Not Only a Hobby

Carl youre going to miss the bus! yelled his mother up the stairs, as Carl is racing around
his room trying to find his Nintendo DS.
Where did I put that thing? Where is it? Where is it? he whispers to himself in a panicked
tone as he picks up and throws old potato chip bags off of his desk and floor trying to find it.
Finally, he catches a glimpse of the blue portable gaming system underneath a pile of clothes near
his desktop computer. He quickly shoves the DS into his backpack, runs out of his room
slamming the door on his way out, and races down the stairs to catch his bus to school.
Carl hurries on to the bus and says his good morning greetings to the bus driver who isnt
pleased with having to wait for him. He makes awkward eye contact with all of his schoolmates
before quietly taking his usual seat at the front of the bus and pulling out his DS to play to pass
the twenty-minute bus ride to school. He could hear the whispers and giggles coming from the
back of the bus, but he was used to this by now.
Carl had never really been one of the popular kids in school. However, it didnt really bother
him that he didnt have a lot of friends; he liked keeping to himself mostly along with his video
games of course. Carl had the classic geek look that movies often portray with frizzy, curly
bright orange hair that flopped up and down with every step he took. Along with the orange hair,
he had orange freckles covering his cheeks. Thick, black, square framed glasses covered his eyes,
and braces covered the top row of his teeth to straighten out the crooked incisors that showed
every time he smiled. Most importantly of all to his image was his interest and love for video
games.
Unlike most of the other boys in his grade nine class, sports had never been of interest to
Carl; his passion was video games. He had almost every video game console possible. There were
portable ones, like his DS and Gameboy, to bigger systems that were hooked up to the forty-inch
flat screen TV in his room, like his Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4, and then his desktop computer
that was primarily used for gaming, except for the little bit of homework he did on it. His daily
routine consisted of waking up to go to school and then spending the rest of his evening inside his
room gaming, only leaving to use the washroom, eat supper, and shower. His mother tried to get
him interested in other hobbies at first, but Carl showed no interest and started to get teased even

more than before because he didnt have the athletic talent most of his classmates did; so his
mother eventually gave up and started to support the gaming talent he did have.
A few stops later, his best friend, Douglas (who he called Dougy now), got on the bus and
slid into the seat across the aisle from Carl. Like Carl, Dougy loved playing video games too,
hence the close friendship the two had. They rode beside one another everyday on the way to and
from school playing Super Mario Smash Bros. on their DSs to pass the time, sat beside each
other in all their classes, and then usually met every day after supper to play video games at one
of their homes. Dougy was a little bit different than Carl in that he didnt have the typical gamer
look though. He was a tall, muscular guy that didnt have glasses, braces, or freckles, but a
straight toothed smile and bright blue eyes with blonde hair that was always styled with hair gel.
He was also amazing at any sport that he tried in gym class, but didnt play any extracurricular
sports because he enjoyed video games more. The only thing they really had in common was
there love for video games.
What do you want to play tonight? asked Carl as him and Dougy stepped off the bus.
Ummmm. Wanna do a little bit of Black Ops on Xbox Live? Ill see if one of my cousins from
Australia wants to connect with us and well take on another team. Carl noticed the glances and
snickers coming from Jake and Becky, the grade ten couple that ruled the junior varsity hallways
of Springsdale High School. The other main difference between Carl and Dougy was the way they
reacted to other peoples opinions of them: Carl was very sensitive as to what other people
thought of him, while Dougy didnt care what people thought of his gaming.
Yeah, Black Ops would be good. We havent played that in a while, Carl said as he
laughed to himself, Halo 5 has been our life since it came out.
All of a sudden Jake bumped into Carl out of nowhere and Becky came walking in behind
him. Yeah, havent you heard Becky? Halo 5 has been life, Jake said mocking Carl in a high
pitched voice. Carl turned red as a tomato not realizing anyone had been still listening to their
conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dougy shaking his head
Carl tried to follow Dougys example by not letting peoples comments bother him, but it
was still hard for him to be as confident as Dougy was. He stood there and watched as Dougy
kept joking around with one of their fellow classmates, Josh, who sometimes connected with

