Moving to North Vancouver

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

They find out you're from Calgary and... well... this town loves it self a lynchin'.

I'm a Manitoba boy so unless they hate the Jets or whatever the new team will be called I should be good. lol

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

Vancouver is booming for VFX work especially on the feature film side of things. We seem to hire 10 to 15 people a month and sit at around 150 seats with another 100 to come in the next year. I still have friends over at EA though I haven't talk to them in awhile. They are busy for sure.

Yeah, I wish now I would have headed out there ten years ago to go to school but all I can do now is try and make up for that mistake. It sucks that I have to move so far away from family but unfortunately the game industry isn't big in Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Calgary. They have Bioware in Edmonton but they don't make the type of games that I'm into.

The one thing I really like about Think Tank is in your last semester they'll hire a personal mentor who works at the studio you want to work at to help you polish your reel so that your chances of getting hired are better.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

There really arn't any 'bad' parts of N Van, crime or violence wise, it is pretty much all bland upper middle class, the Lonsdale area is full of apartments which actually makes it one of the more reasonable areas to rent, and you won't save enough money in Burnaby to make it worth the hours of extra commute.

Check the college notice board and try and find somone to share with, cuts down on your costs no end particularly with internet connection being extra.

Yeah, the res is a real awesome place to live.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

There really arn't any 'bad' parts of N Van, crime or violence wise, it is pretty much all bland upper middle class, the Lonsdale area is full of apartments which actually makes it one of the more reasonable areas to rent, and you won't save enough money in Burnaby to make it worth the hours of extra commute.

Check the college notice board and try and find somone to share with, cuts down on your costs no end particularly with internet connection being extra.

Amazing how much it has changed in 20 years. The Lower Lonsdale area used to definitely be considered a "bad" area and North Vancouver in general had an esteem level just slightly below Burnaby. In the early/mid 90s you could have bought a bungalow on East 2nd in the $200Ks. Oh man.

Back on topic, if you will have to be doing a lot of after hours lab work on campus, I'd definitely stick to living in North Vancouver. I'm assuming you will make friends through class mates, so living downtown so you can go clubbing will probably be counter productive to both your studies and your social life.

Best of luck.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

Amazing how much it has changed in 20 years. The Lower Lonsdale area used to definitely be considered a "bad" area and North Vancouver in general had an esteem level just slightly below Burnaby. In the early/mid 90s you could have bought a bungalow on East 2nd in the $200Ks. Oh man.

It still is a pretty bad place to be holed up. Two Korean kids got their heads cleaved with a machete down at waterfront a couple of months ago for being Korean. A couple of years ago a Persian/Native gang fight led to a guy getting killed at waterfront park. (Fun fact: the guy who committed the murder injured me while play basketball in school.) Most of the capital crimes that happen in North Van still seem to be happening on lower Lonsdale.

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

Back on topic, if you will have to be doing a lot of after hours lab work on campus, I'd definitely stick to living in North Vancouver. I'm assuming you will make friends through class mates, so living downtown so you can go clubbing will probably be counter productive to both your studies and your social life.

And living downtown to go clubbing isn't much better than living in North Van, especially if you end up on Lonsdale. Hello Nightbus!

[Inferno]

One thing I should point out is that I have a disability. I have a strong upper body but from the knees down it's a different story so that would make me more of a target for someone looking to cause trouble than your average person. Though I have no plans of walking the streets at night anywhere unless I'm with a group of people.

[Jedi Ninja]

Waterfront Park is located adjacent to both the Seabus terminal and the indian reserve, there have always been incidents related to youth ("gang") crime, but they are mostly isolated to that small area. And only really an issue at night.

On the other hand, Lonsdale Ave. is pretty steep up until 13th St. or so, that might be something to keep in mind.

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Yeah, I wish now I would have headed out there ten years ago to go to school but all I can do now is try and make up for that mistake. It sucks that I have to move so far away from family but unfortunately the game industry isn't big in Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Calgary. They have Bioware in Edmonton but they don't make the type of games that I'm into.

The one thing I really like about Think Tank is in your last semester they'll hire a personal mentor who works at the studio you want to work at to help you polish your reel so that your chances of getting hired are better.

We have had students in before but I think it has been awhile. Even in a year VFX artists will be in high demand. Right now we are hiring foreign as the skill level seems to be a little higher but local hires are always much more desirable. Just about every major VFX company is in town or in the process, we use a tonne of texture artists, if you are open to feature films there will be tonnes of work over the next 3 to 5 years.

It is a fun industry with a lot of perks. I will chat with some of my EA friends and see how the landscape is over these days. It is a pretty cool company...