On the topic of Penny Arcade, yeah, it definitely does seem like they had unreasonable expectations of their IT person. They fell into a common trap.
People also crap on "workplace culture" as a thing (and rightfully so most of the time) because it is used as a bullshit discriminatory tactic. It must be awesome to work in some fantasy office where everyone is cool, though. Just statistically, some of those offices must exist.
I wonder what it is like to be the new guy at Penny Arcade, 30-something employees in. There's gotta be some level of awkwardness with everyone else having so much history. That is one downside to workplaces where everyone else is super tight. At what point does it become cliques. Ride it while it works though, I suppose. They definitely built a big company out of it, and seem intelligent enough to put the work in and avoid those sorts of organizational problems (or at least learn from their mistakes).
I am in a somewhat similar position to Scott. I stay for many reasons, but there are many negatives as well. Since I am happy, I am not actively looking for a change.
Let me be clear though, putting aside all of the companies that take advantage of their employees by overworking for them, I would absolutely put in 60 or 70 hours in a week if my job was doing what I loved. We shit in workaholics all the time, but if it is someone creating something awesome, and they want to burn the candle at both ends because it is their passion, well then fucking go for it! You could be dead tomorrow. Do what you love.
Yeah. Knowing that I'm really good at what I do, one of the best, is pretty much what keeps me going to work and working extra hours.
I never thought I'd get there, but there that is. I used to just do my minimum and dick around the rest of the day. Now, full 8+ hours of work.
When you say you "don't want to work," do you mean that you don't want to engage the market at all; or that you'd rather "be your own boss," so to speak?
Personally, I can't see myself not "working" in some capacity. I have a dream of retiring and running a bar/tavern. Serve people beer, idly chat with anyone and everyone, and generally keep the place clean.
The main problem is that there is nothing in the world that I want to do which anyone is willing to pay me a living wage to do. Even if someone did pay me to do something I like doing, say playing Netrunner. I do not want to invest my time into doing any one single thing. If I had to play Netrunner for 40 hours a week, I would be so sick of it before the end of day 1. There is nothing on earth I could do for so long without losing interest.
I want to wake up every morning when my body tells me to. I want to eat when I'm hungry. I want to go to bed when I'm tired. Just live life as it should be lived, and not to follow some schedule because I have to be in and out of work at some particular hour.
When I'm awake, I want to do whatever I feel like doing. I'm not a person who would do nothing. Maybe I'll go biking. Maybe I'll take some photos. I will make many things. I will play and make games. I will build these Gundam models. I'll go on trips. I'll make podcasts and videos. I might even want to make some software on occasion. And yes, sometimes I would sit on the couch like a potato all day watching TV or playing video games.
I have a very long list of things I actually want to do, and I can't do any of them. If I do not sit at some desk for most of my week I will be denied food, shelter, and the equipment which I need to do the things I want to do.
I stand up from my desk, look out the window and I see people biking around. Why can't I just walk out of the office and go with them? What do my bosses gain from refusing to pay me unless I sit there? I wasn't working anyway. I'll give them the same results either way. If you let me work 1-2 days a week, you'll probably actually get 16 hours of effort from me, which is way more than you're getting now.
It's not technically a prison. I'm free to quit at any time. But where will I go? There's no better situation that I am aware of. I don't know how to live any other way.
There might be some jobs I could do where every day offers something new. The problem is that all of those jobs have too much other shit in the way that makes it impossible. For example, I could have been a detective working for internal affairs and busting corrupt cops. Oh how that job would provide such satisfaction. But there would also be so much red tape bullshit to deal with. Such a pain in the ass. I'd probably end up being the one at the wrong end of the stick.
Same with being a teacher. I would love to have a job just teaching computers to kids. High school probably. Forgetting the low pay, there's just too much bullshit. They won't let me teach the way I want, or the material I want. They'll make me also teach math or science instead of just computers. They'll make me give tests and shit that I don't believe in. Not worth it.
Yeah, I could be my own boss and start my own thing. Sure. If I'm going to do that I may as well quit, withdraw my 401k, pay the penalty, and party until the money runs out. If I start a company it's just going to go out of business. I won't get any money from it. I'll just lose the money I already have. I won't work hard enough to make it successful, because I am incapable of working that hard on anything. If I got any employees, I would be too nice to them. Truly infinite vacation. Truly free working hours. I would treat them how I wanted to be treated. And not enough work would get done, and we would go under.
