New job, new city: house share or not?
polycounter lvl 10
Hey guys.
I'm currently finishing up my final year at university, and I've been offered (and I've accepted!) a job in Cambridge, UK, working at Frontier Developments. I'm so excited, it's my first job in the games industry, and I'm going to be working as a Graduate Environment Artist. So on that front, I am really psyched and can't wait to get working on some stuff. (By the way, thanks to everybody who has helped me with my art on these forums, couldn't have done it without people's feedback and crits!)
However, I'm in 2 minds about what to do about moving to Cambridge.
A) Rent a 1 bed flat/house. This would be nice, but rent is extremely high in Cambridge city centre so that's sorta out of the question. I could rent a small place outside Cambridge, but then I'm not living in Cambridge and would have to travel in. Plus, I wouldn't know anybody in the city except people from work, and I can easily see it getting quite solitary.
OR..
House share. This option is extremely cheap, like half the price of renting a 1 bed place. Plus I could live in the city centre, right next to work. The other advantage is that I would be living with other people and that would ease me in to the social side of living in Cambridge. Disadvantage is I could live with really unsociable people, or people I don't get along with.
So I'm torn really. Both sides have their pluses and their negatives. Does anybody have any advice they could give? I would love to hear some of your guys' stories.
Also, does anybody actually live in Cambridge and know of any spare rooms? It's a long shot! If not, I'll carry on looking on Rightmove etc, because I know a lot of these rooms get snapped up pretty quickly.
Cheers guys!
I'm currently finishing up my final year at university, and I've been offered (and I've accepted!) a job in Cambridge, UK, working at Frontier Developments. I'm so excited, it's my first job in the games industry, and I'm going to be working as a Graduate Environment Artist. So on that front, I am really psyched and can't wait to get working on some stuff. (By the way, thanks to everybody who has helped me with my art on these forums, couldn't have done it without people's feedback and crits!)
However, I'm in 2 minds about what to do about moving to Cambridge.
A) Rent a 1 bed flat/house. This would be nice, but rent is extremely high in Cambridge city centre so that's sorta out of the question. I could rent a small place outside Cambridge, but then I'm not living in Cambridge and would have to travel in. Plus, I wouldn't know anybody in the city except people from work, and I can easily see it getting quite solitary.
OR..
House share. This option is extremely cheap, like half the price of renting a 1 bed place. Plus I could live in the city centre, right next to work. The other advantage is that I would be living with other people and that would ease me in to the social side of living in Cambridge. Disadvantage is I could live with really unsociable people, or people I don't get along with.So I'm torn really. Both sides have their pluses and their negatives. Does anybody have any advice they could give? I would love to hear some of your guys' stories.
Also, does anybody actually live in Cambridge and know of any spare rooms? It's a long shot! If not, I'll carry on looking on Rightmove etc, because I know a lot of these rooms get snapped up pretty quickly.
Cheers guys!
Replies
And once you're established in Cambridge, you can move to your own place or to a better house share after a month or two, or maybe it'll be awesome and you can stay indefinitely.
I personally would live somewhere alone unless it was with a co-worker or someone I knew. So long as the pay can help me live atleast, hell we're young we can afford to live nice and barely live! :P
Grats bro!
When I was going to school I moved halfway through to be closer, and ended up moving in with some people from class...I didn't know any but one of them...who I only knew for a few weeks. We ended up having a 6 bedroom house with 6 dudes. Never a dull moment at that point in my life...it was a blast.
congrats though dude
Live with people in the city. You will be much happier. Sure there is potential for crappy roommates, everyone goes through that. But it is still worth it.
If its not too much of a convenience, you could try Ely. Its about 20 minutes away on the bus and the house prices are significantly cheaper. The downside is it would be about £90 a month to commute but then if you know someone at Frontier who travels in from Ely in their car you may be able to hitch a lift.
Personally, I would never houseshare as I hated it at Uni and could never do it again, but you will find rent prices drop significantly as you approach the surrounding villages. Waterbeach is only a 20 minute cycle ride from Frontier.
Either way. After a while a chick moved in (we didn't have a say, landlords ya know, pff) and well, I fuckin slept with one eye open after awhile. She was so stupid that when she baked cupcakes she put the mix in the forms and put it into the oven... and then went to sleep figuring they'd be done when she woke up.
