Career Path from a 3rd world country
Hello. I've I'm a self-taught 3d game environment and props artist and I would consider myself still learning but in two years or so I would want to start Searching for jobs. Unfortunately, I can't leave my country any time soon nor would I want to. I understand that remote work is difficult to find as a junior 3d artist so what other alternatives are there? Freelancing? Outsourcing Studios? Please any in-depth advice will be appreciated, I don't want to waste years of my life doing the wrong things or chasing a pipedream
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i guess for anyone to be able to help you anyhow, more information is needed. because which country it is, might actually play a huge role in your options.
The country wouldn't really matter because I'm studying to be a games environment artist and those types of games aren't really made here. Its mostly 3d Mobile stuff.
of course the country matters, say you live in north korea (technically second world), your options are way different than living in india. just an example, but there are implications based on where you are located and here might be people coming from your country with first hand experience.
I see your point. The industry doesn't exist where I'm from. So, what are my best options
The country i came from doesn't exist anymore, it never had a games industry. What are my best options?
your options vary based on where you are. i wouldn't be able to help you when you come from... say pakistan
but someone else here might, but if you don't want to give that information it will be hard to give you specific input
that being said, no matter where you are from. portfolio is king, show people what you can do and work will find you.
Most clients wont care where are you from whats your age sex or even your name is , whats matter is to have half decent portfolio and ok negotiation skills
If you show some of your art ppl will be able to point you in the right direction lots of environment artist on polycount
Your options are regular studio job remote[require above average art to get in lots of environment artist position available probably the most of any other] ,been slave to outsource studio [that's my term only worked for few ] which will give you job security freelance which is much more stressful and without freelancer fund its hard to maintain [money for at least 6 months] start up or indie which is your best bet if it doesn't pay much at least they will teach you , do quantity[if you do few jobs 10-20$ for a few days and your country monthly income is 100$ thats a good deal -> calibrate for your standards ] till you are good enough for quality even small amount stack up and currency exchange will keep you afloat
Even if you are fortunate enough to find a studio willing to employ a remote junior it is more difficult (and thus expensive) to employ people in some countries than it is others and this will have a significant impact on whether they will employ you or not.
This depends where the employer is located as much as it does where the employee is located. Specifics are important
consider creating marketplace assets. i imagine any type of passive income from a higher valued currency would be muy bon.
Thanks for the options, although, I heard Remote Jobs are very Unlikely for juniors especially those without prior Experience. Also Slave to Outsourcing Companies, Pls do Explain.
How so?
None of this applies to freelance work or people working at an OS provider (well, some might)
You can't just employ someone who resides in another country because there are taxes and all sorts of legal stuff to deal with, you either need an office in that country or to employ a third party to act as a local employer who subcontracts to the employee.
This is not the case within europe and I imagine there are other groups of nations around the world that have similar agreements with each other
There is potential for political issues such as sanctions. trade tariffs to increase the cost significantly or simply make it impossible to do business
And there's time difference, If I were to employ someone in China the time difference with the UK would mean that we had almost no overlap in working hours - which is no good at all for anyone.
For studio job you have to be almost as good as artist that work there and without experience is less likely you can reach that level .What I was suggesting was to try and do small jobs just to have some money coming till you got good enough portfolio
For anyone to pay you X amount you have to at least make them Xx3 thats my slavery factor cut the middle man work with clients directly get all the benefits work's the same
Usually there only few docs to fill NDA contract and tax form and later invoice [maybe survey or questioner]
I highly disagree with time difference been a negative , I see it as big plus actually when working with american studios I have more or less a working day ahead of them I can do the work[during their night] and have something to show early in the morning[their morning] they have some visual to work with and I can get some feedback and continue my work ,there are few hours overlap for communications and everything works fine
"This is not the case within europe and I imagine there are other groups of nations around the world that have similar agreements with each other"
It is absolutely the case in europe. While you can live and work where you want. You can not _just_ live here and work there.
It is possible, but it is a lot of paperwork, in the language of the respective country. It took us good 9 months to employ someone who has already been working with us for year, who returned to a neughbouring EU country.
All the taxes, all the labour laws, all the insurances and so on will have to be made according to where that employee lives, all in the local language.
To go back to the OP I don't even wanna know how much work it would be to do this for a non EU country. It will likely be easier to just open an office over there and employing over there.
OR
using one of the many international employment agencies, they take a good cut of the salary, but they manage all the needed paperwork. If such an option exists where OP lives, no ones is to answer without knowing where he/she lives.
"I highly disagree with time difference been a negative , I see it as big plus actually when working with american studios I have more or less a working day ahead of them I can do the work[during their night] and have something to show early in the morning[their morning] they have some visual to work with and I can get some feedback and continue my work ,there are few hours overlap for communications and everything works fine"
agreed, with a solid bas of communications , living east and working west, is a great combination.
I have friends that work with foreign companies in IT area and they use different way to cut the paper work If you made yourself a company its 2 euro and some paper work not a big deal you can have company to company exchange which is easier then person to company just a note if anyone ever need that
Or as Airborn already said they have to have office in the country but that's no difference then regular job
then you work for your own company, are not an employee of a foreign company. freelancing basically just with a company form inbetween.
Its just another way to just jump all the legal hoops , Its just technicality how you called it you are part of the team on a long tern contract so does it really matter if you are employee or contractor + benefit that you pay flat 10% tax as a company
Neox .. fair point on the within EU thing - much less work than being outside (lessons hard learned over the last couple of years)
On the plus side from the OPs perspective - at least as far as the UK is concerned, a non-eu worker is now more competitive in relation to an eu worker than they were before brexit as we have to deal with a lot more bullshit with europe now.
My point on the time difference is made in relation to an employee as opposed to a freelancer/OS provider - it works great with OS providers cos work happens when you sleep but you can't effectively embed someone into a team if they don't work at the same time as the rest of the team. This is especially problematic with more junior staff who require training and mentorship to become genuinely productive. A couple of hours time difference is fine but the more overlap that is lost, the harder it gets.