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| Am I In the Wrong Degree Program? |
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swiftcoder Member since: 7/3/2003 From: Boston, MA, United States |
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 Posted - 3/11/2008 5:16:27 PM |
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| It is nice to see a clear, confident statement on this topic - something that seems to haunt a lot of my classmates (and not only as regards to the games industry). |
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JohnBolton Member since: 4/3/2002 From: Belmont, CA, United States |
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Posted - 3/11/2008 7:54:41 PM |
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Though I agree generally with the article, I disagree with this part:Those who aspire to program games can study Computer Science or Computer Information Management or Information Technology or any of a number of technical degrees. Because the key to getting the game programming job isn't the degree - it's the portfolio. It's expected that you have a technical degree, but the portfolio is what gets you in. If you're technically inclined, and torn between CS or IT, go with the one that seems more interesting or more accessible to you. A person without a programming-related degree who wants to work as a programmer is going to be at a disadvantage. He/she is going to have to overcome many doubts about his/her programming abilities. John Bolton Locomotive Games (THQ) Current Project: Destroy All Humans (Wii). IN STORES NOW! |
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coderx75 GDNet+ Member since: 11/9/2001 From: Brooklyn, NY, United States |
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 Posted - 3/11/2008 8:41:35 PM |
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Quote: This is very true in companies that put all their trust in the almighty degree but those same companies, in my experience, seem to have a lot of atrocious programmers with "impressive" degrees. For the sake of my sanity (and the sake of having personal time outside of the office) I tend to shy away from companies that list a BS first in their job listing. On one hand, I agree that having the right degree gives an overall advantage but, on the other hand, I've always felt that programming is accessible and concrete. You don't need a specific degree to get started in (or even good at) programming and your work can be shown in interviews (or even linked on a resume). |
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Driv3MeFar GDNet+ Member since: 4/24/2006 From: Bellevue, WA, United States |
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 Posted - 3/11/2008 9:00:01 PM |
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Quote: That's not the point. It doesn't matter that some people with CS degrees are bad programmers, and some people without them are good programmers. What matters is that if you want to get into the game industry, you should give yourself as much of an advantage as possible, and from an HR standpoint a CS degree will put you above someone with an IT degree. Some companies do value degrees more than others, but they are becoming increasingly important in the hiring process, and all other things being equal, in my experience the CS degree is preferred. |
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eng3d Member since: 5/18/2000 From: Santiago, Chile |
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Posted - 3/12/2008 3:06:20 PM |
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| Usually to choose the course of be a gaming programmer is not to think correctly, a "Mort" (and other more) can earn the same and even more that a c++/directx or console programmer and don't need to do overtime. Also, a Mort can go up higher in the company, can do a real career, while a game programmer usually work on the same business for not more that a few years, later they evolved on mort, dba or such, and usually finding that they are overqualified for many jobs. |
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JimmyDeemo Member since: 2/14/2007 From: Mansfield, United Kingdom |
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Posted - 3/12/2008 4:46:10 PM |
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| One thing i will say that this article is that it really should make people question what degree they are in. The trouble is, when i went to university, i didn't know what i wanted to do. So i chose a course that allowed me to do lots of things, programming, modelling, texturing, design and modding. It was great i enjoyed the variety, but at the end of it all when i decided i wanted to program. Now after working for almost two years i feel like i should know more fundamental coding principals and concepts. Something that i might well have gotten with a pure computer science or programming course. My advice would be, try to know what you want to do. But in terms of programming, i think i would be a better games programmer, if i was a good programmer to begin with. |
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Atom Member since: 2/20/2008 From: Denton, TX, United States |
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Posted - 3/12/2008 6:21:59 PM |
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Quote: So true. Yes spend a lot of your time learning aspects of game development but please under stand that be a game programmer is being a programmer first. Pretty good article. |
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deadstar Member since: 12/5/2007 From: Manchester, United Kingdom |
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Posted - 3/16/2008 10:27:36 PM |
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A guy from Microsoft really surprised me when I asked a similar question. Microsoft did a seminar on Silverlight and XNA at my university. He said something along the following lines:Quote: I was given a t-shirt, packed into a neat cube, for asking :) |
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metalmidget Member since: 11/11/2007 From: Melbourne, Australia |
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Posted - 3/18/2008 7:24:13 AM |
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Quote: Reading this made me happy. At the moment I'm doing a double degree- BSc in CS, and BEng in Robotics- I do games stuff at home as a hobby sometimes. I enjoy the electronics and mechanics involved in my course, but it's the programming I like best. It's nice to know that if 5 years out of my degree I'm sick of being an engineer, there may well be opportunities in the games industry if I can show a good folio. Definitely glad I decided to do the double degree and add CS to my qualifications, even if it does mean an extra year of study. metal PS- nice article! -------------------------------------------------------------- Do yourself a favour: go and play "Blast Away!" |
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