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Assuming this question is asked in good faith. I find it hard to believe you could work in the tech industry and not realize that a lot of your co-workers proba

Assuming this question is asked in good faith. I find it hard to believe you could work in the tech industry and not realize that a lot of your co-workers probably play games. Unless you're just the type who doesn't ever speak to people. I'ved worked in tech for 20+ years at this point and every tech company I've worked at had gamers across all departments but usually programmers/engineers have a much higher percentage of being gamers. Every tech company I've worked at has some area with consoles hooked up to TVs for playing Fifa or Mario Kart type multiplayer games. Most of those companies also had one or two arcade machines too. And then every company has some internal groups/communities for gamers. Even the most serious and least "gamey" of the companies I worked for (a financial tech company) had internal communities for Dota 2 and Valorant...

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
I would go further and state that many probably owe gaming for their tech career. In the dark ages, installing and running a game could take significant technical effort. Scouring forums and looking for magical configuration or patches that could make it work. That technical knowledge builds upon itself.
- no_wizard 3y ago
  when games were far more open to supporting mods and had big communities around it, its where I first cut my teeth programming in earnest without even realizing it. At some point, the programming became more fun than the playing for me
  - dvngnt_ 3y ago
    now kids are modding roblox and minecraft
    - PawgerZ 3y ago
      My programming journey started in like 2013ish with making guns on roblox which eventually turned into working on Minecraft mods.
    - heywoodlh 3y ago
      It’s actually really cool (to me) the irony that both of these games are over a decade old — ancient in the computing timeframe, I would argue — and so widely appealing to all age ranges. Roblox released in 2006 [0] Minecraft officially was released in 2011, with a public testing release in 2009 [1] 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft
- delive 3y ago
  Agree! What got me into programming was building/running my own Counter-Strike server and corresponding stats website. Now with companies running their own servers internally, that isn't nearly as common.
- acjohnson55 3y ago
  I'm old enough to remember trying to get IRQs and DMAs set, and trying to figure out whether I should use Tandy or EGA mode.
- esafak 3y ago
  Some even disassembled their games to modify them ;)
zogrodea 3y ago
I'm disappointed there was any doubt that my question was asked in good faith! I do regret the obsession I had with video games when younger because of the huge time sink I put in, but I only see that as a me-problem (others likely have a healthier relationship with it). Thanks for sharing your experience though. That's interesting news to me. I talk with coworkers occassionally, but games don't come up (and neither do other interests outside of work).
- gopher2000 3y ago
  > I do regret the obsession I had with video games when younger because of the huge time sink I put in Don't regret time spent doing something you enjoy. So as long as you enjoyed it, feel good about it.
  - adastra22 3y ago
    Opportunity cost is real.
    - shmoogy 3y ago
      Try to not do this to yourself too much. Everybody needs an outlet, and you can't beat yourself up for spending time relaxing or enjoying instead of hustling with a side gig or something.
      - adastra22 3y ago
        I’m not beating myself up. I’m consciously choosing to engage in productive and enriching hobbies, while refusing to rationalize away those that are time wasting.
        shaneoh 3y ago
        What are those hobbies?
        3y ago
adastra22 3y ago
I work in startups, and literally not a single one of my coworkers plays games. Maybe it depends a lot on your field or company?
- Jcampuzano2 3y ago
  As an anecdote that is completely contrary to yours. I also recently worked in startups (within the last year), and practically single person in the founding team I worked alongside was an avid gamer. I think the proportion of gamers in the tech sphere vs others is likely overall higher than the norm. I do honestly find it hard to believe others don't think gaming is common in tech. On my current team in a definitely non-startup corporate-y atmosphere, even many of the devs well into their 40s and above are avid gamers to this day. Meanwhile I'm 30 and while I don't play very often anymore I definitely was one as a teen into my early 20's.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago

I would go further and state that many probably owe gaming for their tech career. In the dark ages, installing and running a game could take significant technical effort. Scouring forums and looking for magical configuration or patches that could make it work. That technical knowledge builds upon itself.

no_wizard 3y ago
when games were far more open to supporting mods and had big communities around it, its where I first cut my teeth programming in earnest without even realizing it. At some point, the programming became more fun than the playing for me
- dvngnt_ 3y ago
  now kids are modding roblox and minecraft
  - PawgerZ 3y ago
    My programming journey started in like 2013ish with making guns on roblox which eventually turned into working on Minecraft mods.
  - heywoodlh 3y ago
    It’s actually really cool (to me) the irony that both of these games are over a decade old — ancient in the computing timeframe, I would argue — and so widely appealing to all age ranges. Roblox released in 2006 [0] Minecraft officially was released in 2011, with a public testing release in 2009 [1] 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft
delive 3y ago
Agree! What got me into programming was building/running my own Counter-Strike server and corresponding stats website. Now with companies running their own servers internally, that isn't nearly as common.
acjohnson55 3y ago
I'm old enough to remember trying to get IRQs and DMAs set, and trying to figure out whether I should use Tandy or EGA mode.
esafak 3y ago
Some even disassembled their games to modify them ;)

zogrodea 3y ago

I'm disappointed there was any doubt that my question was asked in good faith! I do regret the obsession I had with video games when younger because of the huge time sink I put in, but I only see that as a me-problem (others likely have a healthier relationship with it). Thanks for sharing your experience though. That's interesting news to me. I talk with coworkers occassionally, but games don't come up (and neither do other interests outside of work).

gopher2000 3y ago
> I do regret the obsession I had with video games when younger because of the huge time sink I put in Don't regret time spent doing something you enjoy. So as long as you enjoyed it, feel good about it.
- adastra22 3y ago
  Opportunity cost is real.
  - shmoogy 3y ago
    Try to not do this to yourself too much. Everybody needs an outlet, and you can't beat yourself up for spending time relaxing or enjoying instead of hustling with a side gig or something.
    - adastra22 3y ago
      I’m not beating myself up. I’m consciously choosing to engage in productive and enriching hobbies, while refusing to rationalize away those that are time wasting.
      - shaneoh 3y ago
        What are those hobbies?
        3y ago

adastra22 3y ago

I work in startups, and literally not a single one of my coworkers plays games. Maybe it depends a lot on your field or company?

Jcampuzano2 3y ago
As an anecdote that is completely contrary to yours. I also recently worked in startups (within the last year), and practically single person in the founding team I worked alongside was an avid gamer. I think the proportion of gamers in the tech sphere vs others is likely overall higher than the norm. I do honestly find it hard to believe others don't think gaming is common in tech. On my current team in a definitely non-startup corporate-y atmosphere, even many of the devs well into their 40s and above are avid gamers to this day. Meanwhile I'm 30 and while I don't play very often anymore I definitely was one as a teen into my early 20's.