good career?
Author
Im still only a junior in high school and I love games and making them and doing stuff like that..
I just want to know if its risky going into the game industry and if its a better choice becoming say a pharmacist or something...
Also is it easier to get to learn and get good career in game design or game programming?
I plan on going to digipen and just wondering how hard it is to get into... like is it hardvord hard to get into or what?
Just planning what I want to do.
Thanks for all your help and sorry if this is off topic.
This is really a good question to ask yourself right now.
You may take a look on this site, there is a place that list Employe demand for Game compagny for different kind of domain in the game industry. That will show you what are the requirement they ask etc. That will give you a good idea on how hard it is. And don't be surprised if the requirement they ask seems a bit heavy.
EDIT : http://www.gamedev.net/gamejobs/ Here you go.
You may take a look on this site, there is a place that list Employe demand for Game compagny for different kind of domain in the game industry. That will show you what are the requirement they ask etc. That will give you a good idea on how hard it is. And don't be surprised if the requirement they ask seems a bit heavy.
EDIT : http://www.gamedev.net/gamejobs/ Here you go.
I feel into game development in highschool. I worked at a local startup doing cellphone games (programming in BREW). I believe I learned more on that job then I could have ever learned from college. I also learned that commercial software development is demanding, and time consuming. Even more so when doing it w/o experience.
Being a pharmacist you don't usually take your work home. Punch in for you time slot, punch out. Game development (depending on the company) consumes much more time, instead of 40 hour weeks, you may end up working 60-80 hour weeks for 2 months. Most time I worked in a single week was 114 hours.
Here's the kicker, I honestly don't know what I would do instead of software development. Can we say sadomasochist? I'm not currently developing games, doing something else mobile realted (because of my experince with the devices). I will be getting back into that game, hopefully starting my own company as a method to get the ideas in my head onto a screen.
Don't know about Game Design. It's a real catch22 as far as I can tell, you really need expereince (comercial products on your resume) to get attention, and anyone willing to really give you a look.
Game Programming, that requires skill, or the ability to bullshit. Skill will take you much farther then bullshit so I don't consider it worthwhile. Long and short of it is, you gotta work cheap to prove yourself. Companies have an easier time taking a chance when it doesn't really cost them. This is unfortunate but I belive it to be an effective way to start out. Once you get those critical references, learn the ropes, and get some products under your belt your more in demand and thus can demand more.
Hard is realitive. I don't know how skilled you are. I suggest learning a starter language, then learning C++, then learning windows apis (win32 or .net), then working on a small game. My expereince was of luck and convience.
Don't know how hard it is to get into Digipen. Never tried. College wasn't for me at that point in my life, but I do see value in a degree as a piece of paper. I still prefer to gain technical knowledge by being immersed in it and doing it.
Being a pharmacist you don't usually take your work home. Punch in for you time slot, punch out. Game development (depending on the company) consumes much more time, instead of 40 hour weeks, you may end up working 60-80 hour weeks for 2 months. Most time I worked in a single week was 114 hours.
Here's the kicker, I honestly don't know what I would do instead of software development. Can we say sadomasochist? I'm not currently developing games, doing something else mobile realted (because of my experince with the devices). I will be getting back into that game, hopefully starting my own company as a method to get the ideas in my head onto a screen.
Don't know about Game Design. It's a real catch22 as far as I can tell, you really need expereince (comercial products on your resume) to get attention, and anyone willing to really give you a look.
Game Programming, that requires skill, or the ability to bullshit. Skill will take you much farther then bullshit so I don't consider it worthwhile. Long and short of it is, you gotta work cheap to prove yourself. Companies have an easier time taking a chance when it doesn't really cost them. This is unfortunate but I belive it to be an effective way to start out. Once you get those critical references, learn the ropes, and get some products under your belt your more in demand and thus can demand more.
Hard is realitive. I don't know how skilled you are. I suggest learning a starter language, then learning C++, then learning windows apis (win32 or .net), then working on a small game. My expereince was of luck and convience.
- I simply was in the "right" places at the right time.
- I demonstrated competence and the ability to learn.
- I worked for shit pay.
Don't know how hard it is to get into Digipen. Never tried. College wasn't for me at that point in my life, but I do see value in a degree as a piece of paper. I still prefer to gain technical knowledge by being immersed in it and doing it.
Few more things.
-Never get an ego. You are not god, your code is no the best in the world. Someone will ALWAYS be better then you. Accept it, and be realistic about your abilites.
