Need Advice

Del

~ I'm still in my final year of study at university; but I have had a pair of possible job offers. Both of which are in north america, although I'd rather finish my degree instead of take a job right now but I don't graduate until next year summer.

I don't really want to just reply to both offers with a simple "nah, im not really interested right now", and one of the studios is asking me to do a phone interview and possible follow up art test.

What would be the best way to handle this and keep my relationship cool with them. I'm not exactly god's gift to game art and I'm worried that if i turn down the offers I could be burning bridges for the future, which I might depend on...

thanks for any advice in advance.

Canadian Ink

If either of them are legit and decent offers then you would be an idiot to turn them down, especially in the current job climate. And if you tell a studio that you aren't really interested in there offer, I wouldn't expect to ever hear from them again. With so many people looking for work in the industry you might as well be telling them to go F themselves....Give your head a good shake mate.

killingpeople

Hi Dreamer,
Usually, I'd say go for the job. But since you've invested so much time already, you should get the degree. It could pay off in your future. I think you should explain the situation how it is, honesty is the best policy. Explain that you'd like to finish your degree before taking a job, simple as that. Be sure to express your interest in an art test and interviewing when you graduate next year.

-kp

ZacD

I say look into it more, see how much the pay is and where you'd have to relocate too.

foreverendering

This isn't so bad. Tell them you're interested in the position but let them know that you don't graduate until the summer, and that is when you would be available to relocate/begin work.

When I was in College, I accepted my first game industry job a full semester before my graduation, and they waited the 5 months for me to start. It's not unheard of. Especially if you are talking about moving to another country, that kind of thing often takes some time to get the Work Visas in order so it might take several months regardless.

If they're not interested in waiting that long to fill the position, that's okay too. You won't have turned them down or insulted them in any way; it just isn't the right fit for both parties involved.

slipsius

id say do the interview. and while youre doing that, talk to your shcool. i know my school, if you make it to your third year, then get a job (2 semesters before graduation), they`ll still let you graduate at the end of the year, cause you do more work at your job anyways. see if you can get any deals on graduating

Yozora

hmm I turned down a couple of interviews recently and I didn't even think about if we were still "cool". My parents aren't fit for working full time, they can't speak or understand English fluently and someone has to stay around to pay the rest of the mortgage until we sell this house And I also have to be here to sell the house as well so yea... wouldn't feel right just leaving for a new job. Plus I'm happy with my current job anyway.

If getting the degree is the only thing you're sticking around for, and the degree is something to do with games, then I personally don't think its worth it. If its some other degree that is actually worth more than toilet paper then I'd complete the degree first

Also depends on what companies are offering the interviews. If they are some company that makes games you have little to no interest in playing, then it might not be worth it. But I doubt you'd apply to a company like that during your studies, so it must be a couple of pretty decent companies...

Anyway just tell them your situation, saying no doesn't mean you're full of it. If you value your degree then explain to them why. Plus you're not actually saying a flat out "no", you just can't right now... I'm sure they'll understand and not hate you for it.

aesir

I turned down a job I was offered while I was still in school because I wanted my degree. I don't regret it, I was only a year away and had a lot of fun. If a company is gonna get butthurt because you want to finish schooling... well that's just weird. The only people that bitch about how hard it is to break into the industry are the people who can't get job offers. If you've gotten one, you'll probably get another. Jobs are not precious jewels worth sacrificing what you want for. They are jobs. You will have many. If you don't want to do school anymore, then take it. If you want to do school, then don't.

Mongrelman

I'd say take the interviews and explain you don't graduate until summer next year, as has been said above. Chances are even if they offer a job and you accept it will take sometime before all the paperwork etc. goes through. So you could have actually already graduated by then.

You don't have to accept offers, so no real loss in taking interviews.

poopinmymouth

As long as you let them know you are still in school, I'd take the interviews as far as you can. If at the very least for the experience of the interview and what they will ask. There is a chance they will work something out in terms of either waiting for you to finish, or having you work remote till you can finish. It could even be such a sweet gig you take time off. Remember the school will always be there, the job might not.

I left in mid schooling with only one year left out of four, and I don't regret it at all. The only downside is that as a brit you'd need a Bachelors to get work in the US, so you would want to finish your degree eventually.

Nizza_waaarg

easy answer: give me the job... tell them i'm willing to drop out of uni at the drop of a hat :P


srsly tho, if the jobs are serious and decent paying and look like fun, i'd say go for them and see if you can either get some kinda graduating deal or alternativley see how long you can defer your course for (go back and finish it in a few years or somthing).

If you've only got a couple of weeks left however i'd say finish it off and see if the companies will wait. Umm, more or less what everyone else said actually :P

Disco Stu

Maybe look into taking holiday semesters and see how many you can get.
That way you could maybe work there for a year or so. Would be somewhat a payd
internship without cooking coffee. Then you could go back and finish your studys.

