Alex Kramer
Esports Alumni
Marketing Analyst for Keyence Corporation
Alex Kramer graduated from NIU in 2021 with his bachelor’s degree in operations management and information systems, with a minor in marketing. In 2023 he completed his master’s degree in sports management. Alex was an early member of the NIU esports club, a varsity athlete on the NIU Esports Overwatch team and an assistant director of NIU Esports before moving on to his current role as a marketing analyst for Keyence Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer of factory automation equipment and measurement systems.
In this Alumni Career Spotlight, Alex shares his NIU Esports experience, his career pathway and his advice for current students.
It’s so good to see you again, Alex! What have you been up to since you left NIU?
I’m doing marketing analytics for a company called Keyence. They’re known for their factory automation equipment, but I’m specifically working on the team that does scanning and profiling equipment – basically selling equipment that lets people know if their parts are functional, and if not, why.
Half of my job is focused on executing the marketing activities: writing content, planning projects, etc. The other half is using data to make sure what we’re doing is working and making adjustments if it’s not.
What I do is very business-to-business focused marketing. A lot of my job right now is focused on e-mail marketing as well as exhibitions and trade shows, talking with potential customers and showing off our system.
I’m also starting to delve into web search marketing. You know when you look up something on Google and right at the top you see the sponsored posts? It’ll be my job to make sure our ads appear at the top when you search “3D scanner,” for example, or anything related to our products.
I heard you got a promotion recently – congratulations!
I did, yes. I have more added responsibilities. This position has been a really good fit for me and my background. It’s combining the best of both worlds from my degree in operations and information management with a focus on business analytics and my minor in marketing.
That’s great! I’m curious, what were some of the highlights of your student experience, especially with esports?
There are so many highlights I could share! One thing I’d say is how important the program was to me when I first got to college, to help me adjust and have a great start to my freshman year. Back then we didn’t even have the Neptune Hall Esports Arena yet, which was the precursor to the current arena in Altgeld. That was back when we were shuttling our PCs to the Stevenson multi-purpose room, playing for a few hours, and then shuttling them back to our dorm rooms. Even so, I think the impact of finding a community right away was immeasurable.
When I got to NIU, I didn’t really know anyone. All my friends from high school went to different universities or community colleges, so I didn’t have a pre-existing community. I wish I could remember how I first heard about the esports club, but I know it was pretty much immediately when I arrived on campus. Overwatch was big at the time, and I had just gotten into playing it. To immediately find a whole group of people who shared that interest and who were so nice and welcoming made a big difference to me. Truthfully, I don’t know if I would have stayed at NIU all four years had I not had that community.
Another big highlight for me is one specific varsity match in my senior year that had some pretty heavy playoff implications. We were facing Ball State in an Overwatch best of five series. We’d lost the first two maps, and we were frustrated. We voiced our frustrations, but more importantly, we identified tangible points for improvement instead of just falling into that frustration. From there we ended up winning the next three games and winning the match. We called it “the reverse sweep.” That match ended up getting us to the playoffs, and it was the highlight of my playing experience at NIU.
Have you used skills you learned from playing (and coaching) esports at NIU in your career?
Yes – I played all four years in undergrad, and I also coached the Overwatch team for one year when I was a graduate student.
The most important thing I learned from playing and coaching was the importance of adjusting – when what you had planned is not going well. I think everyone knows that going in with a plan is important, whether that’s in an esports match or a job. But what do you do when the plan isn’t going well or it’s not working in real time?
There were times in matches where we kept trying the same thing over and over, and it wasn’t working. Honestly, we used to say it felt like bashing our heads into a brick wall. Esports taught me the importance of pivoting, making adjustments, and correcting course when you’re in that situation. That skill is useful in school, work and life.
On the flip side, when things are going well, it’s also important to pause and ask why. Whether you’re experiencing success or failure, understanding why and applying that knowledge to future situations is so important.
That sounds like great advice! Do you have any other advice to current students about esports, college or career exploration?
My top piece of advice for students – especially incoming freshmen – is to get involved in something. It doesn’t have to be esports, although personally I think that’s a great option!
It can be very easy in college to get into the pitfall of just going to class, going back to your dorm, class, dorm, class, dorm. It’s so important to find a community, and thankfully at NIU there are tons of options available. You just have to put yourself out there.
When it comes to career or that transition out of college, my advice is – don’t panic if you don’t know exactly what you want to do for your whole career! It’s good to have some idea of what field you’d like to work in, some goals, but you don’t need to know your full life path as soon as you graduate. Plans change. You might be surprised at where you’ll end up in a few years, and most of the time the changes end up being for the better. So try to roll with the punches when things don’t go according to plan.