I learnt that my door was very good at blocking smell that day.... until i opened it.
She also enjoyed putting oil on fire and pouring water on it and then asking if hot water was better to use than cold.
But hey! Drinking/gaming buddies and all that. It's good stuff. You gotta get it out of your system man. Go do a house share and then after a year or two never ever again! Your life will be a richer experience for it!
LOL I've heard quite a lot of experiences in halls / shared housing, that one is a contender for sure.
Best ones I usually hear are the fridge drama ones, where people get food stolen or moved. Although the story about some guy with a GLEE song on repeat for 10 hours tops most of them for me.
If you go with B, I would just kind of keep to myself. If you get too involved your gonna hate it when something bad happens (from experience).
Congratz btw!
As for living, im looking into the same thing in Nottingham at the moment, at present ive spent 3 years living with other people, and whilst its okay, its just a struggle for privacy/to make somewhere feel like home. I dunno, it all depends what you want out of life, regardless of who you live with you'll most likely end up struggling to co-habit. Its just the way things go, ive lived for the last 2 years in a house with my mates and whilst ive enjoyed it, i just really want my own space. Ie, i dont want to have to clean up after other people, fight over the shower, fight over who is going to buy the toilet paper or put the rubbish out that kinda thing.
That being said, I went to stay with a friend of mine in derby that works at eurocom a while back, and he shared a flat with another artist, the place was amazing, clean with a huge tv and generally was just the kind of place I could be happy to live in. The benefit of living with someone else is that you get to share their stuff I guess, and you can help each other out. Ie, car-share/eating together if you so wish.
Lemme know what you decide to do, im struggling to come to a decision too!
Again, congrats dude, its great news!
Personally, if I could afford it I would get my own place as I like my own space, but its good to be sociable as well
Oh fuck that shit. If i ever hear that "kids"-song or whatever it's called again I'll go on a stabbing rampage. My GF's roommate listened to it 24/7 for a week when i tried to do portfolio crunching. Lived with gf and her roomate for a month when I got laid off from a job. Arfgh.
Also. Taking someones food is a criminal offence payable only in blood.
I'm a great roommate, honest, Just follow dem unwritten roolz!
On the room note, most studios usually hook you up with a co-worker from what I've read. But yeah I hear the whole Cambridge area is insane to live in for the price, compared to somewhere like Derby anyway.
Like I said I'd go it alone or with one other person I could talk to about game-art, and not someone totally random who I'd be worried about getting prison choked in the middle of my sleep.
Don't be trollin' that fridge! I always work with headphones nowadays, even in our University labs we have people playing out crap from the onboard sound, although that's mostly programmers ¬_¬.
Thanks for all the input guys. There seems to be a pretty even split of advice, which is great. I think, if Cambridge weren't such an expensive place to live, I would rent my own place... But, saying that, I do enjoy socialising with other people and I just know that if I rented a place by myself I would get very lonely.
I do enjoy sitting by myself on my computer with some good music and just getting some work done, but I think I only really enjoy those solitary times when I balance them out with socialising. I don't think I could do it 100% of the time.
My experience with house sharing so far has been a very mixed bag. In my first year of uni, I lived with 11 other guys and had an absolute blast for the first 3/4 months. Then tensions mounted.. loads of French guys moved in and they were party crrrrazy. We enjoyed going out a lot, but damn it was every single night! But then they left and things returned to normal and we were having fun again. First year was crazy but we had some pretty horrific incidents (I once left a tap on and flooded the entire kitchen.. We were on top floor so the water seeped down through to the girls' flat below, and even to the flat below that one! Sorry girls!)
In my second year, it was fun at first but the guys I knew from first year (except for one of them) didn't want to buckle down with work like I did, and carried on partying 3/4 times a week. Again, I enjoy going out but not as much as they did. So we had a few disagreements and ultimately decided not to live together in our third year. We're still in touch but don't talk that often.
Aaaand that leads me to my third and final, current year. It was brilliant at first, I lived with one of the guys I'd lived with in first and second year and somebody off his course. But then the guy I'd known for years got a girlfriend and was never about.. So I got closer to the other guy in the house and we're really good friends now.
