So a game company in west hollywood is paying between $30-36k.
I currently live in Chicago, but I would have to move to West Hollywood. From what I have heard about California , that amount of money won't buy me a cheeseburger. All kidding aside, the question is...Is it do-able?

Avoid that type of pay in that area. Seriously you will be living a very low key life and pay check to pay check...

yes, its do-able. How-doable is determined by how good an apartment you want, how good a neighborhood you want, and if you want/can get a roomate or two.

Check around craigslist for apartment listings.

Are you ok with multiple roommates, like 4 in a two bedroom apartment, and living at least an hour from work?

If so then maybe if your working a second job, but really no.

Well, if I was to go it would also be with my girlfriend. She would also be working. Still no?

I think it'd be okay. Does she have a job lined up?
If you figure both of you will make around 60K - 80K together, you'll both be fine.

ok yeah if together you are making 50+ then you will be fine. I mean I made it my last year in school making less than 30k in san diego and i am married and have a child... Life wasn't too glamerous though..

No she won't have a job lined up. She is a makeup artist and does some modeling on the side so I think she should be able to find work.
I really don't know. I am willing to slum it a little in the beginning, but I know living paycheck to paycheck for an extended period of time will eventually make me wish I never left

Well I lived in so cal and now I live in chicago. I have more money here but i know it's a lot easier to afford things around here then it is out there.

Great weather though. You are just gonna pay for it.

BUT if it pushes your career forward and it is something you want then go for it.

It's very doable as long as she has a decent paying job. Me and my ex did it when we moved out to LA. Hell, when we moved out neither of us had jobs and were both doing temp-work. Then when I finally got a job paying $30k, we were living the high life.

What I'm curious about is what company it is in Boys Town? I wasn't aware of any game studios in that neighborhood.

The company is Meteor Games and they're making a MMO that's supposed to fill the gap between Habbo Hotel and WoW. They sent me an art test yesterday and offered me the same salary. I don't think I'll take the job though, because my wife won't be working and we have a kid, and 36k doesn't seem like enough. I checked apt prices on craigs list and a 2 bedroom is between $1800-$2200 in West Hollywood. Once my student loans kick in I won't be sit'n pretty.

You can do a lot better than 1800, but dont live in West Hollywood. Bad idea. A friend found a place for 800 near downtown LA. Single room studio.

If I was single I would be all over that job, but its different now that I have a family. A single room studio just doesn't cut it. Kinda sucks but thats the way the cookie crumbles... mmmm cookies... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Ah sorry, didnt read your post well enough. Yea, with a wife AND kid, I dont really see how that would ever work out. You'd have to live way out in the cheap section of inglewood or somethin.

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The company is Meteor Games and they're making a MMO that's supposed to fill the gap between Habbo Hotel and WoW

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Stay the hell away. Start-ups making MMOs are a dime a dozen and the majority will go under eventually.

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Stay the hell away. Start-ups making MMOs are a dime a dozen and the majority will go under eventually.

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Yep stay away for sure. Just look at what happened to Slipgate Ironworks. They were working on an MMO with the same art style as WOW....Well they aren't around any longer....

36k aint shit in So Cal. You can make that as a full time employee at Best Buy. I wouldn't take less than 50k as an artist in So Cal.

live in K-town, that shit is cheap and koreatown is badass and close to hollywood. i have a lot of friends that live there and i love driving out to get awesome food and drink really cheap booze.
if your gf is a makeup artist LA would be a great area to live, she might have to commute to studio city or burbank cause thats where most of the actual movies and tv shows are made. and once your in LA there are only like 50 other studios to choose from so its not like your stuck in one place.

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Ah sorry, didnt read your post well enough. Yea, with a wife AND kid, I dont really see how that would ever work out. You'd have to live way out in the cheap section of inglewood or somethin.

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No you didnt read it wrong that is just a different guy that has the wife and kid. It is just me and my gf, no babies that I know of.

This would be my first job at a game company in studio, so I am mostly just looking for experience. I just graduated from college 2 months ago and I know it isnt much money, but I sorta figured I would just give it a shot.

You've got nothing to lose by taking the job. 36k is better than making 0k. Unless you have other studios banging down your doors giving you better offers, whats the problem? You can find cheap living if you try hard enough, it may not be ideal but in your position experience is much more important than anything else.

Even if its a startup working on an MMO that will likely end up falling apart, you'll be in socal and there are PLENTY of studios there if/when that does happen. Just make sure you're living on the bare min. and saving some money if that does happen. Also if you can i would try to find some place that has a short(6 month) or month-to-month lease.

WeHo is decently expensive area. My girlfriend lives there. Arsh is right, live in Ktown is you want cheap. It's also not the best area to be in. But it's cheap. Also what Jesse is saying is true too. I started on well more than that out here. My exwife was also working at the time as well. It just depends on what you do and how you live. Most Artists can live pretty cheaply which is good. Things will be super tight until your girl gets a job. The underlying problem with a salary that low is that if you take it your raises still are going to put you well below the average. So to get a higher salary you're going to have to switch jobs. Just keep stuff like that in mind. If you have any questions about the area or anything just PM, aim me or whatever. I've been out here for almost 3 years.

36k probably translates to what...20k after taxes?

Keep that in mind :O

More than likely you would be getting 2k a month after taxes. So do some math and see if you would be able to afford rent, power, water, garbage, food, cable, internet, car payments, and what ever other payments you may have.

It's certainly doable if you don't have a lot of other monthly costs (loans, credit cards, etc). When I first moved to LA I got an apartment in Santa Monica and took a job as a temp QA tester (I'm stupid), and I got by okay.

With some smart budgeting you can live a decent lifestyle, and while you wont be driving a mercedes down the sunset strip and pimping armani, you wont have to live off rice and ramen either.

I just moved to Huntington Beach CA from Washington state, and so far the biggest and most obvious difference in cost is rent. Look on places like rent.com, apartments.com, craigslist, etc. in neigborhoods that were mentioned and areas near where you'd work.

I don't know what rents are like up north, but in orange county I wasn't finding any decent 1 Beds under 1,200/mo. The cheapest one I considered was in Santa Ana in a semi-shady neighborhood for 1,290/mo, but opted to live in a nice area a few blocks from the beach for 1,350.

The fact that it would be your very first job, it's across the country, and it's a start-up making an MMO...sounds a little risky. But, if you and your girlfriend are looking for an adventure and/or are sick of where you live, maybe it's worth a chance. Then again, if you're not miserable or broke where you're living now, you might want to consider holding out for a better offer. You've only been out of school for a couple of months, if you keep working on your portfolio and keep sending out apps, you'll probably be able to swing some better offers.

Like others said, there are a lot of studios out here and just a lot of jobs in general. The weather is awesome and there's tons to do, beach, themeparks, lots of stuff to do for free as well. I'm definitely enjoying it down here so far. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Good luck!

you can find good deals you just have to look. westsiderentals is great. i live in santa monica near the beach and have a pretty nice 2 bedroom apt in a nice part of town for 1000. i have friends with places in ktown and they pay 500 - 800 so if you look around you will find its not too bad. i find the rent out here is wayyyyyyy cheaper than it was in DC.