Mark Dygert

I agree with KP. I think you've got a lot invested in your education already might as well finish it out. Isn't a certain type of degree required in the US before the paper work clears?

poopinmymouth

Vig wrote: »

I agree with KP. I think you've got a lot invested in your education already might as well finish it out. Isn't a certain type of degree required in the US before the paper work clears?

He said North America, not the US.

Firebert

ahhhhhh, now i noticed that you were in the UK... didn't catch that over on GA... hmmmmm yeah tough call man... before i said jump on the wagon and get the experience, but poops, kp, and vig all make great points with finishing and the overseas scenario... but still with the market filling up with experienced people makes this a tough call... at least do the interview and make your objective clear... being in an interview alone is experience in and of itself... again, i really wouldn't worry about burning bridges on a decision such as this... it's not what you say, it's how you say it

poopinmymouth

Also, other than immigration issues, even 6 months of on the job experience at a fully funded studio is 10x more impressive than a degree from any university when applying to game developers.

Mark Dygert

poopinmymouth wrote: »

He said North America, not the US.

A degree would open up all of North America.

I guess that makes Mexico South America? I'm sorry South America, Emperor Poop has banished you to fairy world. >POOF<

(no, its not because you're married to a dude)

Being this close to finishing and shutting the door on future work in the US could be a mistake, but if the degree isn't one that you can get a visa on then I can see a little more of an argument to drop school and going to work, but that close, might as well finish. Job offers, if they're popping up now they will probably pop up later when the time is right.

Firebert

oh no.
please. not again.
i don't think i can take another thread debacle....

poopinmymouth

I can't fathom how you could think I don't know that. The idea is that you heard North America and auto-assumed he *must* mean the US.

What's more likely?
A) I didn't know that the US is part of NA.
Amero-centric polycounter misunderstood that NA contains more than *just* the US?


And to be on topic for the thread, for those that don't know how the debacle that is the US immigration system works, it starts with a simple rule:

A) does the candidate have at least an internationally recognized Bachelors degree?

If the answer is no, goodluck, without marrying an American, your path to a working visa is basically nil, for what a game developer would bother paying for.

In Canada, it works based on a point based system, every "good" thing about you gives you points, and if you have more than 67, it's highly likely you can live/work in Canada. A degree does give you many points, but so does fluency in french and/or english, being married to a spouse with a degree, a job offer letter, etc.

It's also much cheaper and easier to navigate the Canadian system than the US. It's possible to go through the application by yourself, for example in Canada, whereas it basically requires a lawyer in the US.

Mark Dygert

poopinmymouth wrote: »

bla bla bla I'm an idiot... trying to own the point Vig just brought up.

It's also much cheaper and easier to navigate the Canadian system than the US. It's possible to go through the application by yourself, for example in Canada, whereas it basically requires a lawyer in the US.

Considering there is a big pool of jobs in the US and its the only country with a strict degree requirement I thought it was worth mentioning that a degree might be helpful when looking for work in North America, you know the US big pocket of jobs within North America...

poopinmymouth

Considering the state of the industry Dreamer, I would go for the job if they offer it. You can literally attain a degree at any time from hundreds of schools all over the globe. You might have to eat a few credits transferring but it is never hard to get into a school that will let you finish getting your bachelors. Getting a job is much more difficult, and I promise you, without knowing the company, you will learn more on the job in the first 3 months than you did during the duration of your schooling.

If you really want the degree for future employment opportunities, consider doing night classes near the job, or just planning a hiatus after the job has run it's course to finish.

So, if your goal is to work in the game industry, and to get better, if the job sounds good, I'd say take it. Unless you have a really great professor and classmate lineup that you would feel like you'd be missing out on if you leave now, you can finish getting the magic piece of paper that is a Bachelors degree from any school you throw money at.

Think it through. What was your goal in going to school in the first place? Was it to get a job in the game industry, by both working up your skills and acquiring a resume bullet point item of a Bachelors? If you're already being offered the job, it kind of fast forwards you to your end goal, both getting you experience (which as I said looks way better on the resume than a BA) and literally getting you the job. Not to mention you'll spend loads more time every week working in gamedev than you will while in school.

Mark Dygert

See when poops calms down he has some good ideas.

The finish it later is a good idea if the transfer on the credits isn't horrible. Which you should check into, each school is different and transfer rate normally degrades over time so you might want to get settled get the job down and then jump in and get that finished.

MattQ86

See if you can work something out with your school. One of the most talented artists I've ever known had already worked at half the places in town before he graduated. Sure it took a couple semesters longer, but he was able to have an industry job and get out of certain classes, because a prototyping class is kind of redundant when you've been working on published games.