The Search for 3d Work in The SF Bay Area

illbleed

Hello everyone. I have to retype this as i dont have wifi, and at&t's tethering is giving me 1 bar connection .

Anyways, i'm finally relocating to the sf bay area (i am originally from here). I had moved to houston texas, and attend school there where i took 2 3d courses (not the best..). It helped me find my passion in 3d, and really want to keep pursuing it as a career. 

 Now, i know here we have a lot of big name studios, and thus far not a lot of them have positions available. I seen playstation has an internship program, which i emailed them about.. but no response yet. I'm just curious what tips anyone can provide me for looking for work out here in the bay? how to find start up studios? 

 I'm hoping to attend GDC to maybe meet people who are like minded, interested in starting projects, and possibly work. 


Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I have no work experience, but im taking the semester off to work on my portfolio. I've also joined a group of people working on a horror game. Though i'd like to start making some sort of income within the field of 3d art.

 Anyone from around here, maybe let me know how you started.. places to check? 

Anything and everything will be helpful .

Meloncov

Check out Meetup.com. There are plenty of free networking events you can attend. That's probably the only way you're going to find out about jobs at startups; for the most part, startups don't post jobs to job pages (because they don't have an HR team to sort through the massive pile of applications they'd get if they did).

Swizzle

Speaking as someone who lived and worked in the Bay Area for quite a while: Don't do it if you have the option not to.

You're just starting your career, the Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the US, and most places in the area are only working on mobile and social games. You'd be better off staying in Dallas for the time being; the cost of living is much better and there are a lot of great studios in the area. 

illbleed

Swizzle said:

Speaking as someone who lived and worked in the Bay Area for quite a while: Don't do it if you have the option not to.

You're just starting your career, the Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the US, and most places in the area are only working on mobile and social games. You'd be better off staying in Dallas for the time being; the cost of living is much better and there are a lot of great studios in the area. 

Hi Swizzle,

Thanks for the reply. I understand where you're coming from, but i could not stand Texas. The bay area is home, and has always been. I understand the situation with rent is crazy here, but i honestly could not be happier living anywhere else. 
 Right now, i don't exactly have an option though as i live with my family. My only other interested place would be Seattle. 

illbleed

Meloncov said:

Check out Meetup.com. There are plenty of free networking events you can attend. That's probably the only way you're going to find out about jobs at startups; for the most part, startups don't post jobs to job pages (because they don't have an HR team to sort through the massive pile of applications they'd get if they did).

Hi! I'll check there. i actually never thought of that. I think i seen that SFVR has an event coming up and im excited to attend. 

mikezoo

If your moving back to the bay area for family or friends I can totally understand that; Its nice to return home. But moving here for potential job prospects I would be very wary of. The cost of living in the bay area is astounding and each and everyday I am amazed anew. If your just starting out in your career, and looking to move to where the action is, I would check out southern California. Personally I think there are more opportunity's down in soCal, the cost of living is lower and you have the beaches.  

Whatever you decide to do, just try and your cost of living the cheapest while you work on your portfolio night and day! Best of luck! 

root

Having fled bay area rents in favor of a much more rural part of California a few years ago, I find the number of comments advising against living in the bay area to be very vindicating, even though I empathize with Illbleed's motivations for wanting to return there.  I don't miss how expensive silicon valley is, but I miss it for a lot of other reasons.

RyRyB

Having lived in both Bay Area (currently) and Seattle, I'd say Seattle may be the safer option.

Cost of living, although rising, is still quite a bit less than the Bay Area. Seattle has the same amount of companies (perhaps even more?) as the Bay Area which makes it great location for finding jobs. 

That being said, I love the Bay Area as well. Just wish it wasn't so expensive.

illbleed

Hello everyone.  I appreciate everyone's comments so far. I can't really make the decision to move for at least a couple of years since I'm living with family.  My father's job has and always will be here (redwood city to Palo alto). 
 I'd love to make a move to a different location when I'm ready but for now what's best for me to do is find opportunities here.  Which is what I need more help with. I was born in Palo alto but lived in redwood city and a lot of Peninsula cities most my life.  So I seen how crazy the rent had gotten.  

