Why is a good Starcraft player an ideal startup worker?

    Recently, we have somehow delved deeply into the topic of startups (this is understandable, because new projects take up all our thoughts and free time), so we actively read everything that we write on this topic in our English-language sources.
    And stumbled upon a funny article. The author wrote it, reflecting on the StartupCraft tournament (Starcraft tournament for IT companies), trying to understand whether winning this tournament is a testament to the company's success in work or whether investors should give money first of all to those who lost (because they still then apart from Starcraft they can). No doubt, the author is inclined to the first option :)

    image

    Under the cut translation of this article

    Why is a good Starcraft player an ideal startup worker?


    Good Starcraft players are obsessed with perfection.
    If I were asked to choose the only compulsory quality for the people who work with me, I would choose the desire to become better. It is naive to think that people initially do everything well. You will not find such employees. But employees who are constantly learning and professionally improving are what they need.

    Good Starcraft players watch replays to understand where they did wrong and, most importantly, why someone managed to win. Time after time they increase their skill to be closer to victory in each next game.

    For a startup employee, this quality is vital. If all your employees also strive for self-improvement, like good gamers, then your team will always remain in great shape.

    Good Starcraft players are good at everything.
    In a startup, especially a small one, employees should be able to do everything. For example, when I worked in EduFire, I never did what was written in my job description. We were all ready to carry out a wide variety of tasks, to replace each other in difficult situations and to do not what you can, but what you need.

    Good starcrafts, in my opinion, don't care who to play for. That is, they can win by playing for any of the three races, adjusting their strategy depending on this. I would not refuse employees with such qualities in my team.

    Good Starcraft players know how to evolve.
    There are some players who prefer not to go far from the base and suddenly find themselves “locked up” attached to their minerals. There are those who, on the contrary, occupy too much territory and lose due to lack of resources. But good Starcraft players know when and where to expand.

    A start-up does not need workers who spray themselves in all possible directions (and therefore are less effective in everything they do) and do not need those who sit in the same place all the time (and never do anything except that they are superb). A team needs people who know where to grow and develop, and who can choose the right time for this.

    Good Starcraft Players Say GLHF
    GLHF = Good Luck Have Fun - wish good luck in the game. It’s a good rule to say that. No company will refuse an employee with good manners, who behaves with others as they would like. If there are people in the startup team who cannot get along with each other, wait for problems.

    Good Starcraft Players Know What Micro Is
    Micro-control is a very important part of the game in Starcraft. This means that you need to use the minimum amount of resources so efficiently that you win even when it seems impossible. You just can not imagine that a good player in Starcraft can squeeze out just a few units. Startups usually don’t have enough money ... and generally with resources - it’s stressful. Employees must be able to do a lot from nothing. Good strakrafters are real experts in this.

    Good Starcraft Players Have High Rankings
    Yes, that is right. Rating is the fastest and easiest way to show what you have achieved in the past. Most often (and thank God), choosing employees for a startup, they do not pay attention to the resume. Pay attention to what a person has achieved. Rating is the most. Each victory is a victory, and each defeat is a defeat, and it doesn’t matter exactly how you won (and in the summary, if it says "increased sales by 25% in 2009", then who cares how exactly?). Based on the player’s rating and the league in which he is a member, you can say a lot about him, and you can also understand the main thing about a job applicant by examining what he has achieved and what he has created.

    Good Starcraft Players Make Fast, Right Decisions
    If you, while playing Starcraft, cannot make the right decisions quickly (for example, when to go forward, when to apply a psi-storm or when to recall a raven), then you will not last long. Good players make decisions and act right now, despite all the attacks, buildings and units that enemies use against them. Instant reaction and decisive actions in the right direction are exactly those qualities that I would like to see in a colleague or employee, especially in a startup.

    Good Starcraft Players Don't Forget Intelligence
    At Starcrafte, it’s important to know the maximum possible information about the enemy. But the trick is not to do just that. If you pay all attention to the study of the enemy, then you will no longer have the strength (army, resources, time, etc.) to deal with it. Startups need employees who study competitors, but spend most of the time developing their own project.

    Good Starcraft Players Know When to Go
    Sometimes, you fight in which you cannot win. Good starcrafters know when it is time to tell GG and leave, instead of waiting for the end of the game, which will end in defeat anyway. There is nothing wrong with leaving or leaving some activity if done consciously. It gives you more time for things that are really important and can lead to success. Not everything that we do turns out to be right, so you need to at least understand when it comes time to stop and look at something else.

    Good Starcraft Players Have High AWP
    AWP - the number of actions per minute. The more experienced the player, the higher his AWP (this means he can follow a large number of things at the same time). Despite the fact that I prefer to focus on one task, I need to strive for maximum efficiency in my work. People with high AWP usually know all the hotkeys and are well oriented in the game menu.

    Most likely, such employees will be able to use all possible means to increase the efficiency of their work: they quickly type, know the hot keys, find special applications to optimize the workflow, etc. Of course, each of these details saves only a couple of seconds, but think about it, how much time is it per week, month or year. Yes, such employees save a ton of time and are therefore useful.

    Good Starcraft players are interested in something other than work.
    That's for sure ... at least they are interested in Starcraft. Nobody needs employees who work 18 hours a day and are able to think only about work (well, I definitely don’t need it). I like people with whom you can do something else, such as playing Starcraft :)

    Source: www.helloko.com

    What do you think?


    Do we agree with all of the above or not? Partially. The ability to work with minimal resources and allocate the main thing, instead of wasting energy on a deliberately losing option, is really important. Let's just say that the startup team will not be interrupted by good Starcraft players. And we, as it turned out, have such :)

    Also popular now: