Moving on

Posted by iroseland 9 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
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First by moving on.. I will be staying around here.. Though it is pretty likely that I will be doing it from a new address. I am as everyone knows a technology guy. I also am a rare technology guy that spent years making the backend systems at a big gaming company not just work, but also work better. There are a few things about the gaming industry.. Once you have discovered that its a world you can excel in it is fairly difficult to work in other industries as the pace of the real world is no longer going to be a match. The other thing to know about the gaming industry is that it is a world where everyone knows everyone. So, if you have a reputation for being good at what you do there is a pretty good chance that the industry will find a new home for you. It just might take a while. So, since Midway went under I spent some time hating life at Turbine and had a great experience at Wizards of the Coast, and made the bad mistake of turning down the OPS manager job at PopCap and also turned down the chance to be the guy that built an ops department from scratch at Addmired, they are now a couple hundred employees and PopCap got bought by EA. I just got an offer, a very good offer at Gazillion.. They are the game company that had the brass balls required to buy _all_ the gaming right to the Marvel Universe right around the time that the first IronMan movie came out. Since then the Marvel Universe has grown into a multi billion dollar a year pile of IP. With a load of moves, as of this fall a couple of TV shows and the list goes on and on... I flew down there a month ago and the last few weeks have been spent negotiating on well everything.. My wife pointed out a few weeks ago that my two favorite things in the word are working in gaming, and negotiating pay.. So, I singed scanned and emailed the offer back this morning, so looks like despite my best efforts we will be living in the Bay Area for a while... A few things make it worth my while. 1. the company will exit, 2. when they do they will make a bunch of new millionaires.. So, I figure why not do the things I really like to do and work towards a really amazing reward at the same time. In the meanwhile, I am still working on the schedualforge side project.. With the advantage that in SFO I will have a much easier time finding a board moble/html5 front end coder than I will up in SEA.. The only thing is, I really find the idea of moving to California kind of gross...


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  • Posted by 9 years, 8 months ago
    So, after a great deal of hand wringing we will be remaining in the Seattle area. The cost of living may suck here, but not like down there. Also I don't have to worry about landing on the wrong side of the gun laws here. The part that suck, is that the company in San Mateo would have been a perfect fit. I would gave been doing exactly what I love, and exactly the way I like tō do it. But, when it comes down to it California kept me from being able to take the job. As a result, the last couple of days have been like my own version of the first night īn the Gulch. I have to say, it kind of sucks.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 9 months ago
    What's mind numbing are the costs. While ill be making way more than I ever did in Milwaukee.. like 5x more, and will be seriously ahead of the median for the area, it will be getting burned up in taxes and the cost of housing.. kind of depressing actually. I keep failing to see why tech companies would actually want to be there.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 9 years, 9 months ago
    I live in California and have most of my life. The state is a beautiful place. Don't bother to read any newspapers (other than the Wall Street Journal, maybe), or pay attention to the politics. But, it is a fun place to live.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 9 months ago
    ill always be here.. 8^) this is one of the places my brain goes to after dealing with west coast folks..
    +Robbie53024 getting into the industry is a GIANT pain in the ass.. It is best to think of gaming like Hollywood without talent agents.. So, he should be working hard on a portfolio, and getting very connected on line to the folks who matter, and getting their attention with quality work. Have him look me up on linked in. My linked in is loaded with ex-midway folks who have all moved on to bigger and better things.. The nice thing about linked in is that you get a recommendation written and suddenly people start to notice you..
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 9 months ago
    Any chance you're looking for game designers? My son has a burning desire to write the game stories and needs a shot - perhaps just an internship to begin with. He's one year out of college.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 9 months ago
    Hello iroseland,
    Best of luck! Somehow I am not worried that the environment will corrupt you. :) Perhaps you may positively impact some of them!
    Please do keep us updated.
    regards,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 9 months ago
    Holy shit. That's what I would call a "dream career".

    Can you share any info on schedualforge?

    There's only a combination of two things that could make me move to California. One of them is a job in the gaming industry. The other is... even less possible.


    Good luck in your new job. I'd like it if you'd keep us posted on your progress.
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