Unless I just luckily get a huge pile of money, there's just no way for me to live the way I want.
I haven't figured out why your work doesn't want you to work from home? (that's all those people biking around :-p)
Despite being offered an uncountable number of jobs, not one has actually offered to let me truly work from home that frequently.
Also, working from home doesn't really work if they expect me to do actual work. What happens if I bike to the beach one morning and get a call that I need to do something? That's a bad situation, and I won't have that job for very long.
Same with being a teacher. I would love to have a job just teaching computers to kids. High school probably. Forgetting the low pay, there's just too much bullshit. They won't let me teach the way I want, or the material I want. They'll make me also teach math or science instead of just computers. They'll make me give tests and shit that I don't believe in. Not worth it.
I ended up taking the computer classes at my school because it basically was just an excuse to let me work on my own stuff. But our "teacher" only did computer stuff and I would be surprised if anyone was dictating his curriculum. Granted this was at a school where learning computers wasn't very emphasized. On top of that I also thought teaching kids computers would be cool so I decided to do a lab instructor credit in college. Teaching kids computers is fun, but I realized I'm the type of teacher that would rather the kids who don't want to learn just leave the class. And that shit probably wouldn't fly at a high school or similar educational establishment.
I haven't figured out why your work doesn't want you to work from home? (that's all those people biking around :-p)
Despite being offered an uncountable number of jobs, not one has actually offered to let me truly work from home that frequently.
Also, working from home doesn't really work if they expect me to do actual work. What happens if I bike to the beach one morning and get a call that I need to do something? That's a bad situation, and I won't have that job for very long.
Make sure you bring enough tech with you to always be able to accomplish your goal. Air card and a small laptop. All set!
This is literally why I started the Patreon. It's a motivation to try a bunch of different things to monetize that I like doing (radio talk show, video, lectures, game design, etc...). One of the traps we fell into is running a moderately successful podcast for over a decade, but not actually trying to make a living out of it.
Other, far crappier content has turned into a living wage. But most of the people who pulled that off had to or they wouldn't make rent. We could always blow this stuff off if we needed to, so we never really pushed it as hard as we could have.
The Patreon is a push. I'm slowly amping up the shotgun.
Apreche, I actually think the lifestyle you want is pretty close to within grasp. You guys already have a long consistent track record of producing high quality content, and a fan base that has already proven they're willing to pay *some* amount for more of that content. There are lots of us out here who like our 9-5 jobs a lot and are willing to pay some of *our* hard earned money for more videos, podcasts, games, and whatever other creative stuff you would make.
But it would require you to be willing to ask people to pay for some of that content and to then accept payment for it, rather than continually trying to tell people *not* to give you their money.
Apreche, I actually think the lifestyle you want is pretty close to within grasp. You guys already have a long consistent track record of producing high quality content, and a fan base that has already proven they're willing to pay *some* amount for more of that content. There are lots of us out here who like our 9-5 jobs a lot and are willing to pay some of *our* hard earned money for more videos, podcasts, games, and whatever other creative stuff you would make.
But it would require you to be willing to ask people to pay for some of that content and to then accept payment for it, rather than continually trying to tell people *not* to give you their money.
Also, that's a great example of someone who is fucked up with the money. If I get $50K per episode, you're only getting maybe 10 more episodes of GeekNights, then I'm on the beach.
Apreche, I actually think the lifestyle you want is pretty close to within grasp. You guys already have a long consistent track record of producing high quality content, and a fan base that has already proven they're willing to pay *some* amount for more of that content. There are lots of us out here who like our 9-5 jobs a lot and are willing to pay some of *our* hard earned money for more videos, podcasts, games, and whatever other creative stuff you would make.
But it would require you to be willing to ask people to pay for some of that content and to then accept payment for it, rather than continually trying to tell people *not* to give you their money.
This discussion of work and life is really interesting, I have had many of the same thoughts of time.
But back to the topic of PAX West 2016, how crazy is it that it is now June and tickets for the PAX that is 3 months away have not yet gone on sale!? Is this just the ultimate game of chicken by Khoo or could things be afoot?
