September 29, 2003April 21, 2012 by Brendon J. Wilson

AOE II/Career Plan

In the race towards the end of this module of the MBA, I’ve been procrastinating with Ages of Empires II: Ages of Kings. Yeah, yeah, it’s an old game, but it fulfills the purposes of “wasting time” and “fulfilling my God complex”. Though playing the game is meant to be a distraction, I’ve been introspective: How I play the game seems to reflect the way I approach problems – and a big problem under consideration at the moment is where to go after I finish the MBA.

For those of you not familiar with the game: it’s your basic military strategy game in which you build a village, gain technologies, and defend yourself from an enemy. My usual tactic is to surround an area with a fence, and have my villagers work like mad to mine/harvest/log resources to climb the technology curve as quickly as possible. I usually create only a small military, just enough to fend off any enemy troops who choose to assault my city walls. It works pretty well, but it also appears to be a metaphor for how I have approached my career: go to school, get degree, work hard, get an MBA, et cetera.

The question is: how well will this incremental strategy work in real life, against real (human, not software) opponents?

For example, I’ve been thinking about eventually starting my own tech venture and working towards that in a methodical fashion. Though I could start something upon completion of the MBA, it feels like it would be better to return to the regular working world for a while. Part of this is driven by pure economics (I’d like to replenish my financial reserve) and part of it by my current lack of a solid business idea. Returning to the metaphor of AOE II: I’m choosing to develop the next round of technology and hoard resources instead of attacking the enemy immediately.

Am I being strategic, or risk averse? Is trying to return to PK3i a smart, logical move that will advance my business expertise and help build a track record that will serve me when I actually start something? Or is it me “playing safe”?

in Personal 2 comments

2 comments

Tom Weir September 30, 2003
Some questions you may, or may not want to ponder as you make these decisions:

If you go back to PK3i, what is your role going to be? Will you have the opportunity to hone new skills, or will it merely be more of the last 5 years.

What is your plan for developing the professional contacts required to start your own venture? Does going back to PK3i help or hinder this? Would working for a different company provide better/different contacts?

Do you have that ‘killer idea’ for a new venture? Where would be the best place to soak up interesting ideas: PK3i or another firm? Is there another source of inspriration separate from work?

How much family financial stability do you require before launching your own venture? If you’re not there now, how do you plan to get there?

Finally, when do you want to start a family? Before/during/after your venture? How does this timeline mesh with everything else?
Evan Wise October 2, 2003

Given the current market, in Vancouver, and the lack in general of great IT niches to explore I would say that working at a job that pays bills is good.

Admittedly, its a bit of the safe route but it also gives you the greatest amount of freedom to come up with “The Idea”.

Or wing it. Play a tank rush for once in your life!! 😉

AOE II/Career Plan

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