Consortium Staff Blog

Yes, you read that right. This is indeed a tale of how I've been able to successfully "cash out" from all this time invested into this game and it's economy.

It all started with Cataclysm, really. That was when I really got serious about gold making. Passing milestones quickly became too easy and I started looking for more depth and new avenues to explore. This was when I first got into spreadsheets and resources. At first, it was mostly to help keep track of new ventures and my own systems I was developing, but the opportunity grew to the point where it made sense to share with the rest of the community as well.

I primarily did it for the enjoyment - A not uncommon theme among WTs is that quite a few of us actually enjoy the Theory behind the gold-making more than the actual gold-making itself. Especially those who are like me and don't really have a whole lot to spend it on at the end of the day. These spreadsheets offered a way to break down the gold making process and dissect and manipulate some of its finer points.

The upkeep and "support" was extremely tedious, though, and eventually even those precious spreadsheets began to lose their luster. Enter Wow-GPS, and my attempt to "build a better mousetrap".

Again - I primarily tackled this new project for self-serving purposes. I wanted to test out some new development platforms, sharpen my skills, and essentially see if I could actually port those old spreadsheets onto a more modern and accessible model. It was one of those things I would just dabble with in my spare time, and I never expected any serious traction out of it, really.

Then a web development position became available where I work and everything changed. The administrator approached me because she knew I was into web development and she asked me to take a look at the position and send them some samples. I was definitely interested, but unfortunately, most of my Portfolio contained Website Design projects and there hadn't really been much opportunity to showcase the development/programming work I had done. That's when WoW-GPS came to mind.

What seemed to me like a simple little hobbyist project, suddenly held some key elements that might be useful for the position. So, I sent the link(s) along, and when they decided to interview me, I walked them through the Saronite Shuffle module, step by step. Coolest job interview I've ever done, hands down!

I'm sure at this point, you can probably figure out that I wouldn't have bothered writing this if I didn't end up getting the job. I did The "moral of the story" though, is really to never overlook some of the skills and experiences you develop simply because of the environment you develop them in. Sure WoW is "just a game", but it can still teach you things that will pay off for you in RL - I guarantee it...