Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 February 2010 22:51:02
I'm currently NDA'd (Non Disclosure Agreement - acronym fans) and therefore unable to disclose too much about the videogame company I'm working for. However nothing in the NDA prevents me from discussing the psycho-social demographics of working in the videogame industry so I will endeavour to encapsulate the twilight realms of the career geek for your reading pleasure.
The first thing you notice about any good tech company is the strong smell of black coffee that assails you as soon as you enter the door. If you dear reader, are in any way shape or form interested in investing your time, effort or money into a technical enterprise, then please be aware that parts per million of caffeine in the blood stream of the average employee will correlate strongly on a graph against stock price. Forget Dragon's Den, a simple blood test will tell you all you need to know about a company's third quarter profits. An alert geek is a productive geek. A free cola machine and a permanently boiling coffee pot are also good indicators.
The other thing I have noticed is that the friendliness of staff is inversely proportional to the need to wear suits. Everyone is the same in Gap clothing. As soon as people start wearing suits then the difference between plebian and upper management is highlighted by the quality of tailoring. This can cause tension and resentment. Wearing casual clothes is one step towards creating a meritocracy rather than a plutocracy (for the record I cannot honestly tell the difference at a glance between say Primark and Gap clothing).
I'm a tester (I don't think I'm breaching anything by revealing that). I sit for long hours with sore thumbs until the joypad begins to twist my hands into claw-like shapes. I'm typing this like a crab, the ends of my pincer/hands tapping away at the keyboard. I'm sure I've lost some of the neurons I had this morning. My synapses have been rerouted, distorting and changing the laws of cause and effect in accordance with the cartoon realities I've been inhabiting. This is only a temporary thing (I mean the job, I'm hoping the reality shift will prove temporary too but I digress). Anyhow reader I must retire to my chamber as I am feeling somnolent.