Just thought I'd drop some tips out there for all the game dev parents, because it's hard to raise a child while working in games unless you set super firm boundaries for yourself and expectations with your employer. (A thread)

Be super clear about your hours and availability. Even during the hiring process, I made it absolutely clear that my #1 priority was my child and that I'd have to leave every day (aside from extreme circumstances) at 5pm to pick him up from school. Not negotiable!

Leaving at 5pm is pretty unheard of at many studios. Many game studios default to a 10-7 style schedule, which is *super* unfeasible if you have a child. School gets out at 2:30-3pm each day. Kids under like 10 years old go to bed at 8pm. You have to feed/bathe them.

So make sure that you're upfront about that. It's especially difficult if you're in CST or EST locale and you need to work with PST folks. I basically end my day at 3pm PST. That's something the company has to be cool with, for it to work.

I fearlessly and rigorously protect my calendar. At 5pm every day, my Outlook cal says "Mama Time" from 5-8pm. People know that's my time with my son and I'm essentially unavailable.

Same with Slack. I set my Slack emoji to a red dot and I change my status to "Mama time!". People can message me, but they'll know that it will likely be some time (or tomorrow) until they get a response. Protect that time.

I'm also pretty bullheaded on travel. While other people might be fine with traveling without kids for 3+ days at a time, I require shorter trips if at all possible. I was a single mom for 4 years and I'm protective of my time with my (almost) 5 year old.

I'm also really clear with my team if my son is at home sick or otherwise, so that they're aware if my responses might be slower. It's important to always be transparent! I usually try not to burn all my sick days when my kid is sick but instead WFH while he's around if I can.

Game dev moms - it's also really awesome if you have a Slack/Teams channel with each other so that you can commiserate. The game industry has a lot of game dev dads, but it feels like the majority of them have stay-at-home wives shouldering the childcare while we do not.

(And if you don't have a company channel, or there's not enough moms at your workplace, hit me up for an invite to a Game Dev Moms Discord group!)

Other fun stuff - advocate for kid's swag at your company! Always ask for more kid-friendly events they can attend (especially in a post-COVID world). Do a "take your kid to work day!". Zynga Austin was really great about family-friendly activities.

During your interview process, ask about the company culture around parents. Are there a lot of parents? How many moms? Is there a nursing room? Ask about paternity/maternity leave because that will tell you a *ton* about how supportive a company is toward parents.

Traditional game studio hours don't work for parents unless one parent stays at home. Even if you have a stay-at-home spouse, consider keeping shorter hours too -- not only will you normalize sensible work schedules, you'll also see your kids more!

Ask about backup child care, or FSA used for daycare spending. Ask about fertility and adoption benefits too -- it should be totally normal for game developers to want to expand their families and they should be supported in that endeavor.

I should also point out that Blizzard has been amazing so far. In the Austin office, lots of folks work 9-5 or so and leave to enjoy dinner with their families. I definitely feel supported as a parent at Blizzard, and I wish everyone felt that way all across the industry.

Also it’s something weird now with COVID, but ask about WFH policies. When you have a kid, it’s so helpful if you can have some flexibility with this. Your kid *will* have random days off school for seemingly no reason.

My son is having a tonsillectomy next month. They’re estimating a 2 week recovery time. Know how much PTO I get this year? 10 days. Being able to WFH while I care for him means I won’t burn my entire PTO in one fell swoop.

And it goes without saying, but all companies should offer the week between Christmas and New Years off work. Schools are not in session at that time and it’s really hard to find backup childcare over Christmas.

I also love when there are executive moms at a company. Executive dads generally have a stay-at-home-wife in my experience, but if you have moms in management you know the support will hopefully come from top down.

My colleague @onalark brings up a great point which is.... dads — take your damn paternity leave. The whole thing. Don’t shorten it. Support your wives and normalize taking the whole leave even if you think you don’t need it. And push for longer family leave for all.

It's also a real shame that most large game studios with great benefits are in very expensive areas. I've done the rough estimate of what it would cost for me to transfer to a few SoCal places. Remote-friendly policies are parent-friendly policies.