AP is correct, though most of his points are more for experienced hirees than for fresh grads. Before I'd pay for relocation (or even flying you in for an interview), I'd need to be certain it was worth the extra hassle/cost/risk, versus a local applicant. In the case of fresh-graduates, in 99.9% of the cases, it just ain't worth it for the company.

The exemption would be where you had cutting edge skills that would make you immediately usefull, as well as illustrate your position as a superior candidate. Some people have gotten jobs like that through high-quality work on game mods, in the open source community, or by building tools for specific game engines.

There are several high-intensity communities in Canada (Vancouver and Montreal, plus some smaller loci, like Bioware's Edmonton office). Getting a job there shouldn't be TOO hard, since you're not looking at actual immigration (as soon as the employer is having to apply for visum for you, you go to the bottom of the applicant list).

My approach would probably be to set up some interviews over email/telephone, with the stated plan of going to vancouver/montreal for a week, paid for by yourself. Then you'd try to fit several different company interviews into that time (you wouldn't tell them that they're not the only ones on your list, of course). At that point, you're not batting at a massive disadvantage compared to other locals.

Good luck,

Allan

aver wrote:
>I was hoping to get some other opinions on this. Not that I don't believe him, but honestly, I don't understand why this is apparently so important.

It's not that important to understand why. What's important is to figure out some ways to overcome the problem. (There's a barrier in front of you - it doesn't matter who built it or when. Are you going to go under it? Over it? Bore through it? Trek a long way along it to see if it stops somewhere?)

>If I got the job, I'd pack up and move in a second

Of course!

>Plus, by focusing just on one area I would be missing out on other job opportunities in other 'hotbeds' around the country.

Yes, sure. There's always another problem after one gets solved! (^_^)

If you can't afford to relocate now, and you can't get a job long distance, then find work where you are and save your money. If you can afford to relocate but can't afford any down time before a game company will hire you, get the newspaper from that city, and see what other jobs you can take to tide you over once you get there.

See what I mean? If you can't go through the barrier, see if you can go under, over, or around it...

Good luck!
Tom

ave wrote:

>If I were to look for a different programming job though, I'd still suffer from the same problem, won't I?

My suggestion is that you be willing to take ANY kind of job - even a McJob, if need be - not necessarily a programming job - to survive the down time before getting your game job - as one of several possible ways to deal with the long-distance location problem.

>That is, that employers would be less likely to hire me in favour of local applicants.

:-O ... OK, I guess I was wrong when I said "you don't need to understand why" before. People aren't reluctant to hire you (you, the one who uses the nick "averisk") because you're FROM Saskatchewan!!! They are reluctant to hire you because you're... IN... Saskatchewan. If you're located (residing) in Vancouver (for instance), then a Vancouver hirer has no problem with hiring you - "locals" have no advantage over you, once you've relocated!!!

Good luck

>there's no way I'm going back to doing a job like that either.

There are cards you're dealt, and then there's the way you choose to play them. As for me, when I struck off on my own after grad school, I did McJobs for several years before finally landing in a profession. How you play your cards is entirely your choice. Good luck.

Get a job as a waiter. Good money, and most importantly, it will teach you real-world people skills, which, in my experience, many CG/CS college students/grads seem to lack. Its not likely you'll set up many contacts, but its a good short-term job.
You can also try doing freelance programming work. Its unlikely you'll get a good non-game programming job, since you're only looking for the short-term.