Three things occupy the lion's share of my time these days:
- Work
- School
- Games
Work is currently project management for a Silicon Valley company. You know how it goes, with great pay comes great responsibility. . . or was that power? Nevertheless, all the fringe benefits don't offer compelling commitment to something you don't necessarily believe in. No matter how high you are in the organization, you still report to someone.
School to continue to learn, grow, and develop, I am getting my MBA through the University of California system. They have a working professional program which allows me to go to school part time and still perform my labors. This quarter is Statistics and Economics. . . or pain and probability as I have come to refer to them.
Games have been relegated to another spot in the trilogy since school started. Nevertheless, I have found a great deal of time allocated to following games I'll never have time to play. Currently I am in the midst of a battle against Raven in MGS:TTS. I also have MGS2:Substance waiting for me, along with more time on about five other games I am interested in. My two-month, free subscription to Xbox Live has also come to an end. Which reminds me, I need to cancel my probationary account. I wasn't able to spend much time with it, outside of the holidays.
Ultimately, I'd like to work in the games industry, along with everyone else who visits this site. The only hesitation: Gaming isn't a stable profession. Right now the industry is topping out of a growth cycle. As disposable time disappears from someone's life (like mine), gaming becomes irrelevant. Same thins happens when money dries up.
Why is this important to know? If I worked in the game industry, I will have a job only as long as people have money, and time to spend on entertainment time sinks. Thus, if individuals reallocate their time to work, school, or family, fencing, or something else. . . gaming becomes moot, and gaming companies lay off employees, which means I will not have work, or money to play games.
However, if I work in a more stable industry (not semi conductors) than I can guarantee myself a job. A good example is food. Chances are, unless leaders make flagrant errors, General Mills, Safeway, and other food-related companies will be in business. A good example of companies gone bad, is Albertsons. . . they are currently shopping for someone to take them over.
So, which of my time sinks provides the greatest returns on investments? School. Does that mean I cut out everything else and focus on school? No. Could I conceivably work less and focus more on school to maximize my returns? I could. But that is the whole trick. Finding a challenging, rewarding, and sufficiently paying job is difficult in today's market. Not because jobs are out there (which they are) but because doing what I love seems to be at a premium. Believe it or not, business is good and the market is at a strong level.
In an economic situation this good, it is an employee's market. If the economy were to take a downturn, like it did five years ago, we would be back to an employer's market. Thus, if ever there was a time to make the big switch . . . the time is now.