Location Location Location workaround?

1. Yes. It's wrong. And if you get found out, you'll see that it was also stupid. You can't work around the Location X3 Rule.
2. Classic Two-Choices Question. Read FAQ 52.

1. Yes. It's wrong. And if you get found out, you'll see that it was also stupid. You can't work around the Location X3 Rule.
2. Classic Two-Choices Question. Read FAQ 52.

I'm glad I asked. Thank you for your answer.

It's unfortunate though. I've been reading through other forums and It's no guess that my choices boil down to taking a risk or hoping for the best.

Missed the Two-Choices article. Will read now.

my choices boil down to taking a risk or hoping for the best.

Since you know "hoping" is not a plan, logic tells you that's not a choice at all.
Life is all a risk. You risk either a life of regret that you never tried, or "the path less trodden, that might make all the difference" (to bastardize Frost).

While you're revisiting my site, check out what Dr. Laura said about hope in FAQ 47. The beginning of the quote is, "Hope is disappointment postponed."

Every time I think my reply is done, I think of something else.

You sounded hesitant to take a risk. Yet you think an employer should be the one to take the risk. That's backward. It's all on you.

One remote possibility is to create a hit game that makes all the companies sit up and take notice, call you long distance, and offer you a job. But of course first you'd have to create a hit.

And guess what that is.

Another risk.

Every time I think my reply is done, I think of something else.

You sounded hesitant to take a risk. Yet you think an employer should be the one to take the risk. That's backward. It's all on you.

One remote possibility is to create a hit game that makes all the companies sit up and take notice, call you long distance, and offer you a job. But of course first you'd have to create a hit.

And guess what that is.

Another risk.

Well, when you're right, you're right. I've discussed plans with my fiancee, so we will be moving to Austin in December.

Thank you for your advice!

[quote name='Tom Sloper' timestamp='1309493238' post='4829883']
Every time I think my reply is done, I think of something else.

You sounded hesitant to take a risk. Yet you think an employer should be the one to take the risk. That's backward. It's all on you.

One remote possibility is to create a hit game that makes all the companies sit up and take notice, call you long distance, and offer you a job. But of course first you'd have to create a hit.

And guess what that is.

Another risk.

Well, when you're right, you're right. I've discussed plans with my fiancee, so we will be moving to Austin in December.

Thank you for your advice!


[/quote]


Are you living in Maryland now? Depending on which part there are development studios in Maryland that you might be able to apply for. If you check around the Hunty Valley area and in the Bethesda area you should be able to find some studios you could possibly apply at.

Anyway if you've already decided to move to Austin then I wish you the best of luck in finding a job there.

Austin is a great place to live (I lived there for two years before getting laid off). However, some major companies have shut down their Austin locations in the past couple years, leaving the market flooded with hungry experienced developers. I found myself having to move up to Dallas. There are quite a few companies in the Austin area though, so you might luck out and be able to find what you're looking for. I know Tom recommends moving before applying, but I'd definitely get your resume into the hands of as many companies as possible before your actual move.

[color="#1C2837"][color="#000000"]

[color="#1C2837"][color="#000000"] Are you living in Maryland now? Depending on which part there are development studios in Maryland that you might be able to apply for. If you check around the Hunty Valley area and in the Bethesda area you should be able to find some studios you could possibly apply at.
Anyway if you've already decided to move to Austin then I wish you the best of luck in finding a job there.
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I'm living in Arkansas now. The main reason why I'd like to move to Maryland is Bethesda Softworks is there. However, there doesn't seem to be that many game studios there & I can't justify moving there for only one game studio. Also, with Austin, I could be a little closer to home. Thank you though!

Austin is a great place to live (I lived there for two years before getting laid off). However, some major companies have shut down their Austin locations in the past couple years, leaving the market flooded with hungry experienced developers. I found myself having to move up to Dallas. There are quite a few companies in the Austin area though, so you might luck out and be able to find what you're looking for. I know Tom recommends moving before applying, but I'd definitely get your resume into the hands of as many companies as possible before your actual move.

That's not what I wanted to hear. I was planning on sending out around 200-300 resumes before I move to Austin, so maybe I can get something. Either way, if Austin doesn't work out, I'll can always try San Francisco when I get some money saved. I appreciate the help!

I was planning on sending out around 200-300 resumes before I move to Austin

There aren't that many companies in Austin. It makes no sense whatsoever to send resumes to Maryland and New York and Florida and Washington and Oregon just before moving to Texas.

[quote name='dbgamer' timestamp='1309874163' post='4831348']I was planning on sending out around 200-300 resumes before I move to Austin

There aren't that many companies in Austin. It makes no sense whatsoever to send resumes to Maryland and New York and Florida and Washington and Oregon just before moving to Texas.
[/quote]

[color="#000000"][font="arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"]I apologize. Let me rephrase. [/font]
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Until January 2012, I am in Arkansas. The idea was to send out several resumes a few weeks before I'm free to move & get a game related programming job somewhere. if I get a job right off the bat, great! But if not, I want to make sure that I can survive wherever I move. [/font][size=2]If there's no companies willing to hire a non-local developer, then I'm just going to move where there is game development, get a regular job, and apply there again in 6 months.
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Austin, TX is my first choice. Austin is 10 hours away from home. This is convenient because relocation cost is relatively cheap and cost of living isn't so different from where I live now. Austin also has more game companies in a 600 mile radius from where I live. According to GameDevMap, it's approximately 50.[/font]
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But say if I were to move to San Francisco, that's going to be a really large risk since the cost to relocate is expensive as well as cost of living. But if it means a guaranteed game related job, I'm sure I can get the additional funding (parents, fiancée, etc.)


