Relocating to start my career

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8 comments, last by Kylotan 5 years, 11 months ago

Hello, I am currently living in Asuncion, Paraguay and in the process of relocating to Europe (I'll be there in september, in Barcelona at first). I have a general programming (Python) remote job that allows me to move there right now, but I don't really want to waste any more time doing things I don't like. My true passion is programming games, and I have done many as a hobby. I do really want to start a career in game development and any advice here will be welcome.

I have many years of experience programming, am very active in the local (very small) gamedev community  and am making small games and contributing to projects since at least 2007.

What can you people advice me? Everything is welcome. Thanks.

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22 minutes ago, ito123456789 said:

What can you people advice me?

What kind of questions do you have?

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

1 minute ago, Tom Sloper said:

What kind of questions do you have?

How possible will it be to get a job there, seeing as I never really worked in gamedev professionally before? Where should I be looking? Where can I get in contact with the community (I'll be in Barcelona at first)? How should I? How do they see inmigrants there, etc. Anything really.

 

I'm already looking online, but still without success.

Europe is a diverse continent and not all countries are equal when it comes to game dev communities. I don't believe there are many AAA studios in Spain if that's what you are looking for, but indies shouldn't be too hard to find in any major city, if you are ok starting there.

There are game development conferences all over Europe, and I would suggest looking into it, and I always recommend volunteering to really connect with like minded individuals. Don't forget business cards and a portfolio.

Studios in Europe tend to have a very international staff from what I've experienced, with English as a working language, so that shouldn't be an issue (unlike east Asia.)

53 minutes ago, ito123456789 said:

How possible will it be to get a job there, seeing as I never really worked in gamedev professionally before?

Depends on your portfolio, since you have no resume. Have you set up your portfolio website? 

55 minutes ago, ito123456789 said:

Where should I be looking?

In an area with numerous game companies.

56 minutes ago, ito123456789 said:

(I'll be in Barcelona at first)

Why? Did you choose that city because there are numberous game companies there? 

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Aren't you doing it the other way around? I think you should relocate when you get the job. Then the company can even arrange/pay the relocation for you. If you don't have a job yet, a company can fly you over for an interview if they really consider you.

15 hours ago, turanszkij said:

Aren't you doing it the other way around? I think you should relocate when you get the job. Then the company can even arrange/pay the relocation for you. If you don't have a job yet, a company can fly you over for an interview if they really consider you.

But that's assuming the companies themselves can afford such a budget just for an interview and that is assuming that OP is within his expectations.

To me, my advice would be to look for a corporate that recruits freshers. From there, you can make it on your own. It so far worked for me.

The other alternative..is to make games at your pace, release them to the game market and use that for your resume. It worked for the dev behind Downfall.

 

Few game companies will pay to relocate someone who has no industry experience.

Look for places with many companies, then start applying.

On 5/16/2018 at 7:32 PM, ito123456789 said:

How do they see inmigrants there, etc.

I've never worked with someone from Paraguay before, but I've encountered a lot of Brazilians and a few Argentinians in the industry. South American developers are common in the UK industry and probably even more so in Spain and Portugal, so you'll be fine.

From your Twitter it looks like you've worked on a bunch of small games which is going to give you a reasonable chance of getting a job. All I can suggest is what was already said above - look for companies (e.g. on gamedevmap.com, or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_game_companies_of_Spain , etc), ensure your portfolio site is as good as it can be, and apply! Good luck.

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