As I write this, Bitmob managing editor Greg Ford is likely settling into his new digs in...well, somewhere east of San Francisco in order to further his education. He'll still be contributing to Bitmob, but it'll be a little different from now on, since us West Coasters won't be seeing him on a weekly basis anymore.

But this isn’t about what Greg's doing now. It's about what he's done the past few years -- and I wanted to take some time to highlight that, since a lot of it went under the radar over the years, unfortunately.

Three years ago, after years of trying, I finally broke into professional gaming journalism at Ziff Davis Media. And I feel lucky that Greg was the one who interviewed me. I’m the first to admit that I can come across as slightly eccentric in interview settings (well, in any setting, really!), but Greg never cared about that kind of stuff -- he only cared that a person could get the job done.

In general, the working world has two types of effective supervisors: those who inspire through fear, and those who inspire through respect. Greg's about the most laid-back dude you’ll ever meet, and I was never once intimidated by him. But I respected him tremendously, and I always wanted to do a good job whenever he gave out a review assignment -- partly due to my own pride, but also because I didn’t want to let him down after he'd put his faith in me.

But even as Greg moved on from reviews editor to EGM managing editor, he didn't get a big head. It was never "his" magazine. He was always open to hearing other people’s opinions and took more of a "caretaker" philosophy -- EGM existed long before he got there, and he knew it wasn’t all about him. And even though he has a journalism degree, he never threw it in anyone’s face or looked down on those who came from different academic backgrounds. And unlike some people who are afraid to admit when they’re not an expert on something, Greg was the first to admit when he needed to defer to -- and trust -- someone more knowledgeable on a given subject.

Like many in the "gaming journalism" side of the industry, I’ve gotten my share of e-mails asking how break into the business. But I’m never quite sure how to answer that question, since everyone seems to take a different path. There’s no "right" answer in an industry like ours. But here's the simplest answer I can give: Be like Greg Ford.