Hey everyone, I’m 24 yrs old now currently work in HVAC and I find myself always thinking do I really want to do this forever or should I go to college and learn game development. I see all these videos on being self taught or making indie games etc but is tha the way to go? Should I continue learning on my own in my free time and hope one day someone will hire me or should I go to college and get a degree to make myself more hirable. Should i get a cs degree or a game design degree. Honestly I’m just lost atm. Kind of feel empty inside like something is missing from my life
Well I think you should go to college and get a CS degree it will give you more options in the future.
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I haven’t read it myself, but this book recommendation sounds like something that I wish I had 12 years ago when I was choosing my career.
If the timestamp doesn’t work, skip ahead to 1:21.
If you’re not positive if this is for you then the best choice is to start game development on your own time before making a big commitment. Start by going through the Unity Learn section then make your own games from scratch starting with simple games with one mechanic and progressively getting more complex.
Regardless of whether you choose to go to college or not though, you’ll want to spend some of your free time on game development because the people who will be your primary competition for jobs who have taken the course will have spent some of their free time learning more on the subject.
Generally a CS degree is recommended as a fallback in case you can’t find a job in game development.
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college! Don’t get it wrong tho you can learn by yourself but in college you will be able to meet new people
that have same interests and that is the only place for that beside school.
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There are probably lots of benefits to going to college, but because that is a big commitment and cost money, I’d suggest working on game development as a hobby for a while. Like, a year or more. There is so much you can learn for free online, you’d be giving yourself a leg up if you decide to go to college later on. And with forums like this and some others you pretty much have an on call tutor for just about any issue.
Me, personally, I think college is sometimes a waste of time. Most of the time it’s go way to slowly and you’ll probably have to take a bunch of general education courses – and pay for them of course. Of course, like others mentioned, there are lots of benefits too, namely networking.
Also, I’ve seen work from people who’ve graduated from schools like Gnomon. It’s not better than plenty of self-taught people have accomplished in less time.
I imagine learning the ropes through college might be a gentler path in some ways. Self learning involves a lot of hair pulling, troubleshooting, and sometimes feeling downright lost. But I think in the end that might make one into a better game developer – that is a better problem solver.
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My comp.tech. college was a fornicating jest. I got to ‘where I am’ and ‘what I can do’ with highschool ed.
I took CS degree and in parallel taught myself game dev through books/internet.
As others have mentioned that degree acts as a fail safe, I’m out temporarily from working with games and now focusing on enterprise apps (while daydreaming about what games to make). It’s a nice change of pace to have.
You can do anything you want if you are driven. I don’t think you necessarily need to go to school as long as you can learn on your own. The information is out there, you just have to be motivated enough to take advantage of it.
There is a lot of really good info out there now. I would suggest learning a little bit of C# outside of Unity. Write a few simple programs that are slightly more complex than ‘hello world’. Maybe even try making a very simple, short, text-based game and ‘ship it’ - get it out there somehow, maybe a web download. If you manage that, you will have done more than many other game developers out there.
The next thing to do would be to pick up an engine and start working with it. If you are using C#, Unity is a good choice. Go through the tutorials to learn the tool, then design another simple game, something you can complete quickly. You’ll want to finish this one - put some graphics in it, some sounds. It doesn’t have to be super-fun, you just have to get it working and ship it again. Get your friends or family to play it, see if you can elicit from honest feedback.
If you can manage the above, I think you are well on your way. Expect to try things and fail. Try to fail fast and keep iterating. This is a tough industry, with lots of competition, but is quite rewarding for those who participate. Sometimes it is quite lucrative.
Don’t quit HVAC job. Just make simulator HVAC game on unity as hobby. Quitting your job and making game with zero experience - you can lose your income, life, etc.
- it’s hard to get hired big software companies. Not easy.
- Don’t quit HVAC job.
- YouTube tutorial save money.
- Just make your own game. See if anyone like it.
- Do for hobby for fun.
Both.
In this line of work being self taught is not optional. In every hour of my day to day work I use something I learned through my own self development or experience. I am constantly using technologies, methodologies or theories that weren’t covered or didn’t even exist when I studied at university.
But, that formal university training was still incredibly valuable. It made sure that I had a solid foundation in my software engineering knowledge that, importantly, didn’t have any gaps. See, the issue with being purely self taught is that when you start you don’t even know what it is you have to learn. (See the first of the Four Stages of Competence.) That’s where teachers are useful, and universities/colleges/schools just happen to be a good source for professional ones. As a bonus, you get a formal qualification that may be of use.
I’m not saying that purely self-taught people are in any way inferior, by the way. They just have to travel a harder path to get the same level of knowledge and experience, because they don’t have the same level of guidance to speed them along the way. If that’s your only option or you can’t afford the guidance then don’t let that stop you - jump in and get started!
Depends on your end goal, working in HVAC is pretty stable work so keep that in mind. Since in the game industry things can be a little shaky. If you work hard and can network well you will always land on your feet but it takes work to do so.
Both routes are possible, but i would say do both. If you go to school for a CS degree, you should be putting in a lot of work into personal learning as well. Even with the CS degree you need a additional edge on up on the other students you are competing with work for. So teach your self as much as possible, and try and take on some contract work.
