Hello, I am currently a senior in high school and what I have noticed from looking at Job posting from various companies is "Bachelor's/higher is required/preferred". I'm starting to feel that no one will take me seriously in the business if I don't have a degree, no matter how talented I am. At least the big guy in the suit and tie won't... Is it possible to get in without a degree at least in companies like Square-Enix withyears experience of course.

I threw together a makeshift portfolio of what I'm publicly willing to show on this site. http://www.behance.n...rdPortfolio/wip

Having a degree is not always necessary. I know several colleagues that are very successful and have no degree or higher education. (They are damn good too!) Honestly, in my experience it has been more about your work experience than having a degree. The best thing I degree will do though is help you get your foot in the door by helping you with internship opportunities, networking, and getting a solid foundation to land a job sucessfully. Hiring is a scary thing, but it's reassuring seeing an entry level applicant coming from a note worthy school. It's risk mitigation, and shows that this person is just not a wild card and has success (graduation). In the end though, it's ultimately your portfolio and experience that matters the most.

So yes, there is a chance, but I should post some notes.

1. Chances of getting into a big company with no degree (if it is a listed requirement) are very, VERY slim. Your resume is probably going to be tossed out. It's just the way it is... Those companies get tons of applicants, and it's a filter method handled by HR people who are strictly following a checklist, and aren't going to stop when an impressive credit list and maybe reconsider. It sucks, but it's the way it is. Best way to get into a big company is word of mouth and networking, that way you can bypass the HR department by dialing up your contact at the studio and get right to the frontlines.

2. Leading off the last point, it goes without saying that knowing people and networking is your most valuable tool in this industry. Most people get their jobs through word of mouth from their contacts. Network as much as possible, go to job fairs when game devs are there, go to conventions, join forums (like this one). It might be slow, but keep building your network up and eventually you'll probably get word of a job. (Along with a good chance to land it)

3. Focus on making a hell of a portfolio. Yea, make something you are extremely proud of that shows off your talent. If you are in a tech or busness discipline, list big and specific achievements that will make some eyes go big. You need to sell yourself through your work and passion.

4. Lastly, be on the constant outlook for new positions. Jump on opportunities when they come.

Wish you luck. Breaking into the game industry is really rough, and requires resilience, patience, persistence, and hard hard work. Keep it up though and good things will come.

Thank you all, I will wait and get a CS degree.

Higher education is highly prized in the industry but beware certain degrees are not prized as much as you would think. For instance, one would think a degree in “game design” would be useful. Not really, the best degrees to obtain for this industry our business, public relations, math, art and programming. “Game Design” is typically a degree offered by colleges such as Full Sail which have almost no foothold in the industry, less than 10% hiring rate and your degree obtained has very little to do with the actual field. Always have a backup plan. The entertainment industry is very harsh and extremely hard to break into.

Not sure what kind of "game company" you're looking for but if it has "guys in suits wearing ties" in HR department instead of real-time programmers, I think something is wrong. There is a video I posted in another thread about how you can get yourself a job at Valve. It seems that degree isn't THAT much valuable after all. The things that professional game studios are usually looking for is whether you can actually accomplish specific tasks in a given time.

According to Chet Feliszek from Valve, one of the most important thing is to actually do something from beginning to end (to ship it). The things they're more interested in than a fancy resume is your portfolio - if you can create a nice demo from scratch (that is creating your own game engine, graphics handler, cache handler etc) and then explain how it works, you'll already a step ahead from people who have fancy degrees but no real experience.

Of course not every company is like Valve - maybe some of them, for some crazy reason, would still require you to have a formal education (even though you already have a nice collection of games in your portfolio) - on the other hand, why working with them? That being said I think a college/university degree should be an addition to your profile, not the focus point.

Not sure what kind of "game company" you're looking for but if it has "guys in suits wearing ties" in HR department instead of real-time programmers, I think something is wrong. There is a video I posted in another thread about how you can get yourself a job at Valve. It seems that degree isn't THAT much valuable after all. The things that professional game studios are usually looking for is whether you can actually accomplish specific tasks in a given time.
According to Chet Feliszek from Valve, one of the most important thing is to actually do something from beginning to end (to ship it). The things they're more interested in than a fancy resume is your portfolio - if you can create a nice demo from scratch (that is creating your own game engine, graphics handler, cache handler etc) and then explain how it works, you'll already a step ahead from people who have fancy degrees but no real experience.
Of course not every company is like Valve - maybe some of them, for some crazy reason, would still require you to have a formal education (even though you already have a nice collection of games in your portfolio) - on the other hand, why working with them? That being said I think a college/university degree should be an addition to your profile, not the focus point.

I believe that is the way it should be, and I don't doubt that the higher ups at companies would say that. However, applicants do not exist in a vacuum and it is a highly competitive job market. Large companies such as Valve probably get hundreds of applications a day from all sorts of people, and that is what HR is for. And i'm not sure about Valve, but it is VERY common for them to simply filter out applications without any degree or experience. I dont know of any programmer that would rather be review applications all day rather than...well...programming. So I would believe their is something wrong if the HR department is filled with programmers, they should be reviewing potential hires, not every application.



