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Career thoughts for my fellow TTRPGers, especially those at the beginning of your careers, short version: keep gaming and quit selling yourself short. Long version, which might possibly be of interest to some, in thread below.
In my day job, I'm in charge of a rather large program at a rather large organization. Yes, that's vague and is all you're going to get here, mostly because it's entirely beside the point of this thread. 
One of the things that let me get to the level I'm at is that I've /2
One of the things that let me get to the level I'm at is that I've /2
gamed since I was 11. How does that help in a career? It teaches you to look for novel solutions and solve problems. It teaches you to think about motivations and the "why" behind things. Probably most importantly, it teaches you to put yourself in someone else's shoes and /3
look at things through completely different eyes. That allows even those of us (cough me cough) who are pretty profoundly introverted to make the connections that you need in a career. Continuing to game? Well, that keeps all those skills sharp. It also lets you make some /4
awesome friendships with your fellow nerds, and that's no small thing! And if you're a woman, it can be easier to deal with some mansplaining jerk by slipping briefly into character, though he'll never know that's what you did. I suspect that's true no matter who you are /5
As to the other piece, not selling yourself short, a recent comment from someone I mentor has really stuck in my craw, so to speak. We'd recently discovered that we share the same nerdy hobbies. And I'd /6
recently supported him heartily for a position he really wanted. He told me after that he it was the first time his "nerdery" had gotten him a job. It bothered me because it didn't. One, I have a professional reputation to protect and I wouldn't put someone forward because we /7
like to paint dragons. I put him forward because he was flatly awesome and I'd been watching his career. And it's the sort of thing I ALWAYS SEE US GAMERS DO! We sell ourselves short ALL. THE. TIME. I'm telling you as someone who sees a ton of careers, gamers are VERY good at /8
what we do. Own that. Have confidence in it. (Full disclosure, I still don't, so this is some level of hypocrisy) The traits that brought you to gaming, that you honed through role-playing, make you special and skilled. If someone mentors and supports you, don't try to find /9
some insignificant excuse for why they might do so. At least consider the possibility that it's because they see something in you that will benefit your career. Most of the people I mentor aren't gamers, and I can tell you that we as a group are particularly bad at it--and /10
shouldn't be. I literally do not know one person at my work who games who is not also brilliant and analytic and an asset to everyone they work with. So, fellow gamers, cut that silliness out right now. I've pontificated quite long enough for one day. - Laura //11
