In Praise of Stupid Fun

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I am all for using your hobbies professionally.  Indeed, I think the ideal life is one where your hobby and job don't exist – what you'd call "hobbies" and "jobs" are so fused you just have a "life" where the things you like make you money and give you social involvement.  To me the holy grail of professional geekdom is like that – a life with no outside (or inside).

A flaw that afflicts some progeeks, and that many don't speak to, is that it's too easy to slide into the idea that just because you're a fannish professional, just because what pays your bills also is the reason you have an extensive action figure collection, that you have to take everything seriously.  In short, every "fun" thing has to be calculated to some financial benefit.

I'm here to say that's wrong on two counts.

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The Later In Life Geeky Career Leap

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I began working in video games well over a decade into my career.  I was only capable of doing this after I stopped being a programmer and started being a project manager.

That sounds backwards to quite a few people, I'm sure.  I went from a young and hip programmer to a manager and THEN went into one of the geeky industries par excellence.  Actually, it's a great idea for your career – making the geeky leap later in life, at certain critical points in your career.

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The Answer May Be In Pieces

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As I coach people, speak, or just help people out, I encounter a similar theme over and over again: people are A) not sure of what they want in life or a career, and B) usually aren't sure "who" they are.

This sounds a bit oddly touchy-feely, but it's important to have an idea of who you are and what you want (Babylon 5 jokes aside of course).  When you're positive on who you are and what you want, you're active, focused, enjoying life because you're living it in that moment.  Without it you're sort of meandering.

As I said, I encounter this a LOT.

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