Changing Work Environment

[alexxkay]

My work environment has been gradually changing. I'm not just referring to physically, although we *are* moving to new quarters over the weekend. But the emotional character of the environment is changing. It's not remotely what I'd call "mature" yet, but it is gradually moving in that direction. I actually got a *sympathy card*, signed by most of the team. I don't think *that* would have happened before we had a female producer on the project. And the indirect female influence on the company is also steadily increasing. Of the game design team, 4 out of the 5 of us are married, and the fifth has his wedding scheduled for September. Two of us even have small children. The rest of the company isn't quite so uniformly domestic, but definitely moving in that direction. Feels good.

Comments

[jducoeur]

My impression is that both the game and Internet industries are slowly growing up. I'm in a similar situation: for the first time, I'm at an Internet company where most of the engineers have families. It produces a very different focus: a little less driven, but a lot more steady, with more of an eye towards doing things sustainably without burning people out.

Overall, I think it's a change for the better. Who knows, if the game industry continues to move in that direction, I might make another attempt to get back to it. (While I'm slightly hamstrung by not being a hardcore player, I'm still mostly motivated by opportunities to do Incredibly Cool Programming, and the game business is still the best place to do that. The Dark Engine remains the coolest thing I've ever been involved with...)