Today is my first day as Reviews and Round Up Editor across Lifehacker, Gizmodo and Kotaku and that means it’s time for introductions! You’re likely wondering who I am, and that’s totally cool – for most of my adult life, I’ve wondered that too. I think I’m pretty close to working it out.
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. When I was in year 6, I wrote a story about a planet full of giant humanoid insects that I called “The War for Insectopia”. It scored me an “O” – the highest possible grade in my primary school, a primary school that completely refused to use traditional grading metrics. I’ve always loved telling stories and have already had the chance to do so a few times at Kotaku – stories about fire, stories about trying to avoid diseases and stories about how to get yourself fired from EB Games.
I’ve worked in a lot of different places in my life – as mentioned above, I worked at EB Games but I’ve also done stints at GAME (R.I.P), JB HIFI (selling kettles), Xbox (as an ‘Xbox Insider’) and the Institute for Medical and Veterinary Sciences (processing blood samples). In between, I’ve sacrificed a lot of genetically-modified mice to science which, though gruesome, resulted in obtaining my doctorate in Pharmaceutical and Medical Science in 2016. And in between the in between, I hosted a kids TV show about video games that aired on the Disney Channel in Australia called GameFest. That allowed me to meet Harrison Ford and I’m fairly certain that he absolutely hated me.
Hopefully I’m making a better first impression on you.
You can probably see what I mean by not having worked myself out yet… but now I feel like I have. Now, I’m here as an employee and if it isn’t obvious from my title, I’ve been tasked with delivering tech reviews and round ups across the three websites. What that means is that you’ll be seeing my two first names attached to buying guides, tech comparisons, Best Ofs, Worst Ofs, more lists than you can click a mouse at and some long-form pieces too. Additionally, I’m really interested in producing video content, so I’ve put together this short little introduction below which may help you get a better feel for who I am and what I’m all about.
Oh, yeah… and because I didn’t read my contract correctly, apparently, I’ve got to clean the toilets here, every day, at 5pm. So, there you have it – my first LifeHack: ensure you always thoroughly read the contract you are about to sign, especially if the guy at the other end of the table is cackling maniacally holding a mop and bucket.
I’m genuinely so excited to be here and look forward to reading all your comments (and criticisms, if you must) at the end of each article. Of course, if you want to hit me up on Twitter you can find me at @dctrjack and if you want to hit me in general well, look, we don’t condone violence here. If you have any questions for me right now or any suggestions about the type of content you’d like to see more of, leave them below!
Comments
15 responses to “Hey! I’m Jackson, The New Reviews and Round Up Editor!”
Hey Jackson, I signed up specifically to wish you a great first day! Looking forward to reading your stuff!
Thanks legend, much appreciated!
Hey Jackson, welcome to the AU team. You’re in good company, article standards here are much better than the US stuff.
Why the career change? Or is this writing role more of a job than a career for you?
Hey! I wanted to get to this earlier, but ya know – first week on the job.
It boils down to: I was more passionate about communication during my degree. I really did enjoy working at the lab bench and getting results, but I wasn’t necessarily one for sitting there all day. I feel like I am much more creatively-inclined. So this role is definitely a career choice and one that I’m really already much happier with.
My mum probably doesn’t like that I don’t use my PhD.
All good mate, thanks for coming back to it. Hope the first week went well! I’m sure your mum understands, at the end of the day doing what makes you happy is better than doing what makes you rich (but take both if you can get it!).
Welcome to the thankless job of Kotaku contributor, where your every post is nitpicked in the comments until you question the fundamental nature of reality, which is purple btw.
Hahahahaha
Naw.
Octarine.
Welcome to the gauntlet newbie.. Once here you can never leave, But seriously, Welcome Jackson 🙂
Don’t worry – Harrison was way too baked to know you were there.
Sick jumper, man. Where is that, Nara or something?
Also, welcome!
Thanks for the welcome! Yes, it’s definitely Nara and that day in particular was one of my favourites.
Oh man, goats.
New Au staff member? Welcome aboard!
First task: Best Simpson quotes and how to use them in everyday life.
Hahahah I have added that to my Big Ideas list.