Oded Sharon's Blog

Sinfest had this referance to starwars which i liked:

http://www.sinfest.net/d/20040913.html

The company i worked for solved the conflict i had with myself reagrding my job there.
The company was making sound software plug-ins, which was very nice and all, part for the fact that i didn’t have anything that was directly related to that. I was in the infrastructure maintanance team called “Cross Platform” (or X-Platform).
What i was doing was the “drity work” i was moving bits form one place to another. I tried moving within the company to the R&D department where they actually DO stuff, but the answer i got was that i lack the formal experience required for a job in the R&D. Bullshit.
In My opinion, is was way overqualified for a simple porgrammer’s job. The tasks i was doing was, read something a file, write something to a file. It wasn’t even nesscary for me to know what was in the file. just read it, and pass it on to a function.
But i had my comforts in reading comics while compiling, and the fact that i was getting paid, even if it was a reltively low salary.

Last week, shortly after writing the “move” post, My boss calls me for a conversation regarding the end of my evaluation period at the company
He complains about the fact that i seem to be participating in non-work related internet activities, and that i don’t finish tasks on time because i’m given other tasks.
To make an already long story short, i had a few other conversations with him folowing that one. In the initial conversation they promised to find me something interesting to do, as after all, this was a audio plug-in company, which makes plug ins, and it’s not logical that there’s nothing interesting do to.
But apparantly there isn’t. So after sitting and talking with him for an hour gonig over all the tasks possible, and not finding anything other then trivial maintanance bug fixes or helper utility tasks, he callled me again and told me that he’s sorry, but since they can’t find anything interesting for me to do, they don’t want to keep an unsatisfied employee at thier company, because it’s not good for them in the long term.
I wan’t shocked or suprised at all. I was thinking the same things myself, but i did thought i’ll keep at it for a little while longer.

so, there you have it, and now for a bunch of cliche’s:

I got fired.
A two weeks notice.
a pink slip.
But the can’t fire me, because i quit !
I left the coal mine.
i’m between jobs now.

but :
when one door closes another open.

don’t look at the pot but what’s inside it.
A watched pot never boils.

also some random quataions spinning in my head:
“you must cut the largest tree in the forest…. with ….. A herring !!!”. (monty python’s holy grail)
“People like that should get fired. out of a cannon.” Hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy

Live long and prosper.

Do you know anyone who’s looking for a programmer ?

I went to the IGDA meeting yesterday, and Lee tagged along. IGDA is the “International Game Developer Association”, and here we’re the Israeli Chapter.

They have a meeting every once in a while, few months usually. I’ve been to a few when they took place at Majorem’s office.
Then i missed out on a few because I didn’t know about them, and then I was in Taiwan.

Usually there are up to 10-20 people. this time there were over 40 ! maybe more, i didn’t count.

Those there who do take part in some game developing proccess, didn’t give me too much hope for the future, but the fact that the numbers of people were so high, is very promising, and shows some sort of awakening in awareness.
Many of them, at least 4 groups of 2 people, do Cellular games, which i thought of doing myself, but i didn’t end up doing after all. I Found this job instead. I get a much higher paycheck then i would if i would have worked for free and earned revenure from some cellular games i would have made. I’m not sure if i mad ethe right choice though.
A few other people were working on “casual” games. Those kind of games you download, or play online when you’re in your office or stuff like that. 3D Space invaders, or Bejeweled are some examples.

I also talked to a few people on the business aspects of game making. It’s nearly impossible to get funded for a game project, especially in Israel. Unlike Start-up companies, game companies can’t get their company sold to another company that easily, and it’s a very high risk investment. Getting funding from the game insudtry itself, or from the related movie industry is impossible in Israel, mainly since there isn’t any game or movie industry here. And if you want to do it in the states, you’ll need at a company composed of a few talented individuals with at least 3 successfull publish titles at their credit.
I have 1 unpublished title to put in my resume

It’s the chicken and the egg. You can’t get funding unless you make good games, and you can’t make good games unless you have funding, or work for someone who does.
Since There’s no one to work for in Israel it’s very hard, and working for some company in another country is also paradoxial, since you need game developing experience (especially on publish titles) in order to get a worthwhile job….

I talked to alot of people, and felt very “at home” with these game making geeks. I stayed up to 3am with Lee talking about games, and sci-fi, and hacking, and money, and all sorta stuff.


A few individuals there made my feeling of worthlessness even worse. A few of them were already VP of R&D in several companies. one of the guys, who’s a consultant to a VC (Venture Capital), and is only a year older then me, says he became one, because he already had owned 5 successful companies.
5 companies. at the age of 28. How do you get there ?

I know that for him, money is not a problem.
Another guy there, who was a VP in some company, don’t actually have a job, and he don’t need one, He lives in San Fransisco and comes here to visit family once in a while. He’s a nice guy, and he said that they’re success is mainly because of luck and timing.
I never had neither. Not luck, and not timing.
The only reason i’m dating Lee, is because SHE’s lucky, and it’s HER luck who brought us together.

The same timing/luck issue is the same with my friend Amnon, who was working for Checkpoint at the right time. I couldn’t, because i was locked up in the army, against my will. He was serving in Sde Dov next to his home, and i was Stuck 30 minutes drive away, but without permission to leave the base.
He worked in Checkpoint, and he was lucky he could. For the past two years he’s been travelling around the world, without a worry on his mind.
He could efford it.
Now he’s gonna go study in Beer-Sheva. He doesn’t need to find a job, just becasue he can manage without one.
I had to work full time job all through my studies just to pay the rent.

Some people get a brake. Some don’t. I never do. If only i’d had a low physical army profile, or some army clerk would have assigned me to Sde-Dov instead of Palmahim i reckon i’d be better off.
Much better.

Life don’t give me choices. Life don’t give me options.
Even when it does, and i take it, i don’t get lucky enough to succeed in it.
I’m not sure that it’s my nature, or my personality.

Life did pose a choice for me once, which i’m not sure if i took the one that would have made me more successful. I could have gone working for CheckPoint once i’ve been released from the army, and rather then that, i went on a trip to the US, and started my studies in TAU, while working in nSof, and as a programmer. The alternative, was to work as a system’s administrator, not go to the US, and delay my studies by a few year.
Am i better off because i decided to have fun, get a more fullfilling job, and have a degree, rather then have a shit-load of money ?

I don’t know. I’m happy with my choices. I think. Some times i’m confused about it.
If i would have re-lived that time i would probably do the same thing. but looking at Amnon’s situation, i’m not sure if i would. He got a 1.5 year trip aroung the world, instead of my measly 4 months in the US, he’s gonna study peacefully and without worries, and he’s got money.
what do i have ?
An avarage day job, and my bitterness.


I do have Lee and that’s a lot.
And i have my hobbies, my crafts, and my games. Which nobody cares about.

I do know i think about this issues every now and then.
Like now.

There’s a new social networking site called orkut which i like, rather then a few other social network sites, beucase it’ simplistic. And it’s powered with Google engine.
I want to add as much as friends as i can there and see how connected i can get with it.


If i didn’t add you yet, let me know, and mention if you have an account there or now.

Oded