While I don't know of anything in Vista, there are plenty of studios in surrounding areas. However, getting a job without any expereince is difficult. You could try getting in as a QA tester (which just requires PC experience and a love of games). And in your spare time, work on learning programming.

Quote:Original post by CrueltyInc
To elaborate on my original post, anybody think this is a good career plan for becoming a good programmer?...
1)Graduate high school (of course)
2)Finding a job as a QA to earn money
3)Go study for a bachelors in computer science with the money from QA position
4)Land a first job thanks to the experience given through QA
5)Go from there...

It sounds like a good plan, though you're quite at risk of getting stuck in QA if you don't move on to step 3 (personally I found working before studying didn't improve my motivation for studying much). I'd say you're probably better off taking the bachelor course while trying to balance the QA job AND spending some of your free time coding games. After all, if you're after a coding position having something to show off your coding skills will be a bigger plus than having worked in QA.

I'm in an almost similar position as you. Except that I've been working as a web developer for almost 4 years now. But I decided to put all that behind and go back to school to get a bachelor in computer science since this is usualy the minimum requierement to land a programmer job in the game industry.

So here's my plan
1) Get accepted at university for a Bachelor in Computer Science \o/
2) Get involved as a on-site volunteer at the IGDA Chapter in Montreal to start networking early
3) Study, study, study!
4) Try to land an intership in the game industry using my network of contacts
5) Graduate
6) Land a job
7) ...
8) Profit
9) Take over the world ... did I say that out loud?

Quote:Original post by CrueltyInc
Is there anybody who knows of entry-level positions that I could apply for in the Vista, California area? My experience is 0, so I am looking for somewhere I can get started in games development. My goal is to become a programmer, so anybody who can give some tips as to who to network with and what classes to take, your help is greatly appreciated.
P.S.:If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize, I just signed up and am new to the system.

It's great that you want to get into programming. Now, I'm not in any way trying to be discouraging (quite the opposite) but I think you may be getting a bit ahead of yourself here.

First, if you haven't tried your hand at programming yet, do so. Before setting out on a life long career as a programmer, it may be a good idea to find out if programming is actually for you. Anyone that WANTS to be a programmer CAN be a programmer but not everyone really wants to be one. My suggestion: Try writing a tetris clone. If you get warm fuzzies from completing this task, you're a programmer. If you feel it was just too tedious or you don't finish the task, you're not a programmer.

Second, life after high school really isn't "accomplish A to get B, accomplish B to get C, accomplish C to..." Throw any plan you have out the window. Start programming immediately and try to be the best you can be at it. Of course, plan to go to college, but not just for a computer science degree. Go to meet people that are also interested in computers, programming, games, etc. This is where you'll do your own networking. From this point, you're just grabbing at opportunities. You may land an internship, land a job before college, after college or whatever.

There are other routes you can take, such as game dev schools or just becoming a slacker until you actually finish a game in your parents basement. However, the above seems to be the ol' tried and true.

Good luck! [smile]