

Your career is a game of Dungeons & Dragons, not Monopoly - tjic
http://tjic.com/?p=17979

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Dove
> on a given turn in the game of Monopoly, you roll the dice, move your token,
> buy and sell properties . . . _and nothing else_.

Er . . . that's not how I've ever played Monopoly. In my family, those things
are just the opening moves. The _real_ action comes from the constant deal
making. Trading properties, negotiating for free rent, paying people to _not_
trade properties. You need to know what your stuff and their stuff is worh.
You want to know how to drive a hard bargain without making the other person
so mad they won't deal with you again. You need to know how to win, but not
reveal too early that you're winning so people don't stop dealing with you.

Monopoly is a game of politics. And not like Settlers of Catan, where who you
can make a deal with and what you can trade is constrained. In Monopoly, you
can make a deal about _anything_.

If you _don't_ think a career in a big corporation is like a game of Monopoly,
you're either playing Monopoly wrong or managing your career wrong. Possibly
both.

(I definitely agree about not accepting the presented rules, but I wouldn't
say ignore them completely. Understand the local customs and rituals and their
benefits and costs and who cares about them and why. If all you ever do is
upset applecarts, you're like the guy playing monopoly who says "screw you
guys" to the other players and never makes deals. He loses.)

~~~
zzleeper
Mmm. You are playing it wrong.. I'm, wondering if your games ever finished or
everyone just got bored at some point

~~~
Dove
I come from a long line of ruthlessly cutthroat Monopoly players. If you get
into a game with my mom and the aunts on my Mom's side . . . man, you're lucky
if there's not blood on the floor when you're done ;)

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mildweed
I saw this headline and deduced a different metaphor:

Your career is not a straight line of promotions (pauper-> land owner->
landlord-> mogul), it is a series of challenges from which you equip yourself
with new tools and more experience. As you personally grow, your career grows,
and the rest follows from there.

~~~
tjic
I'll accept that addition to the metaphor!

~~~
mhd
What about a "You've reached name level, now go forth and build your keep!"
self-help advice book?

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protomyth
Well, that would explain how my last gig was too many thieves with high
backstabs and not enough wizards. Although there was a cleric.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Can't trust those clerics. Too educated, and they have an In with the Big Guy.

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iterationx
Since its Friday, I'll point out that Monopoly is a primitive RPG. Monopoly
has hit points ($), you quest around the board getting items like more hit
points, get out of jail free cards, winning beauty pageants, and buying
properties which behave like attacking creatures killing your opponent. These
attacking creatures can level up.

~~~
Splines
> buying properties which behave like attacking creatures killing your
> opponent.

I had never thought of it that way. Looking at it from that perspective,
Monopoly feels alot like MtG, except with a board.

~~~
iterationx
Mortgaging all your assets to crank up one color group does feel a little like
a channel fireball.

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mhd
And if you're a corporate wage slave, you're obviously playing fourth edition.

~~~
patio11
Hey, let's be fair, Fourth Edition can be a lot of fun. The graphics were
better when it was called WoW, but losing Barrens chat makes up for it
entirely.

~~~
roc
Yeah but now I can't get anyone to tell me where Mankrik's wife is....

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callahad
I credit my alma mater for leaving me with a deep ignorance of social and
professional hierarchies. Nice things can happen when you can approach senior
executives in large organizations as if they were any other peer, and yet,
it's definitely not one of the standard prescribed actions if you're viewing
the world through the Monopoly schema.

------
thevivekpandey
The article paints a pretty bleak picture of what working is like in
corporations. I have worked at a 6000 people strong tech company based in Palo
Alto (okay...why hide it...VMware) and it was nothing like what the article
describes. One could suggest new things, argue with managers, walk up to any
person and so on. I have heard similar things about other companies with less
than 10000 employees.

So, may be the author is talking about the juggernauts employing 50,000 or
more people?

~~~
alexophile
I do work at one of those 50k employee behemoths, and I wouldn't say it's
bleak. But IMO the D&D metaphor does hold. Unfortunately, at work, not
everyone can be an adventurer. Somebody has to run the grimey inn where you
met your party; somebody has to be the withered old man that told you of the
ancient treasure; somebody has to be the otherwise inconsequential bystander
staying at the inn to keep it in business long enough to allow for these
encounters. But you'll never get directions to the Temple of Elemental Evil
from the latter.

Basically, you have to seek out your own quests - don't let them bury you in
Beetle hunting.

If you're intelligent and creative, you're biggest obstacle is going to be
getting in a room with the person who has a problem you're capable of solving
- and unfortunately, they don't all have yellow question marks above their
heads.

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sigzero
As long as I can stand in the back an throw fireballs, I am okay with that.

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ngvrnd
Think outside the "think outside the box" box. This _is_ ycombinator, after
all. ;-)

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Eliezer
Are there any CEOs reading this who think of themselves as Dungeon Masters?

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neworbit
Yeah, I can envision how this goes. "I'm casting Fireball at the horde of
recruiters!"

------
known
Colluding is easier than Competing.

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alttab
True: You are what you make yourself.

False: Follow the advice of others to a T.

------
icco
Anyone else now looking forward to D&D 4.5E: Office Space?

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catshirt
It's a little bit of both.

