What do Office Space, Dilbert, Jurassic Park, and Silicon Valley all have in common? You guessed it, each features an out-of-shape and miserable computer expert. Whether it’s boring office work, engineering, or stealing priceless dinosaur DNA, each of these examples plays into the stereotype of computer experts working themselves to death while chugging coffee and snacking.
However, that’s not Jake Evans. Yes he’s a game developer whose work has him currently at Facepunch Studios (Rust, Garry’s Mod, and more). Yes he works at a computer most of the day. He does not, however, subscribe to the stereotype of lethargy being an indication of programming prowess. Not only does he break that stereotype, he demonstrates how detrimental living by that stereotype can be.
Sacrifices
For Evans, or “Crayz” as he’s commonly known, life as a game developer wasn’t always easy. As with every destination, it was a long road to get to where he’s at. While he found himself immersed in the web development world of Myspace at only 15 years old, it would take some time and hard labor before he could even begin his game development journey. “I graduated high school and started to work in the oil fields of North Dakota. I was working 100 hours a week, 7 days a week, 28 days at a time, then getting 14 days off. Did that for about 4 years before realizing the money isn’t worth the time.”
After discovering the value of his time, Jake left the steady finances behind and decided to start doing what he loved, game development. He spent six years after quitting the oil fields further educating himself in the world of his passion. It would be four years into this education before he created and published his first game, but even this small milestone came at a cost.
“A lot of sacrifices were made in the journey. Comfort, health, friends, relationships, all for the purpose of game development.”.
Work Ethic
For Evans and the other countless up-and-coming professionals out there, sacrifice is just one part of the journey. The professional world is competitive and it bends a knee for no one. No one knows this better than Evans. “I lived nearly homeless for years as I taught myself how to create games, and often wondered whether it was ever going to work out. Many indie developers go through the same shit, many never catch a break.”
That break would come for Evans, deservedly so too, as he released a game on Steam in 2020 that sold thousands of copies and generated positive reviews. His tenacity, skill, and work ethic helped him stand apart from the rest of the competition. It was also in 2020 that he became a developer for the studio Facepunch. This was it.
All the sacrifice and hard work had finally paid off. Yet for Evans, this is only the beginning, a beginning that continues to rocket upwards in-part because of his routine. “My work is my top priority. I wake up, have breakfast, grab coffee, then sit at my computer and start working. Early in the day I prioritize emails, slack, catching up on what happened overnight and what’s happening today, later on I’ll start coding.”
Achieving Balance Through Fitness
Evans now finds himself in a position that current up-and-coming game developers can aspire to. It would be easy to settle into routine and to solely rely on your experience, knowledge, and skill, but for Evans this is an all-to-common pitfall. He has found that there’s another vital element to being a successful developer and that’s personal health. Evans emphasized the importance of a healthy gym routine, especially when your job primarily involves computer work.“Sitting at the computer all day is bad for both mental and physical health.. getting out, being around people, and exercising takes me away from the work for a few hours, provides a nice reset and lets me not feel guilty about health which in turn lets me focus more clearly on work.”
This has become his secret. Not a secret to be kept from the world, but rather a key tool for success that he wants everyone to have. Shedding health related guilt and increasing blood flow is physically and mentally essential in order to get the best out of ourselves, and Evan’s is a prime example of that. Much like how his game development career has snowballed from personal sacrifice and struggle into personal success with a great company, his fitness journey has been much of the same. What started out as simply going to the gym has snowballed into a passion for snowboarding and the desire to get into mountain biking in the spring.
Evan’s dream has slowly but surely become his reality. That transition from dream to reality came at a price however, one that included a lot of sacrifice both mentally and physically. As he continues forward on his career’s journey, Evan’s maintains his strong emphasis on being healthy. He encourages others to find a physical activity that they enjoy doing and allowing that activity to offer refuge from the monotony of the computer. Once you achieve that balance of health and work, you can do anything. Jake Evans knows, he’s living proof.