If you feel you have the drive to do so, self taught is a viable route as well, i am proof that you can do very well this way. Just keep in mind it is a lot of work, i had 2 years of working a crappy shipping job during the day, and teaching myself to program, working on personal projects and trying to get contract work during the night, before i caught a break. I would no recommend this to anyone but i do believe it was the best choice for me when i made it.
With either approach your social and networking skills are something you need to get far as well. People have to know about you and what you can do for them.
As someone involved in hiring decisions i have taken both people who are self taught and those that went through school to get here. I will say if you have no relevant education, i will want to see relevant games or apps that you have made if i was to interview.
YouTube tutorials are honestly very hit and miss. Some of them are decent but the majority just suck. The official learning section, which is apparently very easy to miss, is a far better choice but in the end you’ll going beyond the basics won’t really involve either of them.
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Once you get to a certain point, the time it takes to watch a video and follow along is better spent just experimenting with your own ideas. I find i am over all just not much of a fan of learning material as videos. Good documentation, blogs and written content i find much more effective and easier to parse for the information you need.
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I am self learner (youtube, forums, “ask a friend” and try and error method). I’m not developer, i’m 3D artist and i work with developers on their projects. Everything i learned was by myself. So, you don’t need college for that. I don’t see how and where will college degree make you more hirable in this industry. Here only skill and experience matter, not diploma. (with experience, your personal projects you did in free time do count, if they are good). But, considering you already have work, in what i understood is good and stable company, maybe you should not quit before you make something. Learn and make stuff in your spare time after work. Then after you create something, publish and see what will happen.
Good luck
The value is going to college or University is in that it changes the way you think. You learn to reserve judgement and identify credibly evidence (Mileage varies with the individual). These are indisputably powerful skills to have for anything you do - development included.
That said, getting started writing code is very easy and accessible. Writing good code? No so much.
Easy test:
I recommend starting and finishing a tiny game in Unity. If you can’t do that, you’re not fit for this industry as a career IMHO. It can be as simple as you like, but that capacity for just reaching out and using the information under your own initiative, is vital.
A game developer is not a robot. You have to be able to find solutions you have not been taught. So if you cannot make anything in Unity (and it doesn’t really get easier) then this is the wrong thing to go to college for at the age of 24.
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What you learn in college can often not have that much to do with your profession. If you are interested in acquiring a formal degree, make sure it is one that…
- Involves subjects that you are interested in
- Will teach valuable skills
- Is transferable within academics
This is why a lot of experienced people will tell you to shoot for a Computer Science degree. (CS) CS is a very technical discipline, and as such the vast majority of coursework for it will cover #2 and #3 of what I mentioned above. If you happen to be interested in technical matters, it will even cover #1. #1 is a little more optional, but I feel it is important. If you aren’t interested in what you are trying to learn, education can be like pulling teeth. If you are interested, it can be pure joy. While it is possible to force yourself to learn things that don’t interest you, it is probably better to pursue something you actually want to learn.
CS degrees are desirable because they prepare you for a number of different technical professions. And technical professions tend to have a constant demand for trained workers, and usually pay well. So a career in technical fields tends to be stable and profitable. Also, CS degrees usually involve a lot of “hard” educational disciplines, such as science and math. And all of that coursework tends to be some of the most transferrable within academics, giving you plenty of flexibility. If you get a credit in any math course, that credit will transfer to just about any other school, with no dispute. Technical coursework is secure, and will be recognized and respected pretty much anywhere.
I actually didn’t get a CS degree. I got a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design. My BA has always been recognized, but it hasn’t actually benefitted my career very much. On my own initiative, I taught myself technical skills in web development. The majority of my career has been in technical web development, constantly moving further and further from my graphic design roots. I always enjoyed what I learned in college, but my own training ended up paying the bills.
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Good stuff, all of which I agree with.
A good CS degree gives you reasonable depth and breadth of the fundamentals of computing, and the theory and practice of using computers to solve problems. From there you’re in a good position to learn whatever you need for whatever computing field you’re interested in moving into.
After years in more technical disciplines, I’m actually over-qualified for a job in game development. But I still have never pushed for such a position. This is mainly due to my personal circumstances, and especially my geography. I live in an area where there is virtually no game development presence. There are simply no jobs to be had out here. The only developers in my area are small indies and struggling start-ups. If I wanted to go that route I could do so on my own.
Pursuing a career in game development would require me to move. And I have family where I am that I don’t want to leave. So I make the best of what I have working in a different field where I program web applications. I keep my game development to the side as a hobby. It’s not what I would call optimal, but it improves my quality of life considerably. (plenty of time for my family, solid pay in a stable industry, health insurance, reasonable work hours, very short commute, etc…)
A lot of times, finding some level of balance is more important than blind ambition. Keep this in mind when making educational decisions.
Also, do NOT get a game-design or development degree. Do NOT go to a “game” school. Game development has not been properly integrated into more formalized educational establishments yet. As such, degrees in that discipline are not taken nearly as seriously. Also, the majority of for-profit “game” schools are just massive debt engines that teach you next to nothing while saddling you with crushing debt. And most game employers don’t take them seriously either, so they provide no real benefit for employment or placement. Attending a regular state or community college for a BA or CS degree will be much more valuable, cost a lot less, and provide way more opportunities for scholarships. (to further reduce your costs) Most game-focused educational institutions are scams. Any success stories that come out of those are due to the personal merits of the student in question, and they still get billed way more than they ought to.
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