Sudbury resident helps develop video game blockbuster.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan
• Position: SUDBURY

Jamie Parent has what many people would call a dream job.

The Sudbury resident is a senior software engineer with Raven Software, a video game studio owned by Activision, which publishes blockbuster titles like the Call of Duty series and Destiny.

The last game Parent worked on was Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the latest in the billion-dollar franchise that allows the player to take control of a soldier in the 2050s as he is taken on an adventure that rivals any major Hollywood blockbuster.

The game even stars Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey as the CEO of a private military contractor.

Parent said he owes his job with Activision to his strong work ethic and luck.

In 2006 Parent worked as a programmer for Bestech Engineering, where he helped develop an environmental monitoring system the company built to help mining companies like Vale and Glencore track their emissions in Sudbury.

Around that time, his best friend and former business partner, Scott Bean, called and asked if he wanted a job at Activision. Bean had just sold piece of software to the company, and was granted permission to hire a programmer.

As a longtime gamer, who got his start on the Atari 2600, and later moved on to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo, and PC gaming, Parent could not pass up the opportunity. "The moment he called I was like, 'Yeah, I want to work for this company for sure" Parent said.

He started with the company's research and development arm, and later moved on to Treyarch, a development studio that has worked on a number of Call of Duty titles including World at War and both Black Ops games.

In 2012 Parent moved internally to Madison, Wisconsin-based Raven Software.

Throughout his career with Activi-sion, the father of seven has been able to work out a deal to work from home in Sudbury.

"I haven't worked in an office since Bestech Engineering," Parent said.

At first, he worked in his home, but it was difficult to avoid distractions from his children.

Parent now has a workstation in his family's garage, which has been converted into a photography studio his wife Rosie uses.

With Raven Software, Parent works as a tools developer.

"If you had to compare it to a Volkswagen assembly plant, I don't build the car, I build the plant," he...