them online if they needed an extra player, totally unaffected by Jakes comment. He just kept
telling himself only two more years and he would be in the senior class of Springdale High
School, so people wouldnt bug him as much about his gaming.
School dragged on as usual; Carl and Dougy used their Nintendo DSs to PictoChat back
and forth. Finally, the dismissal bell rang and Carl and Dougy rushed to their locker to pick up
their backpacks then headed out to the bus. They were the first one on so they had a wide variety
of seats to choose from, but they kept their usual routine and sat down in the first seat of the bus.
Of course, everyone had to walk past them to get to their seat and they all saw the DSs Carl and
Dougy were playing their Mario Kart game on. Most people just minded their own business, and
then Jake and Becky walked up the stairs and immediately looked to the front seat of the bus. Carl
didnt notice because the race against Dougy was getting to the most intense part, the last lap.
As they walked past, Jake reached over and quickly slapped at Carls DS to close the device
which caused the race to end. Without even looking up, Carl knew who had done it. He could feel
his face immediately turn from its usual pasty white colour to a bright shade of pink with
embarrassment.
Why are you dweebs constantly playing those games? Jake said loud enough for the
whole bus, and probably anyone who was standing outside the open door, to hear. Carl could feel
his face going from a shade of pink to bright red and just continued to stare down at the floor,
even though there was nothing to look at besides his shoes and closed DS.
Hey man. We arent bothering you, so dont bother us, said Dougy over top of Carls
head. Carl turned his head a little bit to the side to sneak a peek of Dougy. He didnt seem at all
embarrassed by the fact that Jake just called them dweebs in front of the whole bus.
Jake, move along to your seat. Youre holding up everyone else, exclaimed the bus driver.
Now Jake was the one who seemed to be a little bit embarrassed, but played it off as nothing.
Yeah, yeah Im going, he mumbled. Jake had already received plenty of warnings from
the school for picking on Carl. Before the bus even started rolling forwards it seemed like
everyone had forgotten about what had just happened at the front of bus D3. There was the usual
chatter and laughing that filled the bus, but it all turned into a quiet hum to Carl who opened up

his DS again after checking that no one was watching him and started up the race with Dougy
again.
On the short walk from the bus stop to his house, Carl was very quiet, which Dougy noticed
was strange because Carl was usually very chatty when it was just the two of them alone.
Whats the matter, man? asked Dougy. Before Carl even had a chance to answer, he
answered his own question. I know you get pretty upset when Jake and those bother us, but its
not a big deal. After high school, you wont ever see him again likely, and plus no one is going to
remember how he used to bug us about playing video games. Its just the way high school goes.
Gamers, like us, get made fun of by jocks, like Jake, and then we move on to be successful in life
because we have skills and hes only good at making fun of people and being the backup
quarterback of the football team.
Carl burst out laughing at the last part of Dougys pep talk. Usually they never said
anything mean about any of the other students because the two of them knew what it was like to
be insulted all the time, but I guess Dougy found it necessary to poke a little fun at Jake for Carls
benefit, which he was happy about. Finally, they turned on to the little stone pathway to Carls
backdoor.
Last one inside has to be on a team with Trent, yelled Dougy as he took off running up the
path. Trent was some guy from New York that they had met through online gaming; he wasnt
very good at video games, but was hilarious over the mic so they played with him all the time
anyways. Carl actually really liked Trent and sometimes wished he lived in Springdale so that he
could hear his funny remarks all day, not just when they were shooting down the enemy in Black
Ops.
After what seemed like an eternity, Carl and Dougy were finally the seniors of the school.
Carl survived the last of the bullying he would ever have to put up with from Jake last year, and
now that they were the oldest in the school nobody bothered him or Dougy. Towards the end of
last school year, Jake must have realized that he was untouchable by the teachers because they
couldnt really expel someone who was graduating in June, and he really stepped up the amount
of rude comments towards Carl. However, Carl just kept thinking back to the thing Dougy said to