I checked meet up and I seen two groups im interested in. Looking forward to trying to attend.  There's also SFVR coming up alongside with GDC. 

beefaroni

post folio.

illbleed

beefaroni said:

post folio.

I haven't had much time to work on anything since i moved. still looking for a place to rent and it's been a month :S. Here's what i have so far.. 
https://strider.artstation.com/

Amsterdam Hilton Hotel

Aside from Manhattan this is the single worst place to look for entry level jobs. Finding one is only half of it. The other half is not losing over half of your disposable to rent once you do.

Brandon.LaFrance

I moved to the Bay Area nearly two years ago in search of an entry level job. At the time, I was living in my home town where there were zero game studios for hundreds of miles. I had been working hard on my portfolio for some time, and I knew that in order to get my foot in the door I had to go where the studios were. A good friend of mine had been living in the East Bay for a few years and was looking for a roommate. The price was reasonable (for the Bay Area) so I took a chance and moved out here.

Three months, dozens of job applications, and a few failed art tests later, I finally landed a job at a startup game studio.  By then, I had exhausted all of my savings and was nearing the limit on my credit card. I started as a paid intern, and about six months later was promoted to a full-time staff position. I'm still there to this day.

I love what I do, and I work with a bunch of awesome people, but I've had to make many sacrifices in order to make it work. My daily commute is about two hours each way (when the trains are on-time). I leave for work at 8:00 AM and rarely get home before 9:00 PM. I live very frugally - cooking most of my own meals, and rarely going out on the weekends. I've been able to pay off my debts and save a decent chunk of my income this way.

In retrospect I think I got very lucky. I was at the right place at the right time, but it could have very easily taken much longer to get hired. For what it's worth, I'm very happy where I am. I would not have done anything differently, but it definitely hasn't been easy.

illbleed

Brandon.LaFrance said:

I moved to the Bay Area nearly two years ago in search of an entry level job. At the time, I was living in my home town where there were zero game studios for hundreds of miles. I had been working hard on my portfolio for some time, and I knew that in order to get my foot in the door I had to go where the studios were. A good friend of mine had been living in the East Bay for a few years and was looking for a roommate. The price was reasonable (for the Bay Area) so I took a chance and moved out here.

Three months, dozens of job applications, and a few failed art tests later, I finally landed a job at a startup game studio.  By then, I had exhausted all of my savings and was nearing the limit on my credit card. I started as a paid intern, and about six months later was promoted to a full-time staff position. I'm still there to this day.

I love what I do, and I work with a bunch of awesome people, but I've had to make many sacrifices in order to make it work. My daily commute is about two hours each way (when the trains are on-time). I leave for work at 8:00 AM and rarely get home before 9:00 PM. I live very frugally - cooking most of my own meals, and rarely going out on the weekends. I've been able to pay off my debts and save a decent chunk of my income this way.

In retrospect I think I got very lucky. I was at the right place at the right time, but it could have very easily taken much longer to get hired. For what it's worth, I'm very happy where I am. I would not have done anything differently, but it definitely hasn't been easy.

Brandon,

Thanks for sharing your story with me. That's quite interesting. I guess i can see where it would become really difficult here.. Fortunate for me, i'm living with my parents and they're in no rush to kick me out, but i'm hoping to get started somewhere asap. I'm just hoping i'll be lucky enough to find a start up like you did. i've lived in east bay for a year, but mostly stayed in the peninsula.
 I think what i need most right now besides working on my portfolio, is making connections with other people in the industry. I've never really been much of a people person so group events have never been my thing, but i'm looking forward to trying my luck at GDC. I just wish there was an easier way to find start ups.