Comments
People also crap on "workplace culture" as a thing (and rightfully so most of the time) because it is used as a bullshit discriminatory tactic. It must be awesome to work in some fantasy office where everyone is cool, though. Just statistically, some of those offices must exist.
I wonder what it is like to be the new guy at Penny Arcade, 30-something employees in. There's gotta be some level of awkwardness with everyone else having so much history. That is one downside to workplaces where everyone else is super tight. At what point does it become cliques. Ride it while it works though, I suppose. They definitely built a big company out of it, and seem intelligent enough to put the work in and avoid those sorts of organizational problems (or at least learn from their mistakes).
If no one needs to worry about about a bottom line, you can take as much or as little time as you please.
The pressures are more intense now because of over-financialization.
I never thought I'd get there, but there that is. I used to just do my minimum and dick around the rest of the day. Now, full 8+ hours of work.
I want to wake up every morning when my body tells me to. I want to eat when I'm hungry. I want to go to bed when I'm tired. Just live life as it should be lived, and not to follow some schedule because I have to be in and out of work at some particular hour.
When I'm awake, I want to do whatever I feel like doing. I'm not a person who would do nothing. Maybe I'll go biking. Maybe I'll take some photos. I will make many things. I will play and make games. I will build these Gundam models. I'll go on trips. I'll make podcasts and videos. I might even want to make some software on occasion. And yes, sometimes I would sit on the couch like a potato all day watching TV or playing video games.
I have a very long list of things I actually want to do, and I can't do any of them. If I do not sit at some desk for most of my week I will be denied food, shelter, and the equipment which I need to do the things I want to do.
I stand up from my desk, look out the window and I see people biking around. Why can't I just walk out of the office and go with them? What do my bosses gain from refusing to pay me unless I sit there? I wasn't working anyway. I'll give them the same results either way. If you let me work 1-2 days a week, you'll probably actually get 16 hours of effort from me, which is way more than you're getting now.
It's not technically a prison. I'm free to quit at any time. But where will I go? There's no better situation that I am aware of. I don't know how to live any other way.
Same with being a teacher. I would love to have a job just teaching computers to kids. High school probably. Forgetting the low pay, there's just too much bullshit. They won't let me teach the way I want, or the material I want. They'll make me also teach math or science instead of just computers. They'll make me give tests and shit that I don't believe in. Not worth it.
Yeah, I could be my own boss and start my own thing. Sure. If I'm going to do that I may as well quit, withdraw my 401k, pay the penalty, and party until the money runs out. If I start a company it's just going to go out of business. I won't get any money from it. I'll just lose the money I already have. I won't work hard enough to make it successful, because I am incapable of working that hard on anything. If I got any employees, I would be too nice to them. Truly infinite vacation. Truly free working hours. I would treat them how I wanted to be treated. And not enough work would get done, and we would go under.
Unless I just luckily get a huge pile of money, there's just no way for me to live the way I want.
Also, working from home doesn't really work if they expect me to do actual work. What happens if I bike to the beach one morning and get a call that I need to do something? That's a bad situation, and I won't have that job for very long.
Other, far crappier content has turned into a living wage. But most of the people who pulled that off had to or they wouldn't make rent. We could always blow this stuff off if we needed to, so we never really pushed it as hard as we could have.
The Patreon is a push. I'm slowly amping up the shotgun.
But it would require you to be willing to ask people to pay for some of that content and to then accept payment for it, rather than continually trying to tell people *not* to give you their money.
But back to the topic of PAX West 2016, how crazy is it that it is now June and tickets for the PAX that is 3 months away have not yet gone on sale!? Is this just the ultimate game of chicken by Khoo or could things be afoot?
1:00pm EDT Tuesday
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11:00am EDT Tuesday
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https://www.showclix.com/events/16886
Keep it secret. Keep it safe.
https://paxprime15-onpeak.queue-it.net/afterevent.aspx?c=onpeak&e=paxprime15&q=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&cid=en-US
Turns up a failed redirect. Some investigation led me nowhere and I gave up.
This was a redirect from:
http://pax2015hotels.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
They're definitely using Amazon to ensure that they can bring the real queue up live, then separately redirect to it from a server that they control.