him on their walk home the one day: someday we will be successful in life because we have
skills.
It turns out that their time to depend on these skills came faster than Carl thought they
would; both of them had to write their SATs with hopes of getting a good enough score to be
accepted into an American college. Carl decided he wanted to go to the states after talking to
Trent about this amazing computer science program at a technology institute in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. At first it looked as if that might be the split of Carl and Dougys inseparable
friendship, but eventually Carl convinced Dougy to write the SAT and apply to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology as well. Of course that didnt mean they would both end of there, but at
least there was hope. Carl had an upper edge over Dougy when it came to school marks, not
because he spent more time studying, but things just seemed to make sense to him more easily.
The school year seemed to rush by as graduation meetings started and everyone realized that
this could be their last year in Springsdale High. On a frosty December Saturday morning, Carls
mom slid an envelope across the table to Carl. He almost choked on his Cheerios when he read
the logo on the envelope: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This letter was the decision
whether Carl would attend his dream school or not. Of course Carl had applied to other
universities as back up plans because of the competiveness to get into the computer science
program at MIT. Shoving his bowl of cereal aside, he quickly ripped open the top of the envelope
and stared at the folded up piece of paper inside. He slowly took the paper out of the envelope,
and as he unfolded it black, red and silver confetti pieces fell onto the table.
I GOT IN! I GOT IN! shouted Carl at the top of his lungs. He didnt even really read the
letter, he just knew from movies that the confetti falling out of the acceptance letter was a way to
celebrate and congratulate a person getting accepted. Just to be sure though, he skimmed over the
opening sentence of his letter, even though he had already celebrated by yelling and dancing
around the kitchen. Sure enough it read: Carl, we are pleased to inform you of your acceptance to
the Computer Science Bachelor Degree program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He
knew this was the first step to getting his dream job: designing video games. The first thing he
wanted to do was call Dougy and tell him the good news, but then he got nervous after he realized
that just because he got accepted doesnt mean Dougy did. Carl decided he wouldnt bring it up
unless Dougy did first.

However, keeping quiet about it was harder than Carl thought. When he first saw Dougy
walking up to the bus stop the first thing he wanted to do was yell down the street the good news,
but he controlled himself. As Dougy got closer though, Carl noticed a folded up piece of paper
that he was carrying. Carls heart started to race with nervousness; even though he was already
accepted, he was nervous for Dougy.
Hey, Dougy said casually, as if Carl didnt know what that folded up piece of paper in his
hand was, but Carl just went along with the casual conversation not bringing it up. Just as Carl
turned to see if the bus was coming up the street yet, he saw shiny red, black and silver flecks
flying into his face and quickly flinched and shut his eyes.
I got in, man!!! yelled Dougy as he shoved the piece of paper into Carls face. All the
other kids at the bus stop gave them weird looks as they jumped up and down while shouting into
the sky, but neither of them cared. They had both gotten accepted into the technology college of
their dreams. For the first time since second grade, neither of them opened up their DSs on the
bus ride to school. They were too busy discussing how much fun the next four years were going
to be. Both of them had been nervous for grad, but now it seemed like June couldnt come fast
enough.
That night while playing Black Ops, Carl and Dougy learned that Trent had also gotten
accepted into MIT. The next few months they all spent planning their living arrangements and the
different classes they would take, trying to get into the same ones, and before they knew it the
time had come to move to Cambridge.
For once Carl didnt feel like an outcast in the classroom. Everyone in the classroom had
their laptops open to take notes, but they were all either playing online games or looking at
different gaming systems to pass the time until the professor showed up. Already he could tell he
was going to love this place a million times more than high school where he was picked on for
having a love for video games. Since Carl was studying subjects he enjoyed now instead of the
ones he thought to be pointless, like chemistry and geography, all of his marks were way above
average.
Not only did Carl enjoy the classes, he also enjoyed the fact that he was with Dougy and
Trent most of the day. Majority of their classes were the same, and then they all lived in an

