are game degrees really that important ? will they land u in a job ? Is Digipen really that good ... and is it worth the huge sum u pay ?( Particularly the MS degree ) I agree that job experience is really important. But what about people who cant get a job due to lack of availability, country of living etc. what can they do to get into the industry. Please help guys, Iam confused...

Well Im doing one in Britian and its got me contract games programming work over the summer so it can be useful for that sort of thing. Over all though Id say they are a complete waste of time. Do computer science, buy lots of books, make a cool demo in your own time and get a job that way. Atleast then people might respect your degree once you have it and its a bit more transferable to other computing areas if you want to go that way later.

Quote:Original post by Drazgal
Well Im doing one in Britian and its got me contract games programming work over the summer so it can be useful for that sort of thing. Over all though Id say they are a complete waste of time. Do computer science, buy lots of books, make a cool demo in your own time and get a job that way. Atleast then people might respect your degree once you have it and its a bit more transferable to other computing areas if you want to go that way later.

thank you for ur advice.
BTW wat are the chances of foreign developers being employed.

I'd disagree, having just completed the third year of I suspect the same degree as Drazgal I'm currently working on a game prototype as part of a competition open to uni students and recent graduates. Getting paid a wage to do what you do for fun rocks. One thing I have noticed is that the teams comprised of students from gaming courses are streets ahead in terms of understanding the processes involved than the ordinary computer science students. In terms of interest I'd be bored to death doing ordinary CS.

In my time in Uni I have created numerous demos as part of the course all gaining me good grades academically and I feel also increasing my knowledge and employability. Really Uni is what you make of it, work hard and you can achieve a lot. Having a degree isn't the be all and end all being able to do the job is. A good degree shows you are capable of working off your own back and really only gives you a foot in the door of your first job. From then on its experience that counts.

Saying that I wouldn't be being paid to make a game now unless I had chosen to do this degree.

thanks a lot for your advice dudes.
Iam currently doing my BS in computer science, so i guess Iam on the right track ;)

One thing I've noticed in "requirements for programmers" shown by almost all game development companies is that 2/3+ years experience in the game industry is a must.
If everyone keeps lookin for experience, whos gonna hire a newbie in the first place ??