Long story short; house sharing is hard, but if you live with somebody you really get on with, you'll spend a lot of time together and become really good friends.
However, I'm thinking that maybe because I'll be house sharing with professionals, it might be a little different. Did any of you guys find that? I am leaning more towards house sharing, for both the financial and social aspects of it.
Oh and also, thanks for the kind comments guys. Couldn't have got this job without Polycount inspiring and pushing me on.
I lived together with some friends years ago. I hated it because we had problems with almost everything; cleaning, partying, cooking... you name it. I decided to not share an apartment/house with people again. When I lived in London a few years ago however I was really close to move into an apartment with a few people. A large city is good but it can also get really lonely so I really recommend that you move in with some people. Good luck with everything! Congratulations with the job btw
It is an experience you have to had once in your life. There is the risk the other person is not someone you would like. But it is a good exercise to learn how to live with people that make you crazy.
also, don't move close to the pubs if you value your sleep. having people break up relationships in your backyard every weekend at 4 am is not particularly pleasant to listen to.
I used to cycle into work (at the cinema/tesco) every day 20 miles a day. Since its so flat everywhere it really isnt much effort after the first week. So if you are up to it you could look at villages and other areas near by and go for that. might even be cheap enough for you to get yourself a nice place.
I moved to Cambridge for a few months for a work placement position at Jagex, - just across the road from Frontier - so you're probably looking for similar stuff I was! I actually ended up in a flat share with a bunch of fairly random people I didn't know and the guy on my floor opposite me turned out to be a programmer at frontier.
I'd recommend looking for a place closer to the studio than town. Buses in Cambridge are really good, and just about every stop will get you into town easily enough. Maybe obvious, but get a bike if you don't have one!
As for flat shares, I'd recommend them, in general. My first year of uni I was placed in halls with a 7 other people and we all clicked, it was fantastic, and I lived with them in flats for two more years. In Cambridge I got a houseshare with 'professionals' and it ended up being very quiet. Everybody worked slightly different hours enough that I never really saw anyone coming or going, noone really knew each other that well and everybody kept to themselves. I wasn't the most sociable person at the time, but it was very dull!
Cambridge is irritatingly expensive, everything is priced like you're in central London, its bizzare. It's a really nice town to shop and drink around, very lovely in the summer! Go punting in the sun as soon as you can, it's a fantastic way to relax with some beers in the sun. Get one for two hours to make the most of it, and make sure to tell the guy renting you the punt you're a local, not a tourist
Have fun you lucky bastard!
E: and come into London the the Polycount meetup that's probably happening soon around May! It's very easy to get into London on the train!
When I moved to Nottingham I was pretty sure I wanted a flat by myself. I know people who live with co-workers and for most; the last thing you want to do is go home and still be thinking about work. I'm a clean guy so I hate a messy kitchen and living room which is another reason why I decided not to share with another person since I've lived with like 11 guys over the past 4 years. I loved it when it was in halls since we all got on great, but it's nice to have your own space too.
The issue with living by yourself is that you're paying almost as much as a 2 bedroom place. All of the artists @ work share with other people - I think I'm the only one not to. I like being able to have friends over without the place being a mess.
What you could do.. is get a 6 month contract for a flat, and share with someone else. This way.. you'll have saved quite a bit of money which you can then put towards furnishing an unfurnished flat. Since I've been living in my place for about 6 months; it seems like it would have been a good idea in retrospect!
Cheers for the long post Fearian, really informative. I think I'm gonna look for a house share fairly soonish. Might even wait til May so I know that if I find a place, its not gonna get snapped up before I'm available to move in.
And Liam... Hello. Liam's one of the best names going man
I'm glad Cambridge is so close to London, I have family and a few friends in London so I could meet up with them.
I'm so excittttted, and I just can't hiiiide it!
Would be nice to go to a London PC meet... all my friends are into programming games and I much prefer the 3d side of things... would be nice to meet likeminded souls...
When do you start, Pogo?
Is there a London Polycount meetup? We should get something organised if there isn't
Well, there is a thread about a London meet, but only places have been mentioned... and I think dates in May were being thrown around?...
Yeah, we gotta lock down a date soon or it won't happen! I'll harass Andy into finding out whatever dates he is around.
It's good fun! Everyone should go! OK [/derail] :P