Finding Work in another City/Country

I've realized that all I want out of this upcoming final semester is a job in Manchester, England for after I graduate in December. But living across the ocean makes it tough to make a good impression in person.

Any advice for someone looking to start finally working after studying all their life? And has anyone been in this situation (doesn't have to be Manchester, but trying to find work fresh out of school in a city you're not in) before? How did you go about applying to places, and how did things go?

I want to cold call/apply to every game developer in Manchester looking for entry level writing or QA testing positions, but I am very doubtful that will work. Experience and advice are really appreciated.

Why Manchester? Didn't even know it had any game devs tbh.

@alexw00d: There's someone I need to reconnect with over there, and I'd rather do it sooner rather than later.

I don't think England as a whole is a good place for game development in general. Many studios have been shutting down recently.

I assume you mean you need to declare your love for someone, which I totally understand but under the premise of Manchester for game development is a losing battle bro. If you some how managed to get a job at Codemasters (which tbf is only like 90 mins down the road) or something then sure, but ehhh man this country's fucked.

Hi duder

Having unexpectedly drafted a huge post, I'm hoping it's not presumptuous to bang on about my own circumstances for so long - so feel free to disregard entirely!

But for what it's worth, I finally made the leap in moving country just this past month, and I can share my own background for you to compare against your own circumstances.

Unlike you I'm not straight out of studying, but a solid decade into my career. I went to a language college and when I was still between school and university (ages 16-18) I spent months at a time overseas - a month or two in Germany, another month or two in France, etc etc. The result was that when it came to going to university or travelling, I decided I'd totally had enough of the latter; and even when I was offered the chance to spend an additional year studying overseas somewhere, I was still in the mindset I was "done with that".

I'm not sure I've regretted something so much in retrospect, and in lots of ways I've been trying to make up for it ever since. Only just recently have I been able to manoeuvre myself into a job which lets me start globehopping again. To make it happen, I had to quit a very good job at home, and spend time and money doing nothing other than looking for a new job overseas. It was a hell of a gamble; it took me right up to the wire in terms of how long I'd budgeted for; and I'm very lucky it paid off.

So I guess my overwhelming advice is, if you want to do it, don't let anyone stop you. In my situation, I had a good job, the "devil you know" mentality was really hard to overcome, and frankly I was a bigger risk for someone in another country to take on. When you're young it's seen as more 'normal' to jump blindly into a new country, and anyone looking to hire you will see someone fresh as more appealing than someone who might be coming with bad habits, salary expectations, etc.

Onto your actual question, about how to go about it. I'll say again our situations are not comparable, but I think these are probably good habits (they worked for me):

• Don't underestimate the effort. Treat finding the job as a job in itself. Make a list of companies you think would be good for you; rank them from 'best fit' to 'worst fit', and start working your way down. Portion your day to 'online hunting' (keep a list of job advert / vacancies bookmarks you go through), calls and speculative emails, and 'everything else'. Be prepared for it to take time, and don't get disheartened - if you're methodical about it, it'll happen eventually, and you need to keep remembering that.

• If you know of people in the companies you like, don't be ashamed to introduce yourself. Be polite and don't harass them, but explain you're keen to make this happen, and ask them for their experience. You'll find people are, generally speaking, always pleased to help someone out (especially if they have been there at some stage themselves).

• Ask everyone you can for advice, including people you don't know very well. Make up your own mind about whether to dismiss them, but the more opinions you'll get, the more you'll start to understand what you should and shouldn't be listening to. Data, data, data - you're trying to do something you're naturally going to be a bit ignorant about, so solicit as much advice as you can. I always finished with "What question should I have asked you, that I haven't?". You'll be surprised at some of the things you hadn't considered; and it means you'll be going into it with your eyes open when it does happen, both good and bad.

• Network, in any way you can. Find out if a friend of a friend has worked there, or knows someone who has worked there. Call them. Buy them coffee. Do whatever you can, because you never know which stranger is going to put you in touch with the right person. (For all my hard work using my professional connections, it ended up being a total stranger through friends-of-friends who led to my new job).

• Skype and a good international minutes phone plan are your friends. You might need to call someone at short notice, and the last thing you want is to be fiddling about with credit, when you realise moments before that you need to top up.

• Make yourself easy to hire. By this I mean, lower any barriers you have in terms of the 'ideal role', money, location, etc. Remember that this one is a stepping stone for you - once you're overseas you're no longer a risk, and it will be easier to find another job locally; but until then there'll be a home national they could hire instead. They won't have to worry about that guy ending up hating it, and running back home - which is the risk they face in hiring you. When someone does come and offer you a job, and it's not perfect, don't reject it instantly. I'm not saying accept anything you're offered either - but before you turn it down, weigh up whether it gives you what you really need, which is entry into the UK. Anything it doesn't offer you can get later, once you have local experience, even if it means you might have to wait a little longer.

Again, I don't know your motivations, but for me it was really an 'at least try - or regret not trying' situation. I figure if you think you might want to, give it a go whilst you can, because at some point your circumstances might change and the opportunity won't be there. Personally I'd hate to look back years later, and realise all those 'what ifs' slipped me by.

And if it doesn't work out, home is always waiting for you to come back.

Good luck to you, duder. Feel free to PM me if you like; I'm also originally from the UK, so happy to give any insight into that side of things too.

It's tough to get a job straight out of school unless you are super talented, your school has some kind of career placement program, or you have done some networking.

www.gamedevmap.com is a great resource as is GDC for networking and getting portfolio reviews etc.

When I first started looking I would have a list of popular forums that would post jobs and which devs frequent (polycount.com) and keep track of places I applied. Also researching the company I was interested in, finding people in the same discipline as I was, then emailing them asking them for advice for a beginner. People are generally nice and will help you out. Just be polite and don't beg for a job- building connections is the purpose.