Last month we have welcomed our data scientist Bertil Hatt from France, our 6th foreign employee in Grand Cru. He moved directly from Paris to Helsinki to join our team. We are glad that Grand Cru is having more and more international professionals. As a relatively small game studio, Grand Cru has foreign employees from France, Spain, UK, Sweden and China working in different departments like marketing, programming, animation and data analysing.

So what is it really like for foreigners to work in game industry in Finland? Let’s hear what Bertil talks about his work life in Grand Cru?

So far, what do you think of Finland?

The weather is beautiful and people are nice to talk to. I haven’t gone through the crazy winter yet, so everything seems alright.

People have been saying the Finnish language is so difficult. So far, I do not find the language has been a problem for me because English is our daily communication language at Grand Cru and Finnish colleagues are so helpful on the daily matters. I believe Finnish is difficult to learn, but I still plan to study Finnish soon.

So what do you think of working in Grand Cru?

I feel integrated pretty well into the company. Finns are always regarded as cold, but they are also very collaborative and friendly to help. At Grand Cru, a foreign employee does not feel left out. There are regular gathering events for employees here at Grand Cru, so that everyone has time to get to know each other.

There is a very flat hierarchy at Grand Cru. Everyone is special here and encouraged to express their thoughts and make changes together. I have worked in both flat structure and hierarchical structure companies before, so I would say working here is very comfortable.

What is the best thing about working for Grand Cru for you?

The best thing working in here is that they know how to make a good game. They trust people and let people do something they are good at. Most importantly, it is very energetic to work in game industry for both foreign employees and Finns. People here are all passionate about the things they are doing,

Would you recommend other international professionals to come working in Finland?

If they can stand horrible winter, be naked in sauna with other people together and have high alcohol consumption, I will recommend it.