apartment together, so in the evenings they would work on homework or spend free time playing
video games against each other. The days passed by quickly and before they knew it the first
semester was over, and they were all heading home for Christmas break; Carl was going home to
Springdale, Dougy was meeting his parents in Australia to visit his family that still lived there,
and Trent was going back to New York City.
Over the holidays, Carl got many emails reminding him when the first day of classes were,
how to check his final grades, and which classes he was signed up for in January. One email stuck
out though; it was an email about summer jobs. At first he thought it was just a big mass email
that was sent out to all the students, but once he opened it up he realized it was a specific message
to him due to the excellence he had shown in all of his classes. Apparently different technology
companies were interested in the high amount of skill he showed in his programming classes. He
was given instructions to send in a resume and cover letter to any positions that interested him.
So Carl spent the rest of his break applying to a number of positions after his parents and
him decided it would be good experience for him to get a job in the career field he was interested
in. He never really heard anything Dougy or Trent over break, but he assumed it was because he
they were busy with their family gatherings too. Hed occasionally see them online late at night
and would play against them in Black Ops, and the two week break of lazy days and no
homework flew by.
One night while the three roommates were all sitting around eating supper, Carl brought up
the subject of summer jobs. He hadnt heard back yet from any of the companies he had applied
to and wanted to know if Dougy or Trent had gotten offered the same opportunities.
Meh, I dont know. I havent really thought about it yet. Thats like four months away
still, replied Dougy while shoving a sandwich into his mouth. This was typical of Dougy to be
very relaxed about things. Carl assumed that he hadnt received the same email he did over break,
otherwise he probably wouldve been thinking about it because it was driving Carl crazy not
knowing if he was going to get a job at one of the major technology companies, like Microsoft
who developed the PCs, Xboxs, Windows Operating System, and numerous video games or
Apple who was famous for the iPhone and iPod.

I dont know, my dad works for a pretty big technology company so he pulled some strings
and got me a job, said Trent quietly. Carl had never really asked about Trents family he realized.
Both Carl and Dougy were surprised to know that Trent grew up in a family that was obviously
involved in technology. The mystery of Trents family was quickly solved after a few questions
that Dougy and Carl asked. They both learned that Trents dad, along with his uncle, were both
very high up in the Apples developing team after working their way up in the company through
the years. In fact, both of them started up their careers just as Carl, Dougy, and Trent are planning
to start out; they went to good colleges and then worked their way up in the company. This
instantly made Carl hope even more that he would get one of the summer jobs, so that he could
start off his experience in video game programming early.
Finally, after what felt like years, but was actually only a couple weeks, Carls mom called
him to say he had received a couple letters in the past few days from different companies. This
felt like the moment when he had received the envelope from MIT, except he would have to hear
the decision of the companies from his mom since he wasnt at home to read the letters. Trying to
keep himself calm, he told his mom to open all the letters and then tell him how many of the
companies were offering him jobs. After she told him the results, Carl almost fell off of his chair.
After taking a look at his transcript and taking into account the various Skype interviews, all
seven of the companies he applied to had offered him a summer job. The two that made Carl most
excited though were Microsoft and Apple; he debated the choice all day of which company to
choose. By the next morning he had reached his decision and decided to call to accept the offer.
Hi, this is Carl Manns calling. I was offered a summer position with your company and I
would just like to call to accept it, Carl said confidently into the phone, even though he was very
nervous. There were a few brief moments of silence after the customer service employee said to
give her a minute and all Carl could hear was the flipping of some papers.
Hello. Yes, I have found your file, Carl. Does the starting date we suggested work for
you? Carl answered that it would. The kind sounding lady answered back, Alright, well if you
just come to the Victoria, British Columbia address that was listed at the top of the letter on May
1, well be happy to introduce you to your supervisor and the rest of your coworkers. Welcome to
Microsoft, Carl, and have a good day.

