Linkedin offers the following suggestion for the "About" section on one's profile page: "You can write about your years of experience, industry, or skills. People also talk about their achievements or previous job experiences."
The thing is, while I'm deeply grateful for all the experiences and opportunities I've had, the jobs I've had and my accomplishments therein don't really paint an accurate picture of who I am, what I am capable of, or what I'm interested in. I can do research, software engineering, technical writing, data analysis, etc. but I wouldn't say I wake up every day excited to do any of those things. I did them because they represented the easiest path upward in my career — to more money — which, in my 20s, I valued most. But after years of chasing a higher paycheck, I felt unfulfilled.
Eventually I decided that I would pursue what I was interested in, which was (and still is) creating awesome products and experiences for people, especially in the area of entertainment and video games. The fact is, in this shard of the multiverse the circumstances of my life have made me a gamer. Growing up in a foster home surrounded by a lot of kids but not a lot of individual attention, I spent much of my early life absorbed in the world of games and they have been my preferred form of entertainment and relaxation ever since. But I have never wanted to create games that just get people addicted and perpetuate bad habits… I want to create games that inspire, that help people learn and grow to be the best version of themselves. So in 2015 I founded a video game company to allow me to do just that. However, it didn't quite turn out as I had hoped.
As the company was entirely self-funded, I had to retain my primary employment so I could keep paying the bills and keep a roof over my head. As such, most of what time I could spare was largely spent holding the organization together rather than (once again) doing what I was actually interested in, which was crafting the user experience. That said, I learned a great deal from the experience, in everything from business incorporation to taxation, human resources, payroll, marketing, sfx, modeling, animation, rigging, asset management, and many other areas. In particular, I gained incredibly valuable experience in managing and supporting the team of developers, artists, and designers I assembled, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.
However, after years of working essentially two full-time jobs and a series of company setbacks in quick succession, I decided to cut my losses. Games take a lot of time to make, and in the latter years of juggling two jobs I came to the broader realization that a life focused around work isn't really what I wanted. What I truly valued was my relationships with the people I love, and I realized that I had put so much of my attention and energy into my work that I had neglected other areas of my life. It was time to step back and reevaluate.
I decided to quit my job at NASA so I could focus on creating the life I wanted. I spent some time researching other ways of living and ultimately decided to try living in an intentional community. I put most of my belongings in storage and moved to a community in Hawaii to explore this idea which was radically new to me. I soon discovered I was able to live with virtually all of the comforts of modern society and much more freedom to choose how I spend my time.
This is due to the nature of collaborative living: when you share the work of daily living, everyone's overall load is reduced because of how efforts scale. Think about grocery shopping: it is really not that much more work for one person to buy food for 20 people instead of 4 people, and then no one else has to do that task for themselves. Or take cooking: Rather than everyone cooking for themselves, we had 2-3 people cook for everyone, and because of that we each only had to cook one night per week. What a gift it was to enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal every night and only cook one of those nights! Apply the same thinking to all the errands you do, all the shopping, cleaning, repairing, gardening, car maintenance, etc. and you'll soon discover that through cooperative living, you'll have much more free time. Indeed, it seems to me that our prevailing model of living our lives isolated from each other in our single-family homes is one of the greatest mistakes!
So in that ample free time I had, I was able to try many things in areas I had previously neglected. I learned how to frame a house and build a deck. I learned how to garden, how to mend soil fertility, and how to prune trees so they come back stronger. I explored creative activities such as making music — singing, guitar, piano, djembe/drumming — and various forms of movement such as dancing and calisthenics. And most helpful of all, I had the spaciousness to devote regular time to mindfulness meditation, a practice which I continue today. After two years of living in the community, I returned stateside and concluded three things:
Today, I'm in a phase of my life where I aim to be more deliberate about how I spend my time. Life is not all about work; I want to set aside regular time for my family, recreation, and leisure because it's easy for me to get hyper-focused on work. But I'm also a doer, I love creating things and bringing joy to people's lives, so I'm considering once again starting a company. However, I'm also open to a role at an existing company with a healthy work culture and a role that aligns with my interests and values.
For me, that would be a product role where I could shape the vision for a product from end to end. I have a passion for working with teams of developers, researchers, and designers to create amazing products that are such a joy to use and bring real value to people's lives. If you know of any roles like that — especially in the entertainment/gaming space — I invite you to connect.
Warmly,
Nathan
Oct 2024
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