After 5 years...

Greetings everyone. I hope the holidays are treating you all well and that you are looking forward to 2014 as much as I am. While this blog is being posted as an employee, I'm not really announcing anything. This is more of an old school .plan, just talking a little bit about GarageGames and my time with the company.

I was struck with the urge to post a blog for several reasons. First, there hasn't been an employee blog in over a month. Second, I haven't posted a blog in a very long time. Next, I'm getting close to the big 100 mark for blogs.

However, the main reason is due to a recent anniversary that came and went without a whisper. 2013 marked my fifth year at GarageGames. For those that know the history, I am including all past incarnations up to the present. Old school GG back in Eugene, Oregon. The move to Las Vegas and renaming to TorquePowered. The shutdown and rebirth as GarageGames, LLC. Then up to the present day.

To me, five years at a tech company is kind of a big deal. If you follow the industry, there have been many startups and shutdowns across all the branches. Game engines, game studios, monetization focused groups, and kooky companies that split focus between a web-plugin/game engine/Guitar Hero clone. I survived three rounds of layoffs and a full company shutdown. I consider myself lucky to have been counted among the folks re-hired at GarageGames, LLC. It was a great day and has continued to be an adventurous experience.

This brings me to the point of the blog. What has it been like working at GarageGames? What have I seen and learned? If you check out my blog history, you will see I've jumped around a lot inside the company. Specifically, I'd like to call out my origin story: MAJOR Documentation Announcement 1. That blog truly represents old school GG, specifically the folks at Tech & Tools. I was blown away at the response. My fellow community members congratulated me, while my new teammates proceeded to create a fantastic photoshop war. Lesson learned: do not post topless pictures of yourself on the internet. You will get what you deserve =).

Rather than continuing lengthy paragraphs, the following list represents some of the bigger lessons I learned at GarageGames:

1. Writing documentation is always a rewarding experience, but it is probably the most difficult task to take on. It spawned one of my catchphrases: "Docs. Everyone wants it. No one wants to write it. It will never be finished." Do that for a few years and the very makeup of your brain will change. Hopefully, my work as documentation engineer was beneficial to those who took the time to read it.

2. Never, EVER, doubt the power of a community. It can not be overstated how powerful we are, even in our reduced capacity. We've laughed together, bled together, fought like bickering children, and survived major changes that would have broken weaker communities. Specific to my learning experience, you all taught me infinite patience, humility, and how to pick my battles. I'll still think a jackass poster is a jackass, but I do not get enraged anymore. If anything, it's a good thing if I continue to read your jackass posts and take it into consideration =).

3. If you're not having fun, you're in the wrong business. I've never had more fun than working at GG. The pranks, the Friday Night Game Night sessions, the Street Fighter IV and ping pong tournaments...it was all great. I think I miss that more than anything.

4. If you are not challenged, you are doing it all wrong. Never settle. Never plateau. Never stop looking for ways to advance in the company. I am lucky to have had teammates that pushed me to be the best. Primarily, current CEO, longtime friend, and noble leader, Eric Preisz. That guy knows me better than anyone, except my wife. He doesn't give me an inch and I appreciate that.

5. Sacrifice is a necessary component to following your dreams, but it never stops being painful. When I left Florida to join GG, my wife and I had to leave all our friends and family. However, we found new friends and family that will last a lifetime. SHOUT OUT TO THE BLENDENS and BRONSONS! When the company moved to Las Vegas, we had to give up living in the city we came to love. We adapted, but were never truly happy with the location. So once again, we moved back to Florida and I lost all friends and day-to-day interaction. The flip side was seeing my son every single day, throughout the entire workday. I would not give that up.

So there it is. Five year, five points. You will not see a "sixth year" blog from me. You can look forward to the next pointless blog from me in another five years. That's right. After five years of adventure, sacrifice, non-stop challenges, and fun, I am still on team GG. Here's to striving for ten years at the same company I always loved.

Shout outs in no particular order:

Derek Bronson
Mike Blenden
Joseph Thomas
Eric Preisz
Erik Graham
Justin Head
Scott Burns
Melv May
Dave Wyand
David Montgomery-Blake
Deborah and Jacob Fike
Matt and Talana Fairfax
Matt and Channa Langley
Josh and Lara Engebretson
Ken Holst
Eric Fritz
Davey Jackson
Ray
Steven Garcia
Richard Ranft
Brett Seyler
The rest of Tech & Tools
Ben Garney
My folks in Siberia
Bacon Henge
Ronny "orb" Bangsund
Dave Calabrese
Rene Damm
Steve Acaster
Mike Lilligreen
Konrad Kiss
Novack
Morrock
Johnny Vo
Marc "Dreamora" Schaerer
eb
Conor O'Kane
Tom Spillman and everyone else at Sickhead Games
Tim and everyone else at MGT
Sven and everyone else at Luma
All the deviants in the IRC channel
The former iTorque group
The current Torque 2D group
The unfortunate folks involved in the infamous ban hammer spree of 2011
And everyone else in the community!!!


All of the following are clickable















"Read. Read Code. Code"

"Documentation. Everyone wants it. No one wants to write it. It will never be fininshed."

"What did you get your degree in? Donuts?!"

"A wild Mich appears."

"Puppy shader!"

"RTFM"

Best regards to all and Happy New Year!

- Mich