Worldwide Geekonomics and Immigration

So as I noted yesterday at GDC, part of what intrigued me was aggressive recruiting by groups employed by or part of their nation's governments to recruit gaming talent and companies.  I mentioned the Canadian group, the Scottish group, and others.  All were quite nice people, and many got a kick out of the fact that I actually tracked economic issues, and I had some great conversations. 

I'm such an econogeek I actually had a discussion of the possibilities of Scotland using the pitch of dual urban-rural lifestyles to attract young talent, and had a discussion of Canadian entrepreneurship with the Canadian contingent (it's quite an entrepreneurial country).

This and recents article by Richard Florida on changing immigration had me thinking:

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Global And Mobile

A lot of time in these pages we post about relocation – I did it big time (moving across the country), others we know have considered it, others we know have done it.

Now as you may guess, I am all for proper revocations – one has to find the right place for themselves and their careers.  Some people even take it farther and live far more mobile lives – I've seen jobs with 50% travel that frankly don't care about where you live.  However, there's one factor I wanted to discuss.

Mobility isn't going to let anyone escape Global changes, and those have to be part of your career – and relocation -plans.

We've pretty much found that out in the latest economic downturn – global effects (like, say, a financial meltdown) can affect you pretty much no matter where you are.  Few places are immunite to the effects of things like an economic meltdown – or a new technology innovation, or increased gas prices, etc.  The different locations may let you mitigate the effects of a world-wide change, but some things border on the inescapable.

I of course can testify to this from first-hand experience.

What this means for the potentially relocating:
1) If you're moving to get away from something, make sure you'll really get away from it.
2) When you relocate, ask yourself what global factors can affect the place you're relocating too.
3) Explore how potential areas of relocation will be able to adapt to various possible problems.
4) Finally, sadly, make sure you have the ability to leave if you have to – a permanent, un-reversible move may be a bad idea unless not moving is a worse idea.

Moving is often inevitable and often a good idea. But some things will follow you anywhere.

– Steven Savage