So my boss just took me into my two-levels-up boss' office where I find her and my three-levels-up boss (the company president) waiting for me...

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>This obviously either is very good or very bad.

In my case it was very good, I got a Christmas bonus despite having only been here three months. I was told that I have "shone". Also he (the president) said to pace myself for "a marathon, not a sprint" in this industry, because they need me "two years from now", not just now.

I'm very grateful and feel important, or at least valuable. This is quite a far cry from being a file clerk nine months ago. I suppose it also means I'm not in danger of my job for fucking around on the Internet too much, not that anyone knows or seems to care. If only my personal life would come together this well.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>Oh, also, the company actually discourages putting in a lot of overtime, which is fairly wonderful given that the game industry is almost in crisis over the long hours that are so much a part of game development right now. They've actually been telling me to go home more than to work extra.</div>

[Imakeholesinu]

<div style='font: 10pt Arial; text-align: left; '>They don't want you to waste those good ideas worrying about when you will sleep next. Creativity best spawns when the worker is happy.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>I have faith in that also, but the rest of the game industry is fucked up when it comes to overtime hours.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>I have faith in that also, but the rest of the game industry is fucked up when it comes to overtime hours. Somehow the execs at most game companies haven't heard of your idea. I'm remarking on how nice it is to be working for a company that's the exception to the rule.</div>

[Ishamael]

<div style='font: 14pt "Sans Serif"; text-align: justify; padding: 0% 15% 0% 15%; '>Have you read the infamous EA Spouse memo about working conditions at Electronic Arts? Youch, and to think I thought that'd be a cool place to work at one point...</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>It's actually a blog. Has she updated that since the initial post?</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>You may be better than them but you're talent will be milked for low pay with the degree excuse as their scapegoat for not promoting you. The corporate world is biased when it comes to college education, sadly to say.</div>

[Zhuge Liang]

<div style='font: ; text-align: left; '>if you're well established in the software industry, degrees don't usually mean jack. As long as Mental stays a couple steps ahead of his peers, whether or not they have degrees, he'll do fine</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>Yeah, if you want to program for the rest of your life, i'm willing to bet senior managers and COO's in the industry have degrees.</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>Yeah, if you want to program for the rest of your life, i'm willing to bet senior managers and COO's in the industry have degrees. Unless of course you happent o be one of the mega genius's like the Doom guys or something.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>You seem to think that the corporate world is out to get you, or me anyway.

I believe I have advancement potential, so I'm not going to be unhappy just yet.

Also given that you're an accountant, do you have the authority to speak about the gaming industry? In general it's far less "corporate" than most industries and the issue of a college degree, while important, is historically less of a barrier.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>You have a good job and that's awesome, but just keep it in mind. You might run into difficulty if you try to get a programming position outside of the videogame industry, so a degree might be a good thing to think about some years in the future.</div>

[Zhuge Liang]

<div style='font: ; text-align: left; '>not neccessarily. You generally get hired to senior positions based on your ability to lead and your ability to execute. If you can demonstrate that consistantly, a degree matters very little.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>The fact that I did not finish school was not my fault, and I tried very hard to do so. In my opinion, I tried a lot harder than some people and ultimately met with disappointment. I have several thousand dollars' worth of student loans that didn't accomplish much to pay off, and wondering how I was going to do that with no degree was not a picnic either. In addition, the self-esteem hit of being a college "dropout" for me is not trivial.

I've been terrified almost every day for the last two years that a lack of a degree would hold me back in life. Since leaving school I have had no say in my career path, for the most part. I'm still not sure this industry is what I would have chosen for myself if I had.

Basically what I'm saying is that I'm celebrating the only good news I've had regarding my career in a very long time. I'm quite aware that I'm the exception rather than the rule when it comes to finding satisfying employment without a degree.

So as well-meaning all of this is...

Flip: As much as I appreciate your being a pessimistic doomsayer, I'd much rather believe that I've got an opportunity right now. Believe me, if and when the time comes when your hypothetical upper management decides to base judgements on degrees rather than ability to produce profit for the company, I will be well up to the challenge of trying again to complete my education. Quite frankly, so far at JAMDAT no one really seems to care about it.

Kupek: I am well aware of the challenges posed by being a professional without a college degree, but thank you for the advice.</div>

[kali o.]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>There is overtime/overnight...but they have beds and shit and if you've ever been there, it's nicer than a sleepover at a rich friends house. What's the link to this blog?</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>You know, Kali, I think it's disrespectful to put a NSFW pic as your avatar unless you mark all of your posts NSFW. My company's pretty relaxed but it's still very messed up to open up something you thought was safe and find out that it's not.</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Don't take Kail's sig away! >_<</div>

[kali o.]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>....I should also note, I considered going with the excuse that I often pretend to play a freelance loss prevention consultant in my free time and seek to discourage the rampant web surfing that occurs in today's corporate america offices, but the whole 'guilt' angle works better.

PS - NSFW, now and forever. Click Kali's rare posts ONLY when in the safety of home.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Because, clearly, that sultry smile says "Check for lumps."</div>

[Kali not at his PC]

<div style='font: ; text-align: left; '>*cues drums*

....

Ya, that was lame :)</div>

[Ishamael]

<div style='font: 14pt "Sans Serif"; text-align: justify; padding: 0% 15% 0% 15%; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spo ... spouse/</a>

Link here (or rather a link to the link since she's updated the story). And I doubt it's BS. Yeah it's fun to work there and sleepover for a while. But then once you start growing up or wanting a life outside of work, then it gets old fast. Turnover is extremely high....</div>

[Ishamael]

<div style='font: 14pt "Sans Serif"; text-align: justify; padding: 0% 15% 0% 15%; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spo ... spouse/</a>

Yep apparently so. She forming some kind of game industry watchdog group or something. I just posted this link in response to Kali, but I'll repost it here...</div>

[Ishamael]

<div style='font: 14pt "Sans Serif"; text-align: justify; padding: 0% 15% 0% 15%; '>Not true, especially in the gaming industry.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I don't care how swank the setup is at the office, it's still the fucking office and I don't want to sleep there.</div>

[Nev]

<div style='font: 10pt ; text-align: left; '>Since I can't actually open Kali's post (I have no internet access at home right now), I have to respond here. Kali, that's complete bullshit, and you know it. If I had lost my job due to your sig, you would have done very little good and a hell of a lot of harm, and I imagine you know that too.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I think Kali keeping the picture is inconsiderate and slightly obnoxious, but look at this with some perspective. No one is going to fire an employee they obviously value over that.</div>

[kali o.]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I really like that gif. Took me a long time to find that one. Given that you can count the number of regular posters on one hand (as well as my yearly amount of posts) and that there is no nudity, I have to say "pssst, hey Mental, quit being such a drama queen and lighten up".

Don't like it, don't click it. Is it really so hard?

(PS - that would be a good toggle option for Sine to add to his script tho. Avatar/sig blocks. If at work, click the option in your profile...viola. Then I could get Eric's sigs back :)</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Actually a better idea would be an option to identify if your sig/avatar may be offensive, and then filler out the offensive sig/avatar by selecting an option, I know a few MB scripts like that.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>I already have that No Footer option on the login, though I probably need to add another thing for No Avatars.</div>