Change of scenery
It's been a while since I wrote anything on here and it's also been a while since I was in contact with most of you. For those who don't already know, I am in Nottinham (been here about 10 days now) in the UK working for a company called Monumental Games and really enjoying it. We're working on a MMOG called Football Superstars which is due out in the northern hemisphere summer.
Let me explain.
Gabi and I were in Sao Paulo, looking for work and honestly finding nothing of much interest. Gabi found an interesting job but the pay was terrible, and I found a couple of companies that looked interesting but also terrible pay and bureaucratic issues - always delays, delays. It started driving us mad, having a positive interview and then being told "We'd love to hire you, but it's going to be take several weeks (months) before we can do anything. Oh, and we can only pay you 2500 reais (about R10,000 in a country roughly 50% more expensive that SA)."
So, I decided to apply for some jobs in the UK to see what came of it and managed to organise a couple of interviews. I flew across around mid-March and ended up getting a job here in Nottingham. I flew back to Brazil to tie up loose ends and whatnot, and then flew back here on 2 April to start work on the 7th. I must say that the quality of the work here is really high, much more so than anything I have encountered before and so I'm going to learn loads - and I truly believe that I'd have struggled to find work of this nature in Brazil and also in South Africa. Those countries just do not have a games industry of the same scale and similarly do not have people with 20+ years of game development behind them running the shows.
Gabi is still in Brazil waiting for her UK visa to come through. It's a crap process (I could go on about it for ages but won't) and finally her application went in yesterday so it will hopefully be ready within a month. Hopefully. So in the meantime I am staying on my own in our apartment here, furnished with a bed and a table with 4 chairs. I also bought a kettle and a toaster so I'm rocking along. The kitchen is furnished with fridge, stove, oven, washing machine and dishwasher though, so I am in good shape.
So yeah, just to let you all know where I am and why, and that there's a spare bedroom in the house (currently empty, but that'll change) and you are all welcome anytime. You just know you want to find out all about Robin Hood...
Anyways, I'd best get back to work.
Later.
Let me explain.
Gabi and I were in Sao Paulo, looking for work and honestly finding nothing of much interest. Gabi found an interesting job but the pay was terrible, and I found a couple of companies that looked interesting but also terrible pay and bureaucratic issues - always delays, delays. It started driving us mad, having a positive interview and then being told "We'd love to hire you, but it's going to be take several weeks (months) before we can do anything. Oh, and we can only pay you 2500 reais (about R10,000 in a country roughly 50% more expensive that SA)."
So, I decided to apply for some jobs in the UK to see what came of it and managed to organise a couple of interviews. I flew across around mid-March and ended up getting a job here in Nottingham. I flew back to Brazil to tie up loose ends and whatnot, and then flew back here on 2 April to start work on the 7th. I must say that the quality of the work here is really high, much more so than anything I have encountered before and so I'm going to learn loads - and I truly believe that I'd have struggled to find work of this nature in Brazil and also in South Africa. Those countries just do not have a games industry of the same scale and similarly do not have people with 20+ years of game development behind them running the shows.
Gabi is still in Brazil waiting for her UK visa to come through. It's a crap process (I could go on about it for ages but won't) and finally her application went in yesterday so it will hopefully be ready within a month. Hopefully. So in the meantime I am staying on my own in our apartment here, furnished with a bed and a table with 4 chairs. I also bought a kettle and a toaster so I'm rocking along. The kitchen is furnished with fridge, stove, oven, washing machine and dishwasher though, so I am in good shape.
So yeah, just to let you all know where I am and why, and that there's a spare bedroom in the house (currently empty, but that'll change) and you are all welcome anytime. You just know you want to find out all about Robin Hood...
Anyways, I'd best get back to work.
Later.
posted by Sandy MacPherson at
6:39 pm
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