree from University of Athens, I started my MA in Cultural Organisations Management, which I’m pursuing at the moment. My love for art and cultural activities led me to work for museums, events and cultural organizations.

Why Stone Soup?

Lately, I discovered that social entrepreneurship is something that I would like to get involved in and Stone Soup seemed like the right place for me. I discovered the coworking space through “Life Skills”, a youth career and development program, tailored to businesses with a social footprint. I instantly clicked with Stone Soup, since it is a dynamic multicultural co-working space. Stone Soup is based on sharing and  has built a strong community from all around the world.

Life Skills

I may be a true Athenian girl, but an international environment always fascinates me and this coworking space has already given me the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and feel part of this non-stop growing community!

My role at Stone Soup

For the next two months I will be Stone Soup’s communication and operations assistant, creating content for social media, making sure life at Stone Soup runs smoothly, engaging with the existing community and onboarding new members.

Alongside the coworking everyday life, I’m looking forward to co-organising events for the community. Since I’m a foodie I would love to share some of my recipes and make fellow Stone Soupers happy! I have no doubt that this internship will give me the opportunity to learn how a social enterprise works, especially in the communication sector.

I hope you will all be here to try my recipes during our gatherings!

Community management internship at Stone Soup!

/in , , , , ,

Community Management Internship

We are seeking a professional to join our coworking business to manage our community of members and expand Stone Soup’s partnerships.

Office-as-a-service is booming and demand is growing rapidly. The coworking market requires different skill sets and involves a wide variety of duties and responsibilities, including hosting, sales, management, and marketing skills, but it is equally important that the candidate is proactive cheerful, and outgoing. During the internship, the candidate will learn to manage the physical space, interact with our community, represent Stone Soup, and promote our activities. There is the possibility of being hired into a full-time position after the internship is completed.

Key Qualifications

* Experience in customer service and sales
* Excellent English language skills (verbal and written) as we communicate primarily in English
* Interest and knowledge about the creative/cultural industry
* Digital knowledge and familiarity with creating content that can be used for either social media or digital marketing
* Familiarity with software such as Canva and photography or video editing skills is an advantage

Position Description

Stone Soup was founded in 2014 to offer a flexible creative work environment in central Athens. The business manages 900 square meters of fully equipped offices of shared space and other infrastructure, as well as a large rooftop terrace with views of all of Athens. Our services are provided with various subscription packages (daily, weekly and monthly) which are designed to offer the best solution for every professional who approaches us. The primary goal is to provide flexibility in the way our members work but also to create a community among them to form a strong network of support, interaction, and empowerment. Stone Soup community members are a very interesting mix of people from all corners of the world with very different skills and professional experiences. We are a social space that grows organically and we are always looking for new people to support us and we in turn give them the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.

The post includes the following responsibilities:

* Responding to requests from members or potential customers and resolving any problems
* Creating, scheduling, and publishing web content in English
* Working on new ways to engage the community
* Assist with marketing and promotional activities for the business
* Represent the company and support events and gatherings

The internship program is powered by the Life Skills initiative.
Life Skills is a professional and personal development program for young people run by the British Council with funding from HSBC. The project aims to develop the career prospects of young people (18 to 30 years old) who are either out of education, employment, or training or who are looking for a positive career change to pursue a better future. Life Skills aims to make a real impact on Greek society by promoting work in social and solidarity economy organizations or in SMEs with a social impact, as an alternative and inclusive career option to combat youth unemployment.

For more information and a detailed job description, please visit the following link: 
www.britishcouncil.gr/programmes/education/youth-skills/life-skills-creating-alternative-pathways-for-unemployed-youth

Or contact [email protected]

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 14 September 2022, 23.59.