Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Hi there, im Chris, 21 living in the UK and im hoping to do a bachelor of arts in Games Design starting this september. Im really thinking of moving to USA at somepoint afterwards but was wondering out of interest if anyone knew the best degrees to emigrate to USA with (most sought after)?

I suspect the gaming industry is huge in America so im hoping my degree in games design will land me a job and get me living out there to see whats its like.

Thanks
Chris

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

It won't without getting lots of experience too.

The gaming industry is huge over here but struggles for stability, there are thousands of people here with the qualifications and experience who are out of work.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Accountancy followed by experience at any of the Big Four.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Three points:

1) Study something you like otherwise you are going to be utterly bored for 3-4 years

2) Whatever might be in demand now might not be in demand in 3-4 years time when you graduate

3) You'll need at least a Masters degree and a big old pile of experience

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

An MD would probably be a goer.

A degree in game development on its own won't really give you the skills needed to get past the auto-screening that most companies will have. EA does some cool student programs, not sure about other companies though. https://jobs.ea.com/students/ One thing though, you will need to have a portfolio that you can give any company and it will need to cover a lot of different aspects of game design and animation as well as being awesome and standing out.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Generally games companies are normally looking for experienced games developers/designers with degrees in the sciences instead of the arts. Since speciality visas (eg. H1B visas) are expensive, time consuming, and can be difficult to acquire, most companies will normally search hard to find an American with the desired qualifications before pursuing employees overseas.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Can you do computer science/software engineering?.. I know 2 Macedonians and 1 German who were able to successfully obtain H1 visas and company sponsorship with this type of degree..

Note: They have Masters degrees and were very flexible about where they could live in America (Lacrosse, WI / Madison, WI / Chicago, IL).

There are many high paying IT and software positions in the Washington DC metro area, but most require US citizenship as they are primarily US government contractors.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Don't do it. It's a waste of time and money.

Get a proper degree in design or art, it'll be more useful as a fall back and work on mods etc in your spare time.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

There are a shit ton of imports in the industry, for anyone experienced, even or especially small companies hire, especially if they aren't in a hub, even for art/design/production.

Much easier to do a company transfer though and move from studio to studio, friend went from Lionheart to Halo team because of it.

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Since you ask, the easiest way into the US with a degree is with an MD. Sadly for you, there are a plethora of game designers already living in the US who don't need sponsoring.

Ian

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

And even us MD holders find it difficult to get a job/residency(training)
:(

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

It'd probably be a bit easier if they wanted to work in an underserved area... like here in Appalachia. I'm guessing that a good 60% of MDs around here are imported! :)

Ian

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Historical note: MD's were put on the list of section 212 exclusion grounds in 1976. Nazi war criminals followed two years later. Look it up!

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Why do you say that? And can you be a bit more specific then just design or art, Iv never heard of a "degree in design" unless you mean graphic design? And do you mean a degree in digital arts?

Re: Best degrees for emgrating to USA with?
 

Any job in gaming that a company would be willing to get you a visa for goes to people with tons of experience, it's not about what degree you have, it's what you have worked on and who you know.

I realize you are just starting out, but if gaming is where you want to be, do the degree you want, find a job with a UK company work hard for a few years and then you might stand a chance of getting a US company to sponsor you.

There are literally thousands of people in the US with degrees who want to work in gaming. I think Bob is saying if your only reason for doing it is to move to the US, you are wasting your time and money.