Internships are the best advice. I did a year at at a GIS company, programming geometry. I was treated amazingly well, had my own office, got taken out to lunch and to movies, made good money. I just got hired for a year as a gameplay programmer at Threewave Software (http://www.threewavesoftware.com/), which will hopefully turn into permanent employment afterwards.

More advice? Read these:

Effective C++
More Effective C++
Effective STL

Those three books cover EVERY question related to C++ I've ever been asked at a job interview (no kidding). They're also good reads. Read Code Complete too.

Start a website where you show off your projects. Some school projects would be okay, as long as they're relavent. Mostly show your home projects though. Speaking of projects, choose things that you can finish. Having a bunch of unpolished projects may hurt more than it helps. If you want to write an Asteroids clone, don't have the program shutdown every time the player dies. Have it a polished demo of your skills. You can either do one big demo or a bunch of small demos. Unless you've FINISHED big projects before, I suggest small demos. They don't have to be games either. If you write a really polished modelling program or something, they'll like that too.

You'd do well to choose one area and really learn it. Some people might tell you to stay away from graphics because there are so many people getting into, but that's a load of crap. If you like it, do it. You don't have to be a whizz at anything to get hired when you're a student. I've seen tons of guys get jobs by showing their graphics skills. Employers just want to see you've done stuff on your own. Personally I like AI, so that's what I focus on. There's also sound, physics, etc. Whatever it is, just come up with some polished, finished demos.

You'll also want to learn 3D math. Learn everything you can about vectors and matrices. Also pay attention to the general concepts of data structures. At my last interview, I was asked a few vector related questions, some collision detection related questions, and some simple things like when to use a linked list over an array and vice-versa.

About outsourcing. I haven't seen any effect. I can only speak for the situation in Vancouver, BC (EA, Relic, Radical, Threewave, and many more companies are here). There's a huge boom going on here, with a lot of companies growing like crazy, and they all need programmers. Even better for us, there's a programmer shortage. There are fewer people in computer science these days, and most of them are terrible programmers.

Most companies hire a couple coop students from time to time, but if you need to make a start, go to EA. They have a silly amount of openings. After a year there, you could probably transfer elsewhere if you didn't like it. I've met people who work there and they say it's way better now. No overtime, and they get treated really well. Again, I only know what it's like here.

Despite the need for programmers, companies are only going to hire people who can do the job. Learn lots of math, get some demos on the Internet, and apply for internships. If you have to take a non-game job first, that's okay. It'll help A LOT when you go for the game jobs.

Oh yeah, don't decide on what school you go to by asking people. Call the internship offices of each school you're considering and ask what game companies hire from their schools. Go to the one that the game companies hire from the most.

The economy may change, but as far as my experiences go, I can tell you that if you work hard enough and stay focused, you'll get the job you want.

One last piece of advice: never listen to someone who doesn't have experience. I worried myself sick about getting a game job because people without game jobs told me how hard it was to get them. Listen to the people with game jobs, we know more about this stuff.

Best of luck!
Aaron

Teller wrote:
>How is outsourcing effecting the game development/programming world?

Please clarify the question. How do you think it's affecting game development? What do you think outsourcing is? When you say "the game development/programming world" are you mainly thinking only of programmers, small development companies, or are you including game publishing companies in your question? But mainly, what's your reason for asking this question?

>Second I am 18 a college student looking to get into game programming my plan is either CS degree or a Tech Institute type school.

Is that a question?

>Third with a CS degree what else should I study that would help in the game development world?

It depends on what you want to accomplish, and what you are good at, and what you enjoy doing. What do you want to accomplish? What are you good at? What is your passion?

>In ex Minor in Business Admin.

Sorry, I don't know what "in ex" means. Business would be a good topic to study, if you might become a manager someday or own your own company, if you have a good head for business, and if you might enjoy it.

>looking for some really good advice.

Learn how to ask better questions.

>Links to Advice fourms welcome gime anything that will help.

This one right here is one of the best. The IGDA website also has a great forum. Can't think of any others but this one and that one.