How does job relocating affect your personal life?
polycounter lvl 8
Hey polycounters. As like all noobs I am an aspiring 3d artist with dreams to work in the industry. The thing is, If I get in the industry I know I will have to relocate. Which means leaving family and friends behind. And I know we are in an era with things like Skype, where we can connect with each other from how ever far away, but nothing beats actually physically being with your loved ones. I mean,I'm young now but in the future I want a wife and child.
I know you can relocate your family, but that would mean that they would leave everything behind too. They would have to leave their job, kid would have to switch schools and start a new life, for what, just to relocate again when my contracts over or I get laid off?
I'm just curious as to how some of you artists out there handle relocating when it comes to personal life. Or am I just overthinking and it's not really that bad? its something on my mind and I'd appreciate anyone who shares an experience with me.
Thanks.
I know you can relocate your family, but that would mean that they would leave everything behind too. They would have to leave their job, kid would have to switch schools and start a new life, for what, just to relocate again when my contracts over or I get laid off?
I'm just curious as to how some of you artists out there handle relocating when it comes to personal life. Or am I just overthinking and it's not really that bad? its something on my mind and I'd appreciate anyone who shares an experience with me.
Thanks.
Replies
On a more serious note, even with my paltry experience, I share your sentiments, Grungy. The thought of leaving friends, family, people I love and want to love behind is definitely an obstacle. Not insurmountable, but a present challenge.
Seriously though, I understand your predicament. I've recently been offered 2 jobs at places that don't even speak English and its pretty daunting - as well as work I would have to learn the language. However I have a spanish friend that moved to London 10 years back and he said it was the best decision he made, it gets you out of your comfort zone and above all its exciting, which is what life is all about (my post is getting a little bloggy now.)
How old are you? Where are you based? If you think you would have to relocate, could you look at game studios in any of the surrounding areas where it wouldn't be drastically far away from family and friends, so you could visit them often? You can check things like Gamedev Map for an idea of where the closest studios are to you, they recently updated it. I would encourage you to do this though. Doing stuff like this helps you grow as a person and like I said, gets you out your comfort zone.
One last thing I would say is the way your post was written is very 'all or nothing', the thought that you will be leaving behind your friends and family and hardly seeing them. To a certain extent that might be the case, but you could make it work and try to see them often. If you gave it a shot for a year or so, a year would fly by and you'd also have a better idea of what you want to do next. From experience I would say don't be held back by 'what if's', just go for it!
Of course, you could get lucky, and never need to relocate. However, that is not something you can assume will happen.
I moved from Belgium to France (Bordeaux) back in june 2014 for my first job and things have just been great. Now, I'm a 25 years old single guy so it's pretty easy for me to move to another country and start a new life. Of course, you will leave familly and friends behind but you'll meet tons of new people, make new friends and if your family cares they'll visit you from time to time.
I guess things get more complicated once you have a wife/girlfriend but some people are willing to move to another place for their loved one.
i would say try it at least once.
with kids and stuff, i would probably wait until you are good enough to do freelance only.
my family moved a lot when i was a kid and i didn't mind at the time, but now i see that it was very detrimental to me. i don't have any lifelong friends and that sucks.
I'm a 23 years old Technical Level Artist from France, and a couple of years ago I got a job offer in Eastern Europe.
I had basically 5 days to get ready and tell my family and friends I'm gonna leave for a country they knew nothing about.
At first, you might think you have to make a choice between your friends and your career.
It's not true.
Since I accepted this job, I met wonderful people, some of the most talented artists I've ever met became my closest friends, my family is proud of me and asks tons of questions about this country. They even visit me sometimes.
If anything, it actually consolidated my family's bonds.
I lost touch with many friends I had before, sure. But not all of them, as I continue chatting almost every day with my closest ones through Skype, Steam or Facebook. We play together every week, we go in vacation together, they visit me and I visit them when we have time.
I mentioned I was French for a reason - I was stereotypically terrible in languages, especially in English... But I had to speak it everyday, so of course I got better, and I even learnt some basics of the local language!
Also, keep in mind, if someone wants to hire you in another country, they probably don't expect you to speak the language fluently in a month. Or maybe they don't even care at all, like where I work now. At first, everyone spoke English when I was around, but since I joined we got many more foreigners - from Brazil, Moldova, England, Greece... And even another French dude, who works on UI/UX... Everyone speaks English now.
On another topic, if you're single now, it's much easier to move out, for sure. But I also had a girlfriend when I left France, and because I was so enthusiast about moving out of the country she decided to move with me - and now she's also employed in a game studio here and started a career in localization.
I sounds like I'm trying to convince you, and I totally am.
But really, especially if you're young you have nothing to lose
Move away from your family? So what, it'll give you people to go see during your time off. For friends, you'll make new ones, and any of the old ones you fall out of touch with were probably not really important friends, or it'll just mean you have that much more to chat about whenever you do meet up with them again later on.
