It’s Saturday so my weekend post is going to be off topic but one that many in business, technology, and cybersecurity might be familiar with. 

I am a geek; you may have noticed that. It’s been a life defining descriptor. Most geeky things fascinate me. Sci-Fi- yep, technology- absolutely, Dungeons and Dragons- heck yes! A bit of background for you.

I have been playing D&D since I was in 7^th Grade in April 1979, a friend of mine invited me over to play a new game called Dungeons and Dragons and I loved it.  I hand copied some base rules and started playing with my brothers, we ended up being huge fans and we started to buy the books and create our own content.  You will see in the picture below I have D&D books from 1980 up to now in there.  You will see a computer on the left which is a TI-99/4A computer (it is an original I have had since High School—my brother and I wrote games in BASIC which we saved on cassette tapes then). On the right are original Kenner Star Wars toys- the Millennium Falcon and Bobba Fett’s awesome Slave I from 1979 and 1980—I kept them all these years.  I did warn you that I am a geek, it defines me and my family of the last five generations. Five generations of technology (Engineers, Computer Scientists and Cybersecurity Professionals) so I come by it naturally, it is in my blood.

One of my Geek shelves- has four decades of my D&D books which I kept with me my whole life and I’m always adding to it

How on earth can D&D help me get a job that has nothing to do with playing a great game? Let us talk about how under the right circumstance, your passion can help fill out a resume.  As you likely know Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy tabletop game where players take on the personas of heroes or villains and the Dungeon Master (DM) manages the game.  Often the DM creates the content personally, manages the rules, sets expectations, keeps the game moving along etc.  It is a game of imagination where the DM’s ability to describe what is going on makes the whole process more enjoyable for everyone.

Here are just a few skills describing what a Dungeon Master exhibits which applies to work:

• Leadership- Leadership is how you identify and nurture talent to blossom, be it in the workplace or the game space.  In D&D You are the referee, the judge, you are leading this happy party. Many DM’s are professionals, yours truly has been DM’ing 40 years but I only have 27 years professional experience after all.
• Storytelling– Critical for communicating in every industry you could possibly work to articulate a vision of what is possible
• Planning– Coming up with a plan to move forward and to get the team there is something every manager, program manager, project manager etc.
• Conflict resolution– Anytime you have more than two people working towards a goal, conflict is nearby.  Keeping a team of people at work or a team of adventurers on track is critical.
• Recruiting- Getting a group pf people together to play is 100% reliant on identifying and attracting people to the game table.  Obviously recruiting the right talent and being able to identify potential is the foundation of any organization
• Run Management- All businesses have a nature of running- ensuring everything which needs to get done is a given, but it can be hard to do.  A DM keeps the game going, ensuring pacing is right and that everything which needs to happen does in fact happen.
• Math Skills- Math shows up everywhere, you cannot run from it so you might as well embrace it. Each player at minimum uses seven die as their base dice set ranging from four sided to twenty sides. Most players use many more. Rolling dice often helps with quick summations, in fact the dice are jokingly referred to as “Math rocks”.  Work or Gaming- math shows up, at least in gaming you can get some very cool looking dice sets.

Dice- The click clack math rocks you love and hate

How do you work all of this into a resume/CV? Add a section for “Additional experience” and talk to the skills you demonstrate being a DM.  I do not recommend counting it as actual work experience unless you are one of the few paid DM’s – yes that is an option.  Having this listed as additional experience gives you a jumping off point to connect those skills to how you can add value to an organization.

Would I lead with being a DM? Well, if you are talking to Chris Cocks from Wizards of the Coast or anyone from Critical Role yes, but if you are talking to someone in an interview about executing data science and your needs for hydrating a data lake, I would not necessarily lead with “I’ve been a DM for Decades.” but it’s great when establishing some broader traits. So have fun playing a great game and remember there is an opportunity to demonstrate business skills from a pastime, it’s all about how you approach it.

@ericcrichardson