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By Jaap Suter December 1999 |
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By Jaap Suter December 1999 |
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Question 2. I don't believe that university Computer Science is teaching me anything useful (besides very little math). Do you think I should finish school, or get in the industry? First I would like to mention that my math classes are way cool and do really offer me a challenge. For the rest, I don't really think it's that hard. Very often I think: "Is this supposed to be University?" Here are some of the answers I got: "An education is good for making you a well rounded, healthy adult. College also teaches you a lot about writing, mathematics, etc... but there aren't a lot of schools that will teach you how to animate incredibly well or program like a god. Practice and skill and a drive to learn will teach you this." "If you are in your second year, you probably haven't been too challenged yet. I would reccomend getting an internship that will teach you how your C.S. Education is going to benefit you." "You should finish school. If you don't, personally I would find it harder to take you seriously and trust you for my large projects. I woudl probably just 'test' you longer before I would give you more responsibilities. After all, you haven't proven anything, except that you quit things that you do not find interesting or usefull at first sight." "Finish school. Are you in a hurry to die? Let's say you aren't as good as you thought you were, and you lose your job and can't get another one in the industry. Here you are stuck without a job and degreeless to prove that you have gone through a four or five year education. Now what are you going to do? Work at a fast food joint? I've faced a similar problem with friends of mine and myself choosing between college baseball and being drafted to play professional ball. What if we aren't good enough once we actually do get a chance and we don't have a degree? Think about it. A degree isn't going to kill you or your chances of getting in the industry. It'll just give you time to grow and learn." It seems that it basically comes down to finish school cause you are still young and you are not in a hurry. Personally I don't think this is a very good argument, cause life is very short (imho) and you have to seize the day. On the other hand, being in school leaves more time for the funny things like going out, seeing movies, making music and all the other cool hobbies out there. Once you have a full-time job in the game programming industry (which is often more than 40 hours a week) you won't have much time left. The odds are shifting towards finishing school :). Question 3. How often do you recruit programmers who don't have a CS degree? I asked this question because I wanted to check out what percentage of all game programmers have a degree. This didn't quite work out but the answers are interesting nevertheless. 3D Realms says: "We never have made a degree a requirement." Others say, "Here at Sony we recruit mainly "upper" degrees, and serveral people have MSc's and PHd's... I have done it before...however, the candidates have been in the game industry for over 10 years....or they have completed 4 years of university and have a great demo." Here's another response: "Nobody goes out of their way looking for non-degreed or educationally second class programmers. Would you? If you are an owner of a company and you need to invest large sums of money in a project, who would you rather go for? You try and get the best people first and always ask for as much qualifications as possible. THINK!" After looking at some of the game programming job requirements on several internet sites I had to conclude that the changes are a lot better when you have a degree. It is probably becoming apparent now that you should finish school. Basically because you can program a cool demo while you are still in school and you will still have time left for other cool things while at school. And finally, companies rather hire people that have a degree. So broaden your view (sort of) and keep in school. And for the days that things get really hard and you might think about quiting very seriously, just join an IRC effnet server and go to the channel #flipcode. I'm sure you will leave all cheered up. One day, you and I will be game programmers, poor, not famous, working 80 hours a week, but having the only job that combines creativity and science in the best work since the beginning of mankind. Jaap Suter On the following page are the most interesting replies I got from people. You might want to read them. Click Here For The Next Page Click Here For The Previous Page |