diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index d526127..71a6394 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ stages:
 compile:
     stage: compile
     script:
+        - mkdir ~/build_dir
         - cd ~/build_dir
         - echo "==== extract sdk ===="
         - rsync -av "$SDK_HOST::downloads/$SDK_PATH/$SDK_FILE" ~/sdk/