3 ms·

> Spouses called, first worried, then angry. Yet the work continued: Somehow I feel like this part is something that shouldn't be celebrated. Don't get me wro

> Spouses called, first worried, then angry. Yet the work continued: Somehow I feel like this part is something that shouldn't be celebrated. Don't get me wrong it's a clever prank(and we had plenty of those at our game studio) but the game industry has enough problems with work-life balance and crunch that it feels tone deaf. I saw enough divorces at my last gig to know this stuff can have a non-trivial impact.

lfowles 8y ago
Sounds to me like this is on the Life side of the work-life balance. If they were already in on Saturday doing work for a looming deadline on the other hand....
ethbro 8y ago
There's a big difference between spending time on a hobby and spending time that is required by management. Some people go fishing on the weekend. These people built a castle.
wilun 8y ago
I'm not entirely sure nVidia should be equated to the "game industry" in that regard.
Voloskaya 8y ago
Do you think it was a decision that came from above to build this castle, and it had to be delivered before the next Tuesday otherwise they would be fired? If not then it is clearly their personal decision, do you presume knowing better than them how they should spend their free time?
- vvanders 8y ago
  I think it's easy to view this that way from the outside, having spent time in this space(on multiple angles both gamedev and HW/OEM): 1. This is still happening "at work", from the outside the optics aren't awesome. 2. This is on an official company blog and not Joe developer's blog/etc. Saying "We pissed off their spouses, but hey wasn't it funny!" doesn't paint your company well. 3. There's a culture of "family-second" in the industry which this is just a natural extension of. Yes, they technically had the "free will" to put their foot down. However once you start exercising that option you get marked as "not a team player" and slow-rolled out the door. 4. A lot of younger engineers(myself included at the time) just don't know better and can be naive when it comes to work-life balance. We should be setting a better example so that the industry becomes less of a meat-grinder. The number of really good engineers I see hemorrhage from that industry is incredible.
  - ng12 8y ago
    I think you're over-reacting. I used to work at a company which did lots of shenanigans like this and -- beleive it or not -- the people with families and outside commitments were never shamed, ostracized, or fired for not contributing. I look at it the opposite way: the world is chock full of the 9-5, "bring the kids to soccer practice" culture -- so what if there are a handful of companies are full of energetic young people with an excess of free time? If it bothers you that much, don't work there.
    - vvanders 8y ago
      I'll freely admit that I have an axe to grind. However, that's because I've seen this all first-hand across a bunch of different companies. This doesn't sound like young people with free time, this sounds like people with commitments that had a culture where it's okay(and even celebrated) to blow off those commitments. It's a cultural thing in this industry that does a ton of damage to the engineers who want to sustain a family life and work a job that's deep and interesting. I'm certain I'm not over-reacting though, I've seen it enough times in this space(and even from NVidia reps who came to pitch/visit us) that I know it's an issue that's worth addressing.

lfowles 8y ago

Sounds to me like this is on the Life side of the work-life balance. If they were already in on Saturday doing work for a looming deadline on the other hand....

ethbro 8y ago

There's a big difference between spending time on a hobby and spending time that is required by management. Some people go fishing on the weekend. These people built a castle.

wilun 8y ago

I'm not entirely sure nVidia should be equated to the "game industry" in that regard.

Voloskaya 8y ago

Do you think it was a decision that came from above to build this castle, and it had to be delivered before the next Tuesday otherwise they would be fired? If not then it is clearly their personal decision, do you presume knowing better than them how they should spend their free time?

vvanders 8y ago
I think it's easy to view this that way from the outside, having spent time in this space(on multiple angles both gamedev and HW/OEM): 1. This is still happening "at work", from the outside the optics aren't awesome. 2. This is on an official company blog and not Joe developer's blog/etc. Saying "We pissed off their spouses, but hey wasn't it funny!" doesn't paint your company well. 3. There's a culture of "family-second" in the industry which this is just a natural extension of. Yes, they technically had the "free will" to put their foot down. However once you start exercising that option you get marked as "not a team player" and slow-rolled out the door. 4. A lot of younger engineers(myself included at the time) just don't know better and can be naive when it comes to work-life balance. We should be setting a better example so that the industry becomes less of a meat-grinder. The number of really good engineers I see hemorrhage from that industry is incredible.
- ng12 8y ago
  I think you're over-reacting. I used to work at a company which did lots of shenanigans like this and -- beleive it or not -- the people with families and outside commitments were never shamed, ostracized, or fired for not contributing. I look at it the opposite way: the world is chock full of the 9-5, "bring the kids to soccer practice" culture -- so what if there are a handful of companies are full of energetic young people with an excess of free time? If it bothers you that much, don't work there.
  - vvanders 8y ago
    I'll freely admit that I have an axe to grind. However, that's because I've seen this all first-hand across a bunch of different companies. This doesn't sound like young people with free time, this sounds like people with commitments that had a culture where it's okay(and even celebrated) to blow off those commitments. It's a cultural thing in this industry that does a ton of damage to the engineers who want to sustain a family life and work a job that's deep and interesting. I'm certain I'm not over-reacting though, I've seen it enough times in this space(and even from NVidia reps who came to pitch/visit us) that I know it's an issue that's worth addressing.