Frequent BMOW readers have doubtless noticed the lack of project progress  lately. I could claim I’ve been trapped under a piece of heavy furniture, but the truth is I’ve been procrastinating while trying to set a new course for my professional future. That’s a fancy way of saying I’m busy looking for a job. But I can’t post an update here without at least some topical content, so here are the two editor’s choice blue ribbons that BMOW won at the 2009 Bay Area Maker Faire. O’Reilly Media just sent them yesterday, and posted a complete list of winning projects, even though the event was almost three years ago. Their “to do” backlog must be as long as mine!

Despite the contents of the BMOW web site, I’ve never had a professional job in electronics or computer hardware. My career has been in software development, with most of it working in the video game industry in engineering leadership and management roles. Most recently I was involved with the launch of RIFT, a sprawling fantasy MMO game that took five years to develop. I was one of the first employees, and I led the engineering team that developed all the client, server, tools, and other technologies from the ground up. It was an incredible experience, and the game has raked in money since its launch, but I’ll never again run a project whose development lasts half a decade.

For the past several months I’ve had no job, by choice. This has been hard on my finances, but it’s provided me an opportunity to consider lots of interesting and unconventional ideas for the future.

Make BMOW a career.

My first instinct was to turn the BMOW projects into a self-financing operation, creating a micro-business from the sales of project hardware and advertising revenue from the web site’s content. You’re probably already familiar with many such operations, like Evil Mad Science, Dangerous Prototypes, and Modern Device. I may still give this a shot, but my guess is that BMOW projects are best off remaining as a hobby. I’d hate to be forced to make all my projects “useful” in a commercial sense. I doubt there’s much market for hand-made 8-bit computers, for example, even if designed as an educational kit for nerds. And I don’t like the idea of filling the web site with a bunch of advertising crap.

Find an electronics job.

If turning BMOW into a business isn’t the answer, then maybe an engineering job at a hardware or electronics company is a better solution. The San Francisco Bay Area is a pretty good place to find such companies, after all. I looked into the options in this space, but came away disappointed. Without an electrical engineering degree or any past professional experience working in electronics, I would have to argue my qualifications based solely on my hobby project experience. Some companies might consider that favorably, but most would not. And even if I could land an EE job, a hands-on hardware engineer role would be something of a step backwards on the career ladder for me. Better would be a technical management job at a company making hardware or software/hardware products, but I don’t think anyone would hire me to do that without past domain-specific professional experience.

Continue on the software or gaming path.

The most obvious route is to continue on my current path, and seek an interesting technical leadership role at a game developer or web-based business. In fact this is what I’ll most likely end up doing. I’m very fortunate that there are many good options for me in this area, and I have plenty of personal contacts at local companies, so it’s more a question of finding the best fit than of finding any job at all. My LinkedIn profile says I’m seeking opportunities that combine technical leadership with wider product development and business responsibilities. Translation: a software technology-oriented role that isn’t exclusively about engineering, but more about the whole product. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and have any leads to share about such positions, let me know.

Bootstrap a software business.

Another option I’ve considered is building a niche software product by myself, and turning it into a small business. With low development costs (primarily just the cost of my own time), the business wouldn’t need a tremendous amount of revenue in order to be successful. I have a few ideas in particular involving casual strategy games for kids, and I may pursue one of these even while I continue to examine my other career options. Bootstrapping isn’t my preference, though. I prefer working with teams to working alone, and the quality level I could expect to hit would certainly be lower for a solo project than for something developed by a team of experienced developers. I’m also acutely aware that having a couple of game concepts doesn’t constitute a meaningful business plan.

Launch an investment-backed startup.

The startup company concept is deeply embedded in Silicon Valley’s culture, yet it was only recently that I began seriously considering it myself. Having now been an early employee (non-founder) at three startups, and having lots of friends and colleagues who’ve done it successfully themselves, I’ve slowly realized that successful founders are just smart, motivated people not very different from myself. I have a few friends at venture capital and investment banking firms to whom I could bring ideas, and many more well-placed friends-of-friends I could meet with an introduction. From a practical standpoint, then, getting my foot in the door of the startup dating game wouldn’t be difficult. Investment backing would enable hiring an experienced team to build a high-quality product, and would also bring referrals to potential cofounders with the operations, financial, and marketing skills that I lack. What’s missing is a compelling product idea, and perhaps another cofounder or two with a complementary background to my own. I’ll be working on both of those needs over the next few weeks.

Been there, done that?

Why am I analyzing my professional future here, as if it were an interesting circuit to debug? My reasons are selfish: I’m hoping for your advice. Have you been in a similar situation with your own career? Ever tried to turn a hobby into a vocation? Ever bootstrapped a product, or launched or startup? How did it go, and what did you learn from the experience?