Mr. McShaffry (or other knowledgeable forum-goers),
I'm a student at the University of Cincinnati, over here in the armpit of America, where everything is grey and not too terribly exciting. I've dreamed of creating games since I was junior high, and have made several of them with a friend, though none of them involve much more than slightly complex C code. I went to a technilogically inept high school, so everything I know about programming I learned on my own, and until i was 16, I learned it on a 25mhz 386 (I was playing Ultima 6 while everyone else was playing Quake 2). I set myself towards computer science, and thus ended up in UC's engineering program, which is so creatively restricting (for people like me) that I switched into English, with focus on mythology and the occult.
The problem is that I still dream of creating games. For a long time, I assumed that this would happen only if I recieved a degree in some sort of engineering field, but I've been flipping through all sorts of books at Borders, and hope has been restored, especially after your mention of self-taught programmers on occasion being more valuable. I'm stuck as to what exactly I should be doing to get into the fray. I have the skills to get pretty much any degree I need, the problem is that I can't be as well-rounded as I'd like to be while in engineering. I've considered going into digital design, since I have pretty good art skills, but then I figured I'd be stuck modelling things, and leaning over the programmers' and designers' shoulders looking at the neat stuff they get to do.
What sort of advice would you give to a 2nd year college student in order to make himself a marketable commodity? Are there positions in the industry that fit my profile, that are well-rounded? Also, do internship jobs exist that would be available to the likes of me, or are they few and far between?
I'm sure there are others out there in my situation who would die for this sort of advice, so any input is greatly appreciated.
- nick molen
I'm a student at the University of Cincinnati, over here in the armpit of America, where everything is grey and not too terribly exciting. I've dreamed of creating games since I was junior high, and have made several of them with a friend, though none of them involve much more than slightly complex C code. I went to a technilogically inept high school, so everything I know about programming I learned on my own, and until i was 16, I learned it on a 25mhz 386 (I was playing Ultima 6 while everyone else was playing Quake 2). I set myself towards computer science, and thus ended up in UC's engineering program, which is so creatively restricting (for people like me) that I switched into English, with focus on mythology and the occult.
The problem is that I still dream of creating games. For a long time, I assumed that this would happen only if I recieved a degree in some sort of engineering field, but I've been flipping through all sorts of books at Borders, and hope has been restored, especially after your mention of self-taught programmers on occasion being more valuable. I'm stuck as to what exactly I should be doing to get into the fray. I have the skills to get pretty much any degree I need, the problem is that I can't be as well-rounded as I'd like to be while in engineering. I've considered going into digital design, since I have pretty good art skills, but then I figured I'd be stuck modelling things, and leaning over the programmers' and designers' shoulders looking at the neat stuff they get to do.
What sort of advice would you give to a 2nd year college student in order to make himself a marketable commodity? Are there positions in the industry that fit my profile, that are well-rounded? Also, do internship jobs exist that would be available to the likes of me, or are they few and far between?
I'm sure there are others out there in my situation who would die for this sort of advice, so any input is greatly appreciated.
- nick molen
(just kiddin')