Carl couldnt believe this was true. He was going to be working at the video game software
developing center in Victoria. He had thought he would just be put in one of the low level
company buildings packing boxes or something, but the Victoria location was one of their main
developing centers. He felt like he could run a marathon he was so hyped up on adrenaline, but
instead decided to calmly go out to the kitchen to tell his roommates. Dougy and Trent were both
really excited for Carl, and if they were jealous they kept it hidden really well.
The winter semester flew by as Carl continued to excel at his courses. He was also emailed a
few introductory programming lessons from Microsoft to get him comfortable with the software
he would be using over the summer. Before he knew it he was finished his first year of college
and was getting ready to pack up and move back to Springdale for a week to see his family before
heading off to Victoria.
The first day of work Carl wasnt sure what to wear, but he decided it was safe to wear a suit
because it was better to be overdressed than underdressed in his mind. He was welcomed by many
middle-aged looking men, most of them wearing glasses and dress pants with dress shirts with a
small Microsoft logo on them. Not very much time was spent on introductions except for the one
guy that Carl would be shadowing for the first little while until he got more experience; his name
as Jason.
Jason lead Carl to the office where the two of them would be working and explained Carls
task for the summer, which was helping Jason do the programming for a new game Microsoft
would be releasing next year. They hadnt confirmed a name yet, but Carl knew it was probably
going to be similar to the other types of games Microsoft released with missions you had to
complete, usually by killing your opponents. When Carl opened the office door, he was
awestruck. The walls were filled with big LED screens connected to top of the line computer
towers that were lined up on a long wooden desk in front of them. There were two reclining
leather chairs with portable keyboards sitting on a table next to each of them.
This is my chair, Jason said, pointing to the one that had clearly been used quite a bit. Carl
went and sat in the other chair which was one of the comfiest things hed ever sat on. From that
moment on, Carl knew this was going to be the best summer of his life, and he was right. To any
other person, it mightve seemed like a boring job, sitting in a chair, typing programming codes
all day, but it was Carls dream job. Him and Jason got about half way through the whole

programming process by the time Carl had to head back to Cambridge for school. Apparently, this
was incredible for a developing team of two with a student on it to get through.
Before Carl even left, the head supervisor offered him his job back for the next summer.
Carl flew through the material during his second year of college because it was basically all of the
skills he had been using all summer with Microsoft, except way more boring. He eagerly waited
for the school year to be done so he could be back in Victoria. This continued for the next two
years of his degree as well, always wanting to be back at Microsoft. Originally, Carl had planned
on extending his degree program to get more experience, but now he was just completing the
minimum four years so that he could start working in Victoria full time.
Carl was the assistant software developer for a few years before he got offered a promotion
to be the head of the department. The promotions only kept coming over the next five years until
Carl was offered to be a part of the companys board, which made decisions about which game
ideas they wanted to develop, who to hire, and deciding what new equipment would be bought.
He was one of the youngest members to ever sit on the board, and the only one without grey hair
he noticed.
One of the duties of Carls job was to conduct interviews with students who applied to the
summer program. As Carl was flipping through resumes he noticed as familiar name: Jake
Tuecherlib, the jock who always picked on him in high school. He assumed it wasnt a very
common last name, but quickly he flipped to the education part of the resume and sure enough
Jake attended Springsdale High School for a couple of the same years Carl had. Immediately, Carl
took a break to call Dougy, who was now working at Amazon Games Studio in Seattle which
wasnt far from Carl. The both of them laughed for a bit while Carl read off some of the jobs Jake
did after high school; all of them relating to technology. He even went to university for a
computer science degree. After the phone call, Carl took a serious look at Jakes resume and
noticed all of the experience Jake had gotten over the years; he worked for a smaller technology
companies receiving many promotions, but the company closed its doors because they werent
making enough profit.
At first Carl tossed the resume in the trash because the thought of hiring a guy who picked
on him for two years solid in high school, but then Carl rethought it. Jake had a lot of experience
and skill that would be valuable to Microsoft. After all, his position on the board was to help

Microsoft be the best company it could be, not to hold grudges from high school, so he picked it
up out of the trash can.
After going through the couple resumes and conducting a few phone call interviews, Carl
decided there was one candidate that stood out as the best. It was Jake. He gave one of the
secretaries Jakes name and address and asked her to send a letter offering him the position. The
next month Carl got together his developing team to introduce their newest company employee.
Hello, Jake. Welcome to Microsofts Victoria video game developing center. Were pleased
to have you join us. Im Carl Manns, the head of the department, Carl said warmly, wondering if
Jake would remember him. His question was soon answered when he saw the shocked look in
Jakes eyes. However, Carl never gave him the chance to bring up high school or the past, he kept
the discussion topics strictly on programming. Later that year, was the height of Carls career.
Himself and his developing team, including Jake, had produced the highest selling video game of
the 21st century: Combat Royal. As they had their celebration party, Carl stood in the corner, took
in the scene, and realized his passion for video games was definitely something to be proud of
now.