Recently in Career Category

I don’t write about work very much because it’s difficult. There are vast amounts of rules and regulations to follow about what I’m allowed to talk about and what I’m not. For instance, I can’t tell you what movies we have coming out over the next few years. I can’t show you any images of anything I do. I can’t even tell you what software I use. The movie business is the most secretive industry I’ve been involved in since I developed radar simulation software for a living. And that stuff was export controlled. I think I even had to show someone a birth certificate once.I can talk about the DreamWorks culture all day long, like how we had funnel ... more

This is how it all began.Two and a half years ago I saw two movies: Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. During the credits of both, as I saw the names of my friends fly by, I remember thinking, “Why them and not me?” It wasn’t a jealousy thing, it was more of a disappointment in myself thing. A “Why did I give up?” kind of thing. Or more accurately, it was more of a “Why didn’t I try harder when I had the chance?” kind of thing.I looked sideways down this path from the one I was on for quite a long time. This is where I finally had enough of standing in the intersection. And this is where I ... more

Yep, that’s me this week. Dead Girl Walking. I’ve worked every day and night this week. I had 40 hours in by Wednesday, not counting what I did over the weekend. I wanted to take tomorrow night off but there’s one function on the web site that’s giving me trouble so it doesn’t look like it will happen. I have an actual deadline this time. They’re going to start testing the auction part of the site on Monday, and there’s a lot left to do. I also have plans on Sunday with a friend and while I know damn well I shouldn’t go, I’m going. I need to get out of here and I’ve put him off for months. So ... more

I know this isn’t the “California for Dummies” I promised but I just couldn’t resist. (It will come, just not today.)I’ve been at DreamWorks for a little over three weeks now, and let’s face it, while it’s nowhere near as bad as most, it is a corporation. That means you have your little corporate sheep moments here and there. You have your “Kickoff” meetings. You have your “Touch Bases.” You have your Microsoft Outlook with your meetings and your calendar and your email and your to-dos all wrapped in that Dilbert inspired wrist-slitting, soul-smothering, oh-God-I-really-do-work-in-a-cubicle-please-euthanize-me user interface. Imagine my inner programmer’s unbridled joy when I found out I would be working on a Linux box, probably one of the most ... more

I’ve been getting that question a lot lately. I’m writing this at work if that tells you anything. I’m not actually sitting on my blog site typing it all into that nice little window it provides; instead, I’m writing it in my favorite Linux text editor Nedit, or as I like to refer to him, Ned. Ned and I are old friends. We go way back to my grad school days when I ran him on an SGI. We took a seven-year haitus as I moved to Windows (forcibly, at gunpoint) and Mac (willingly), but we’re back together again and very happy. Very, very happy.I’m starting my fourth week at DreamWorks and I’m still in training. This is not a ... more