Spring Break has come and gone along with a few dollars out of my wallet. Charlie the Wonder Husband and I packed up the boys and headed to San Francisco last week. While Daddy worked, the boys and I hit every San Francisco landmark we could – Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Coit Tower, Muir Forest, Chinatown, Ghirardelli Chocolates – you name it – we saw it, drove it or ate it.
The highlight? At least for the boys? A trip to the offices of their favorite online game, Roblox. Dack, 14, had actually been to the offices a year ago and was looking forward to talking again to fellow gamers at this fast-growing Silicon Valley start-up. Both he and his brother (Nick, 10) love to play the game and would spend hours on it daily if there weren’t some screen limits in our house!
We were ushered into a sparsely furnished conference room (again, keyword here ‘start-up”) to spend a few minutes with Community Manager Reese and were shortly after that joined by John Shedletsky, a programmer with Roblox. John and Reese were familiar faces having been the employees who spent time with Dack the first time around.
I believe we were all a little surprised when, after a few pleasantries, Dack whipped out his cell phone and proceeded to open up a list of questions, suggestions and comments about the game. Reese and John both started taking notes and shortly thereafter, we were joined by the CEO David Baszucki, also known as BuilderMan on the game. (Kind of like Mick Jagger to my kids…) Even he commented on how prepared Dack was, saying “we (Roblox) interview graduates from some of the top universities for programmer positions and I am always surprised when one of them hasn’t bothered to play the game or learn anything about it. Dack, you are light years ahead of these guys.”
When asked why he did it, Dack replied, “I wanted to make sure I got my questions answered and be professional. I also wanted to avoid the awkward silences like the last time and get the most out of the time I had with anyone at Roblox.”
As a parent, I can’t recommend the game enough. (www.roblox.com)
As Dack’s Mom, I am extremely proud of his maturity and planning.
As a businesswoman, I’d hire that kid!
