鱼与熊掌兼得：Zynga主管的摇滚人生

    41岁的乔•拉波索是游戏《星佳城市》（CityVille）的质检主管，这款游戏由社交游戏公司Zynga开发，玩家可在游戏中运作管理一座虚拟城市。拉波索带领团队为这款热门的社交游戏排查故障之余还有一份非比寻常的“第二职业”：担任Lagwagon乐队的贝斯手。这支来自南加州的朋克乐队拥有7张录音专辑，粉丝忠实，巡演不断。（他和乐队最近刚刚从长达一个月的欧洲巡演归来。）

    这个土生土长的硅谷人曾经在世嘉（Sega）、索尼（Sony）和美国艺电（Electronic Arts）从事过游戏测试工作。他在90年代的时候加入过数支朋克乐队，并在2010年加盟Lagwagon乐队，顶替刚刚退出的贝斯手。他分别所属的两个世界，可能会在本月进行一次比较正式的激情碰撞。拉波索正在与他所在的另一支乐队King City商量，打算趁公司下班后，在Zynga公司的草坪上举办他们的首场小型现场演出。拉波索抽空接受了《财富》杂志（Fortune ）专访，就如何在全职工作与激情爱好之间保持平衡发表了自己的看法，并描述了坚固两者带来的种种益处。

    《财富》：有些人拥有稳定工作，同时又渴望做其它事情，而这些事情又比较耗时，你对这些人有什么建议？

    乔•拉波索：首先一条是找一家理解你的公司。我之所以喜欢Zynga的工作，就是因为只要你做的事有创意，他们就真心实意地支持你，呵护你。然后，你要协调两者的关系，既要同时兼顾两份工作，又要双双获得成绩。

    另外还有一个基本要素，要做好辞职的心理准备。这并不容易做到。只有某一类人才能做到（两者兼顾）。并非每个人都能做到这一点，它绝对不适合心理脆弱的人。所以，如果打算这么干，最好做好准备，因为它绝非易事。但是如果你果真能做到这一点，将处处是鲜花。

    这似乎是一个艰难的抉择。

    这曾经是一个艰难的决定。我并不想让公司认为我的心已经不在那儿了。人们很容易产生这样的联想。我曾经在得到工作时告诉对方我想做音乐，结果我没能成为全职员工，因为他们觉得“这家伙没打算呆在这儿。他定不下来。”

    一开始，我真的很犹豫要不要告诉公司我想参加巡演。我真的害怕提出要求。但是我的女友说服了我，让我知道自己别无选择。是她给了我信心，我终于找到老板，提出自己的想法。当我如愿以偿时，她给予了全力支持，她为我兴奋，为我感到高兴。

    Joe Raposo, 41, works for Zynga as the quality assurance lead on the game CityVille, which lets players run and develop a virtual metropolis. But when Raposo is not leading a team that finds and fixes bugs in the popular social game, he's got an uncommon moonlighting gig: Raposo is the bassist for Lagwagon, a Southern California punk band with seven studio albums, a loyal following and a regular touring schedule. (He and the band recently returned from a month-long European tour.)

    The Silicon Valley native has held video game testing jobs at Sega, Sony (SNE) and Electronic Arts (ERTS). Playing in several punk bands during the 90s, he joined Lagwagon in 2010 to replace its departing bassist. His two worlds may collide more formally this month. Rasposo and his other band King City are in talks to play their first gig on the Zynga (ZNGA) campus during a company happy hour.

    Raposo took some time to talk to Fortune about balancing the pursuit of both a full-time career and an outside passion, and the advantages of doing both.

    What's your advice to those who have steady jobs, but are also tempted to do other time-consuming things?

    First rule is just to get with a company that understands your situation. I love working at Zynga because they really support anything you do on the creative side, and they nurture that. Then come to some sort of agreement where you're able to do both and be productive at both.

    You have to be ready to quit a job, basically. And that's a hard thing to do. It takes a certain type of person [to pursue both]. It's not for everybody and it's definitely not for the faint of heart. So if you're going to do this, you better be ready because it's not the easiest thing to do. But if you can, there are great rewards all the way around.

    It sounds like a difficult conversation.

    It was a hard decision. I didn't want them to think my commitment wasn't there anymore. And it's easy for people to think that way. I've had jobs before where I've told them I wanted to do music, and I didn't get opportunities to become a full-time employee because they thought, "This guy is just never going to be here. He's going to be a flake."

    At first, I was really hesitant to tell work that I wanted to tour. I was really scared to ask. But my girlfriend convinced me that I had to do it. So she gave me the confidence to go to my manager and ask. And when I finally did, she was super receptive about it. And she was stoked and happy for me.