WoW: A Glass Door to Success
Blizzard Campus in Irvine, CA
Robert Hohman is a 45 year old software engineer who has worked on many big sites such as Hotwire, Expedia, and most recently, Glassdoor. Designed for potential employees based on a number of criteria including work enviroment, benefits and salaries, the site has seen tremendous success. Over a half million companies are reviewed in over 11 million personal reviews. The company is valued at $1 billion.
Robert Hohman, Founder of Glassdoor.com
To what does Hohman contribute his success? World of Warcraft. When asked by Forbes interviewer Susan Adams how his experience with WoW contributed to the foundation of Glass Door, Hohman said "It taught me about community. I intellectually understood online communities but I didn’t understand them in my heart and gut. I looked forward to seeing my guildmates. I helped them and they helped me. That experience helped me form the foundations of Glassdoor a year later."* Makes sense, WoW is largely community based, and looking into GlassDoor, you see the same transparency. Sharing information, helping one another, as well as the anonymity of game chat that usually comes with brutal honesty, leads to a more genuine and realistic review of the experience.
Community Gathering in ThunderBrew Distillery
While we all know trade can trade can get a bit involved at times, there is no doubt a tremendous WoW Community of people who love the lore, events, and digital world in the game. While pursuing an epic raid item, or discussing gold making strategies, you may just find yourself brushing up on career skills like teamwork, problem solving skills, and communication.
*http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestreptalks/2016/03/10/the-founder-of-glassdoor-explains-how-playing-world-of-warcraft-led-him-to-create-a-company-valued-at-1-billion/#59eb5882ce66
