Someone just left our studio after a year, and sent around a final good bye letter. A few paragraphs say the most important part:

Quote:You guys have the greatest jobs in the world. Not because you make video games or make a decent living... but because when you come to work each day, you have something in your life worth smiling about... worth being happy and energized about. You enjoy soccer games, gym time, Nerf wars, golf, cheap pop, release parties, movie tickets to pre-screen a movie, socializing with like-minded people who enjoy doing what you do, and you're bombarded with art, creative talent and so on. ... When I saw all of you here doing something you loved to do and you were passionate about doing and you were happy to do it, it hit me like a brick... while I enjoy working with computers, it's not what I'm passionate about and therefore I've decided to pursue that thing which makes me happy. So by my choice and not because of anything that transpired here... off to college I go in pursuit of that one thing I am to become and that one experience that will hopefully define who I am before I leave this world. If all goes as planned, I hope to have a degree in music ed and a minor in creative writing. Yeah, who knew...

So Josh is gone from our studio, and we'll miss him. (Oh, and check out the Job Board on the site. We're always accepting applications.) But his message brought up something we see all too often. Tom Sloper (a long-time game designer and regular on the boards) always says "Follow your passions." When I first read his FAQs several years ago, that one statement contained all the life and career advice I've passed out over the years. Well, that's it for the friendly reminder to follow your passions, not just follow what looks like fun. If that means that you discover games are not your passion (as Josh did) then please make the most of your life and seek out your true passions. Follow your passions. -frob-

Quote:Original post by zer0wolf
Kudos to him. I just started as a professional game designer a few days ago, and it certainly isn't something I'd be doing and looking forward to going to work in the morning if I wasn't so passionate about it.

I found that was the case when I used to work outside the games industry.

Many times I would go to work, and start "watching the clock" a few minutes after getting in. A co-worker would go around the office and jokingly say "You're fired!" to people, and a surprisingly many people were excited to be out of a job. That was a place were people were not passionate about the job.

Here, almost everybody is passionate. This studio is a place where I look forward to working at, and where I occasionally worked overtime hours without even realizing that I had been staying late. There are other passions in the studio, including (as the original message pointed out) tri-weekly sports activities, monthly BBQs, and the Nerf darts that occasionally fly overhead and get lost behind our desks. We have a lot of artwork draping our walls, including some from programmers who don't have the normal 'programmer art disease'.

It is amazing the different environment and productivity levels for a studio full of passionate people who love what they are doing. Jobs where employees are just there for a paycheck feel so sterile in comparison.

Quote:Original post by slayemin
What if your passion may be something bad...like being a brutal dictator or building an army of killer robots? :D

Then following your passions would lead you to a highly enjoyable (for you) career in either politics for the first case, or in nanotechnology or military science for the other.

As for hardened criminals currently in jail, they really missed their true path as corporate executives. They followed their passion for pillaging and plundering, but did it in a stupid way. Always be smart while following your passions.

I love threads like this. It's just asking for everyone's stories and shameless plugs-- and that's okay. [smile]