Things get alot more complicated when you have a girl/boy friend and kid(s) of course, so all the more reason to gain experience and move around while that's not an issue.
Traveling is great, do it while you can!
Once you have a spouse and kids (like me), things change. Ideally you've got some experience under your belt, so if your family is not up for moving a lot, find a job near one of the studio hubs. Near a large city, where if you lose your job, other options will become available.
Once you have a family you have to learn to compromise, and that could mean giving up working for your dream studio(s) or having to work for one you aren't as keen on. But being a professional CG artist is an awesome job no matter where you are :thumbup:
I'm a 21 year old Jr Environment Artist living and working in Brighton, UK. However, when I was 18 I moved from Barcelona, Spain to a small town outside London to study Games Art. I then graduated to my job down here south.
I had lived in Barcelona for 12 years, and made a very good bunch of friends. A few of them moved to London, which was cool, but most of them stayed in Barcelona. It's been three and a half years since I moved away and everytime I go back I meetup with all my friends and it's almost as if time hasn't passed. Everyone get's on with their lives and goes different paths, but it's cool that those friendships remain (it's also a good way of realising who you want to be friends with and who isn't going to stay as a close friend). Speaking with people that stayed in Barcelona, it's not like they're alwaays together and having a good time. Most people find there study path etc so everyone's busy during the week and all that.
Anyway, when I moved to UK i made a whole bunch of good friends again, met my girlfriend and some good people along the way. Then I got my job an hey, it wasn't next door, but I went anywhere and guess what, the same pattern repeats. You stay in touch with those who you cherish as your friends, slowly loose touch with those who aren't and you make new friends. I'm still together with my girlfriend despite the long distance. It's only temporal anyway if you know what I mean
Oh, and family are always going to be there, regardless of wherever you go.
Conclusion for me: You are bringing stress upon yourself because of things that have not happened yet. Cross that bridge whenever you get to it
Yep, hope that helps
If you can manage, do it, it will be the best years of your life.
This right here is killer advice! Honestly, it's better to start worrying about all of that once you start getting interviews for companies out of state. Or you're just going to stress yourself out. Just work on your folio and making awesome art first, and then stress about the rest. ;D
I actually just relocated for a job to another state, I'm planned to get married in October and my fiance along with my friends and family are still back home.
It's difficult, but you can make it work for sure! Google Hangouts & Skype are great, and if you want to watch a movie or something together you can you rabb.it and stream stuff together.
I'm from Scotland originally, did 4 years at University away from my hometown. 2 years in England, and now 2 years in Canada.
Travelling has changed me entirely, I love it. New cities, new people, new friends - it's all exciting to me. If you're stuck in the same place for a while then things can get a little stale. Moving always made everything more interesting for me.
I have friends with families who have moved as well and things have worked out for them too, even if their family has had to join them up to 6 months after.
If you ever get the opportunity to move, I would fully recommend it. If you are hesitant, perhaps you can go for a shorter amount of time. It can honestly be a great thing, particularly if you are young. I was 24 when I moved to Canada and it is without doubt the scariest thing I have ever done but I've also had the best times of my career.
As previously mentioned I have an interview with one studio where English isn't considered the main language, although a lot of people at the studio have diverse ethnicities and I have been told it wouldn't be as difficult to communicate as it seems.
The only parts that worry me a bit are if I had a serious relationship and had to move, what would I do then? and not being able to communicate at all because the people there can't speak English (France is notorious for this, for example).
Towards the end of my contract, the guys at work and I started to be more social after work, and I felt like i was really starting to hit my stride, get a personal life. But then the contract ended and i moved again.
With all that said, I`m a bit of an introvert, so I was actually pretty happy with everything.
I guess it depends on how social you are. How good you are at meeting new people and putting yourself out there. But I will say, if you`re new to town, or even if you aren't, people at your new job are going to be very friendly and try and help you settle in. You may have lonely moments, and you`ll miss your family and friends. But you`ll definitely eventually settle in, make new friends, get a new life. And you`ll definitely be able to stay in contact with friends and family back home. The internet is a marvelous thing.
Honestly, I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. It got me out of my bubble and comfort zone. If you`re unattached, why not move? do something a lot of people won't. A new life experience. As for if you have a family, wife, kids, that sort of thing.... I can't speak to that. Others may be able to. but if you`re single. Absolutely, don't let what if's hold you back! You`ll regret it. Just my 2 cents.
Most people in my studio just speak Chinese. I got a good number of English speakers in my own team though, because as technical artists we just have to understand client supplied specs, support forumns, manuals and what not. In the studio you mostly find foreigners in lead positions, because they bring in skills and production expertise that you can't easily find locally. Sometimes there are cultural and linguistic barriers, but it helps that the industry is a very casual and a very young one. I feel it's easier to deal with younger artists than with older business folks.