Rom's Rants

Friday, February 09, 2007

The Pendulum Has Stopped

This should be the last-career related post for a bit.

As of today, I'm no longer searching for full-time employment. I've decided to take a full-time position with the place that I've been working at for the last eight weeks. (I'm going to continue to leave their name out of this blog, however. I will say that they are a non-profit organization, and the work is improving as time goes by.)

I'm still allowed to do contract work inside the games industry, and I'm in talks with a few interested parties.

In a lot of ways, I'm glad that I'm out but still have my foot in the door. Some distance from the industry will let me regain my sense of perspective about a lot of people, companies and practices so that I can approach them in a more logical (and sane) fashion.

A quick brain dump...

XNA Open Source Bounty: Still waiting on finalizing the arrangement with my partners. Just so you can have a heads-up as to what the bounty will be, it's going to be a C#/XNA port of either GLQuake or Quake II to work under Windows. Seperating out the networking so that it will also work on the Xbox 360 is optional, but would have a bounty "bonus."

Source Engine Mod: Have had no time this week, but have all weekend to track down my last bug.

Contract House: The company that bounced two paychecks is JAGTech & Associates. Since I still haven't received reimbursement for the bounced check fees, etc., I'm sending off a demand letter tomorrow morning. I'll keep everyone posted, because whether or not the "reason" the checks bounced was true or not, the company's behavior since has been inexcusable.

Ritual: Ten weeks, and I still don't have my stuff.

Labels: Employment

posted by Michael Russell at 2/09/2007 04:01:00 PM | 5 Comments Links to this post | View blog reactions

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

"We" vs. "IFQ"

Managers have lots of little tips and tricks that they use to help them evaluate the frame of mind of their employees. One of my favorites is one I learned at Microsoft. It's called "the 'We' index." Next time you're talking to someone at another company, give this a shot.

To check the "we" index, strike up a conversation with a person about the company that they are at, and listen to how they verbally refer to their company.

If they say "we" a lot, they're happy with the company itself, and they feel like they belong. If they say "they" a lot, they're unhappy with the company, but still feel like they belong. If they say "I" a lot, they're happy with the company, but feel like they're alone in what they do. Finally, if they say the company's name a lot, they're not only unhappy with work, but they're extremely unhappy.

This works because the person who is speaking is completely unaware that they are doing it. It falls apart when they're writing E-mails, unfortunately, but in conversation, it can be an invaluable tool for determining the state of mind of a person related to their employment.

Now, there is a way that an employee can roughly evaluate themselves on this scale using what is called the "IFQ" index, but there is a catch. People who thought they were unhappy because of work have started feeling optimistic; others who have tried this method and thought they were happy started looking for other jobs. If you are open to that sort of experience, then advance to the next paragraph. Otherwise, see you next post.

To determine your "IFQ" index, go home. Kick everyone out of the house for ten to fifteen minutes. Go into the restroom and look straight into the mirror. Finally, say in the most convincing way that you can, "I fucking quit." Now think about how you feel after saying that.

If a pit has formed in your stomach and/or you feel slightly ill, then you would be miserable if you left where you are. If you aren't happy at work but you feel ill at the thought of leaving, that generally means that there is a specific something that is dragging you down and if you can find and isolate it, you'll enjoy work a lot more.

If you felt like a major weight has been lifted off your shoulders, you have two choices. The first choice is you can start looking for another job. Something has pissed you off to the point where even saying "you quit" has made you happy. The other option is to try to figure out what you want to get away from and try to correct those issues.

If you felt no change, sorry, no answer at this time...try again later.

Labels: Employment, Management