Read this articles. Great Hackers. for an outside perspective on hiring programmers.
-Never get an ego. You are not god, your code is no the best in the world. Someone will ALWAYS be better then you. Accept it, and be realistic about your abilites.
Read this articles. Great Hackers. for an outside perspective on hiring programmers.
Even if you don't make it into game programming, you could always get a job as a normal programmer. There are many fields, and they all pay a lot. Becoming a manager type programmer will get you paid more. Software Engineers and Programmers get paid about the same. I have a friend who's a software engineer, and he does just about the same stuff a programmer does. Game programming is hard to get into because it pays more than other, mainly because it's one of the hardest fields to learn. From a couple comments I heard, game programming, if not the most, is a hard field.
rokuo:
It all depends on what you want out of life. I'm still entertaining thoughts about being a game designer after trying a few other career paths, but that's only because designing games is what I really want to do.
In my opinion, it is a risky career path, akin to wanting to be an actor or a writer. If you want a stable profession with a good career path, or lots of money, then the game industry is probably not for you. I'd only recommend it if you really, really, really want to make games and can take some setbacks, lots of insanity, and a dip in your pay. But if like a lot of the people here you have the passion for game development, then it could be the career for you. Be warned that in the mainstream game development a lot of people burn out very quickly the way the industry is currently structured (such as myself and a few of my friends).
By the way, pharmacy is a really good career path if you are considering it. One of my best friends that I had when I was just a little kid is now a pharmacist; it pays quite well too. If pharmacies are run in the States as they are over here in Australia, it's more of a small/medium business job as well, not just a "punch the clock" career. You have to be really good to get into a college though, places are really hard to get.
It all depends on what you want out of life. I'm still entertaining thoughts about being a game designer after trying a few other career paths, but that's only because designing games is what I really want to do.
In my opinion, it is a risky career path, akin to wanting to be an actor or a writer. If you want a stable profession with a good career path, or lots of money, then the game industry is probably not for you. I'd only recommend it if you really, really, really want to make games and can take some setbacks, lots of insanity, and a dip in your pay. But if like a lot of the people here you have the passion for game development, then it could be the career for you. Be warned that in the mainstream game development a lot of people burn out very quickly the way the industry is currently structured (such as myself and a few of my friends).
By the way, pharmacy is a really good career path if you are considering it. One of my best friends that I had when I was just a little kid is now a pharmacist; it pays quite well too. If pharmacies are run in the States as they are over here in Australia, it's more of a small/medium business job as well, not just a "punch the clock" career. You have to be really good to get into a college though, places are really hard to get.
programming cannot be learnt over night and it takes many years to be "good" at it. The games industry is hard to get into not because of skill (but you do need to be quite good make no mistake) but purely because of the competition . . there are a lot of graduates out there who finish every year in a programming course and then go and get the jobs . . there however is no substtute for raw talent, if what you are doing is good then u will have no worries, if for example you know you cant do something and try to get a job in it you are going to dig urself into a hell of a lot of trouble. Be careful with the field of programming cos its not as glamourous as it all seems
Author
thanks for the help guys...
Atleast I know a better idea of what im getting into..
Does it really take that much talent for programming? because whats there talent for.. isnt programming just making things move and stuff.. I thought you needed talent for say like game designing where you create characters?
Thanks again
Atleast I know a better idea of what im getting into..
Does it really take that much talent for programming? because whats there talent for.. isnt programming just making things move and stuff.. I thought you needed talent for say like game designing where you create characters?
Thanks again
Author
Ok. Just wondering.. what jobs are you guys currently working as?
Anyone work in the game programmers or game designers or anyone in the industry ?
and how do you like your job so far?
Anyone work in the game programmers or game designers or anyone in the industry ?
and how do you like your job so far?
It depends which one you like more and more suited for you, I suggest while you're in highschool, try out some advance programming classes, but to be great programmer it will take much more than just know how to program. Then try out some more advance Chem, Bio classes. Then see which one feel more natural to you, it's like you feel the force if it's right, and you can just solve problem easy and faster if you're natural at that. Then go with that path, rather than against something that you're already natural with. From my experienced, I'm more natural with math, chem and bio, but due to various reason that I went with computer science. I got my career in the industry, but prob won't be a great programmer or anything unless I'm willing to work my butt off. What I'm trying to say is that the path I'm on is not the one I'm truly natural with, but I can still do it just that it's not where my strongest points are (I think the math help me here, otherwise I would not make it in this path). Combine what you like best with what you do best then decide.
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