New Year, New Job: Why you should move overseas for work

Last year, QA specialist Justin Cutress moved from the UK to the Czech Republic so he could work at start-up mobile game company Cashplay.

Here he tells us why you should move abroad for work if the chance arises.

Having already spent over six years within games QA, whether that was in first party or third party QA, it was time for a new challenge in my career.

I had recently relocated to Nottingham to work on PlayStation Home and first party QA on mobile platforms, something I hadn’t done in my career to date. Due to unfortunate events less than three months into the new position I had been made redundant because of the announced PlayStation Home closures.

The day after I was made redundant, I received an unexpected call from a former colleague who I had worked with a few years previously, he wanted to see how everything was going in my new role. And after explaining my new situation, he informed me that his reason for calling was to find out whether I would be interested in moving to the Czech Republic for QA role.

Perfect timing.

After some research into the company, I decided that I had nothing to lose and took the plunge and applied. A few interviews later the position was offered, so I spent a month working and getting my affairs in order and moved from Nottingham to the centre of Prague.

I can honestly say that it has been the best decision and career move I have ever made. Working at a startup company at the forefront of innovation within eSports and mobile entertainment brings its challenges, but also brings its rewards, not only living in one of the most beautiful cities Europe has to offer.

For anyone in the same position with nothing to lose, I recommend making the jump. If there is something to fall back on in the UK, even if its moving back then looking for work, the least that has happened is that you have spent sometime in another part of the world that you may not have had the opportunity to.

It’s definitely a story to tell in the future.