All of the sessions were great introductions to the many different parts composing the well-oiled machine that is IGN's tech stack, but many of us found the presentations somewhat frustrating as well. Why? Well, it certainly wasn't the fault of the engineers presenting the material, nor the material itself. The problem was purely a matter of our engineering instinct! As engineers, non-interactive presentations are sometimes difficult to sit through, because many of us just want to dive in and try things out for ourselves. That's why two workshops in particular stood out to me: the PHP workshop lead by Steve and the Ruby on Rails demonstration by Akash. Both of these were heavy on both information and interactivity and made for some of the most interesting sessions of the program so far. Honorable mention goes to Manish for his presentations on Object-Oriented Design, Java, and JVM. His talks were entertaining, informative, and a lot of fun to participate in.
We still have a few more sessions to go, but by next Thursday our projects and teams will be permanently assigned for the duration of the program. After that, we'll be able to start working together towards the goal of making IGN a better site, and a better gaming community. Personally, I can't wait.
During my time at IGN, I've also been fortunate enough to meet some awesome people in IPL, Editorial, and Video Production. Though I am a software engineer first and foremost, it is just as important for me to learn as much as possible about how I can become a better games journalist while I'm here, as well. Unsurprisingly, the golden rule of the gaming industry that I learned while covering E3 and PAX also applies here at IGN:
Games Journalism Golden Rule: "Ask and ye (might) receive."
In other words, don't assume you're "too insignificant" to ask for anything. People who don't speak up will most certainly get ignored, because there are plenty of people that will gladly speak up in their place. If you want something, you have to ask for it - even if you're afraid the answer might be "no". More often than not, the answer will be "yes", and even if it does end up being "no", at least you can say you made an effort, right? For example: I'm meeting with a senior member of IGN's editorial staff next week to go over some of my written work - and all I had to do was ask! In addition, it appears I may soon have the opportunity to play a game live on one of IGN's live broadcasts along with the game's developers in Japan...yikes!! I couldn't be happier with getting an opportunity to learn from some amazing people - both in engineering and editorial contexts.
The week capped off with a company-sponsored trip to California's Great America in order to celebrate IGN Evolution's launch (which, to be perfectly honest, Code-Foo had no part in whatsoever - but that didn't stop Engineering from inviting us along). When I first heard that we were going to "Great America", I was confused. Up until now, the only "Great America" theme park that I knew was Six Flags Great America near my hometown of Chicago, but in the words of Yoda: "There is another..."
This amusement park was a bit smaller than a Six Flags variant, but was still focused tightly around its famous set of coasters. Unfortunately, I'm not really a roller coaster guy. In fact, to say that "I'm not a roller coaster guy" is actually a bit of an understatement. The things terrify me. I'm ashamed to say this, but the fear actually stems from riding Disney World's Splash Mountain when I was 11 years old. Weak, I know. Luckily for me, there were a few members of the IGN Engineering Team who shared my feelings on roller coasters, so I was able to have some really interesting conversations while everyone else was standing in long lines to get tossed about and turned upside-down. I'd take conversation over stomach queasiness any day of the week. I did ride a couple of attractions at the park, and ended up soaking wet for the privilege. Overall, a great day thanks to IGN Engineering.
Although I do really enjoy being based in San Francisco, there are a couple things about the city that don't really make sense to me. Begin RANT:
Why is it such a pain in the ass to buy basic goods here? When I walked into a Walgreens for the first time here, much to my dismay, many items such as laundry detergent, shampoo, deodorant, and certain kinds of food were behind lock-and-key cases similar to what "normal" stores use to secure electronics. This means that, yes, you have to flag down a store employee if you want to purchase any one of those items. It's obnoxious.
Also, there's Whole Foods - the grocery store closest to where many of us ended up staying - also has the highest prices for groceries that I've ever seen. Unfortunately it is also some of the best grocery store food I've ever had, which leaves me at a bit of a conundrum. It costs as much to buy a meal at Whole Foods as it does to go to a restaurant, but Whole Foods is much, much closer. I feel dirty when I buy anything from them, though, given their insane markups. Sadly, the place is always busy, and the prices are high because they can get away with it.
End RANT. And, since I've ran out of things to say (for now), end article.
Michael Migliacio
@angstygaijin
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