So that's the current plan. If anyone has suggestions over what I should do differently, I will gladly hear them out.

I understand that you don't accept the truth of the Location Location Location rule.
I also understand that it's a huge risk to move without having a job offer first. But that's what I did, and that's what you have to do.
It's remotely possible that you might get a job offer, but it's very possible that spamming your target city with applications can hurt your chances of being hired once you arrive there.
Before moving, it's recommended that you have several months living cost saved up. If you don't have that much yet, don't move until you do.

I understand that you don't accept the truth of the Location Location Location rule.
I also understand that it's a huge risk to move without having a job offer first. But that's what I did, and that's what you have to do.
It's remotely possible that you might get a job offer, but it's very possible that spamming your target city with applications can hurt your chances of being hired once you arrive there.
Before moving, it's recommended that you have several months living cost saved up. If you don't have that much yet, don't move until you do.

I do accept the truth of the Location X3 rule, or at least my understanding of it. I live in a cold spot & I am going to need to be in a warm spot to get a job. I am very willing to relocate.

I wanted to send out several resumes before I can move because it seems like a relatively low-risk way to maximize my options, not to mention the several people I've read say to do it on these forums. I know you said that I might spam my target city, so perhaps it's best to send out resumes to the remote possibilities & wait to move before sending them to the target city.

That being said, Austin is having an IGDA party this saturday & I plan on attending. I will ask about the environment there. If it sounds full of opportunity, I'll probably move there. Otherwise, I'll most likely consider something hotter. If I have to wait a few more months to do so, so be it. I'll do what it takes.

Again, I really appreciate your advice Mr. Sloper. Thank you.

I wanted to send out several resumes before I can move because it seems like a relatively low-risk way to maximize my options, not to mention the several people I've read say to do it on these forums. I know you said that I might spam my target city, so perhaps it's best to send out resumes to the remote possibilities & wait to move before sending them to the target city.

In my opinion, you're doing an experiment that has low odds of success.

I don't know how many of those who've advised you to apply long distance (despite the L3 rule) have been on the receiving end of stacks of resumes, like I have.

So let's say that on Day 1, I receive 30 resumes. One of them is from you -- a guy who doesn't live anywhere near us. I put him in the same folder as all the other non-locals. And I don't bother looking at his resume much less his portfolio, and I probably don't have time to send 30 "thanks but no and good luck" emails every day (since I have lots of other duties), so he never hears back from me.

Then on Day 15, I get another 30 resumes (like I do every day). One of them is from a guy who lives locally, but it's weird -- his name sounds familiar. If I dig around, I find that he just applied 2 weeks ago but didn't live locally then. It irks me a bit that he applied a second time in 2 weeks, but since he lives locally now, I probably look at his resume and portfolio. So he goes into the same folder as all the other locals; some of them go on to be reviewed by team leads, some move into the "local but no" folder.

In the above scenario, I fail to see the advantage to your having sent in an application twice.

In my opinion, you're doing an experiment that has low odds of success.

I think he was sending them to non-Austin companies with the plan to move to Austin and apply to Austin companies while there. Sure it has low odds of success, but not applying anywhere has even lower odds of success.

If my understanding is correct it looks like he has his bases pretty well covered.

[quote name='Tom Sloper' timestamp='1309929349' post='4831640']
In my opinion, you're doing an experiment that has low odds of success.

I think he was sending them to non-Austin companies with the plan to move to Austin and apply to Austin companies while there. Sure it has low odds of success, but not applying anywhere has even lower odds of success.

If my understanding is correct it looks like he has his bases pretty well covered.
[/quote]

'way2lazy2care's got it. I don't think I've been explaining it well enough, but that's definitely the premise of what I'm going to do.

Ya know, Tom gives a ton of great advice, but the location issue isn't always such a big deal. Growing companies (such as those in the social games space) are eager to pull in talent, regardless of where they're currently living, for good candidates. I'm with my second company now, which I'll hopefully being staying with for quite some time, and both of the companies relocated me from a different state or city. The first company was a small growing 3rd party Nintendo developer and my current company is a large social games company. Are well known, established studios likely to relocate a new kid in the industry? Maybe, maybe not. There are plenty that will, though.

Ya know, Tom gives a ton of great advice, but the location issue isn't always such a big deal. Growing companies (such as those in the social games space) are eager to pull in talent, regardless of where they're currently living, for good candidates. I'm with my second company now, which I'll hopefully being staying with for quite some time, and both of the companies relocated me from a different state or city. The first company was a small growing 3rd party Nintendo developer and my current company is a large social games company. Are well known, established studios likely to relocate a new kid in the industry? Maybe, maybe not. There are plenty that will, though.

The only exceptions to Location, Location, Location is:
a) Having an inside connection/reference who'll get you the job
b) Having the exact expertise (usually backed up by an amazing product e.g. you developed Angry Birds) that the company just must have

Sounds like you had at least b).

Without either one though... Tom is right... good luck!

both of the companies relocated me from a different state or city.

1. First company: when it hired you, how did you prove to them that you were a good risk?
2. Second company: I have no question to ask about the second company (by this time you had a resume).