About two and a half years ago, my little family went through a pretty difficult struggle.  It was one of the darkest moments of my life and it had to do with how I transplated my entire family to pursue a dream doing game development.  I am very blessed to have a wife who encouraged me to pursue my dream, but it turned out to be a nightmare that almost destroyed us.

I’ve worked for many bad managers, but I have never doubted that they are good human beings.  But my previous boss I made an exception and called him a “bad human being.”

It has taken me quite a while to forgive my previous boss.  But something recently prompted me to write this letter, which I sent to his email.  (I have removed his name and any identifying information.)

Dear Doctor,

I am writing this letter to say thank you for the time I spent there at your company.  Even though we had severe disagreements and departed paths abruptly, had it not been for your company and the opportunity to see what it is like in a game development company, I would not be where I am today.

As you recall, I had left my previous job and took a $20K pay cut for the chance to pursue a dream making games.  I had bought a house and moved my small family even when I had not sold my condo.  All this was done so I could quickly relocate and start working for you.

I had every intention of bringing your company to the next level, bringing your employees closer together, building camaraderie, and creating the next generation of cognitive therapy games.  Yet, I found it odd that everyone I had talked to met my enthusiasm with raw cynicism and sarcasm.

I quickly found out why when after long weeks of capricious hours and unreasonable working conditions, you left me high and dry for not sacrificing my family to comply with your whims.  I had given you a lot of the benefit of the doubt and that I was in the wrong, but that doubt was removed when you denied extending medical insurance for my newly pregnant wife, even at no cost to you.  This all happened at the same time I was paying two mortgages and found myself without a job.

You can only imagine my level of contempt I had for you.  But what had transpired after was nothing short of a miracle.

Because my tenure with you was so short, I still qualified for COBRA insurance from my previous employer.  They graciously extended medical coverage, but I had to back pay over 2 months of insurance premiums which completely depleted any savings we had.  Fortunately, I was picked up by an upstart development company that paid me the equivalent salary that I was making before I joined your company.  And after two months of paying a double mortgage, my condo sold.  We were flat broke, but thankfully we weren’t bankrupted.

In about four months at my new company, I created one of the first major applications built in Microsoft Silverlight, the competitor product to Adobe Flash.  Six months after that, my product was being showcased by Microsoft at Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the biggest technological showcase for healthcare management information systems.  This garnered a lot of market attention.  So much attention, in fact, that six months later, this small upstart company was bought by GE Healthcare.

My time with you has not discouraged me from making video games either.  If anything, I learned I already have what it takes to be a game developer.  Currently, when I have time, I work on the side as a freelance developer for my own clients and I am publishing my second flash game this fall as an indie game developer.

I learned then that a small company of tightly-knit, highly-motivated, experts can outdo even the largest technological firms in the world.  A small crew of barely over 2 dozen can out compete a company of hundreds of thousands.  But this was accomplished because we were working with people we trusted, could synergize with, and even “bull pen” and tease.  I have never worked so hard for so long, but we were given liberties to bring in a foosball table to lighten the stress, and even to shoot each other with Nerf guns.  For as many hours as I worked there I was given a level of trust and respect that I was willing to give even more.  And I would still do more because the company has more than graciously worked around the needs of my family, especially when my youngest son was born.

My son will be turning two in November.  He and his older brother are best friends and my wife and I have been very blessed.  But in the last two years my mother had a stroke and my father collapsed.  Thankfully both of them are ok, but these constant reminders of our mortality and time on this earth has made me pause, which is why I am writing to you.

I wanted to say thank you.  Without you, I would not have been in the right place and time to make such a huge difference for the lives of others.  Without the adversity you gave me, I would not have been able to find in myself the skills and ability to do something extraordinary and see the fruits of that first hand.

I certainly hope that you do not take this as a validation of your management style and I hope that things have gotten better since I left.  But I did want to say that I am truly thankful for having crossed paths.  May God bless you on yours.

Sincerely,
Paolo Munoz