That being said, to speak to OP, not only is your portfolio very confusing to use with it starting on a blank page, the projects that you put on their aren't overly impressive at first glance. Ultimately appearance is everything, and you could definitely use some work with that.

I guess the biggest thing that you need to remember is that your not in a vacuum, you are in a pool of hundreds of other applicants. You are NOT proving that you can do the job, you are proving that you can do the job better than anybody else. A formal education can supplement the rest of your "package" and prove that you are able to dedicate yourself to something for 4 years (Assuming 4 year degree). Just think if you are hiring, would you rather have someone with no degree and little to no formal experience, or someone With a degree and little experience. I certainly would take someone with a degree.
Note however that I am still in High School as well, so all my comments are based of of MY understanding, not how it actually is. What you should be doing right now, is start working as a freelancer and do contract work. Of course this is assuming that you know what you are doing and are good at it. Im not sure exactly what area you are interested in, but if you are intrested in programming, you should have no problem finding work. (I have to actually turn most people away their are so many companies looking for short term engineers).
As has been mentioned a descision Grid will help you clarify your thoughts and wants. If you decide not to get a degree, you better have a good plan of exactly what you are going to be doing instead to better your odds at getting a job, because you certainly arnt doing yourself any favors.

I believe that is the way it should be, and I don't doubt that the higher ups at companies would say that. However, applicants do not exist in a vacuum and it is a highly competitive job market. Large companies such as Valve probably get hundreds of applications a day from all sorts of people, and that is what HR is for. And i'm not sure about Valve, but it is VERY common for them to simply filter out applications without any degree or experience. I dont know of any programmer that would rather be review applications all day rather than...well...programming. So I would believe their is something wrong if the HR department is filled with programmers, they should be reviewing potential hires, not every application.

You seem to follow a very conservative crowd, that thinks degree = skills. This may be right if you're aspiring to be a new doctor or a lawyer. However that is usually not true in areas such as game development. Of course, as I mentioned in my previous reply, degree is a great addition to your resume and taking a Computer Science class may help you understand a lot - that being said, software development is one of the very few fields that you can enter, simply by learning on your own (just look at how many tutorials and programming books there are on Amazon).

That being said, to speak to OP, not only is your portfolio very confusing to use with it starting on a blank page, the projects that you put on their aren't overly impressive at first glance. Ultimately appearance is everything, and you could definitely use some work with that

Appearance is important but if it's related to the position you're applying for. If you wanna be a programmer, they will look at how flexible, intelligent and efficient is your code. The more professional it is, the more it speaks about your experience. Trust me, no one should be judging you for so called "programmer's art". Unless of course, you're applying for a 3D modeler position - but that's another story.

I guess the biggest thing that you need to remember is that your not in a vacuum, you are in a pool of hundreds of other applicants. You are NOT proving that you can do the job, you are proving that you can do the job better than anybody else. A formal education can supplement the rest of your "package" and prove that you are able to dedicate yourself to something for 4 years (Assuming 4 year degree). Just think if you are hiring, would you rather have someone with no degree and little to no formal experience, or someone With a degree and little experience. I certainly would take someone with a degree

Let's stop here and think for a second. It's true that you're in a pool of hundreds of candidates, no one has ever denied it in this conversation. However, because of that simple fact, you should make yourself somehow unique. I'm not quite sure what you expect from college but higher education focuses on giving you a theoretical knowledge. It teaches you universal coding practices and pure concepts. To make it more clear, most of the universities will teach you for example what is OOP and when to use class interfaces instead of inheritance (purely universal concept), however there won't be too much about how to make the most efficient game loop or how to efficiently cache from disk your high quality SFX for PS3, which has somehow limited RAM. In most gaming companies experience > formal education - mainly because game programming is something you have to teach yourself (for the most part).

Note however that I am still in High School as well, so all my comments are based of of MY understanding, not how it actually is. What you should be doing right now, is start working as a freelancer and do contract work. Of course this is assuming that you know what you are doing and are good at it. Im not sure exactly what area you are interested in, but if you are intrested in programming, you should have no problem finding work. (I have to actually turn most people away their are so many companies looking for short term engineers).

And I'm a second year student of an IT-oriented studyline (developing mobile applications, networking etc) at one of the biggest European universities and I still feel like I need much more stuff to learn, aside from what I get from my school. University is only a couple of hours a day in a classroom of many people when teaching isn't always the most efficient - it doesn't matter whether it's Harvard, Yale or some cheap community college - if you want to make yourself unique, you have to do extra work on your own. The "pool of candidates" you mentioned will be filled with tons of graduates with degrees like yours or even "fancier" but it really isn't enough to say whether you're ready for the work. That's why I said, degree is important but should be treated as an addition to your portfolio - unless you actually make something practical that you can show around and present to people, no one will know of your true skills - university gives you some important insights and teaches theoretical knowledge - your own private work, on the other hand, is how you apply this knowledge in practice and that's how you can make yourself outstanding.

Summarizing my opinion, if you can get a degree - do it, you can definitely benefit from that. However, it shouldn't be the main point on your resume - do extra work and create a few demos, so you can always prove your practical skills. This can really increase the chances of getting hired. I recommend you to watch the video I posted in another thread. It should give you some more insights on what companies, such as Valve look for.