Backup plan
I want to be an indie game dev, I have a lot of great ideas, great passion, I know quite a bit about what a good game need, and I have the asperation I need to go out and learn what I need to know...
BUT!!!
Life tends to throw curve balls, balls laced with steal spikes. And when all I have worked for inevitably goes to shit, I would like to be prepared.
So I am going to get certified in computer science and/or software engineering, right?. Which leads to my question: what kind of job opportunities (if any)will be open to me with just a certificate. And what do employers look for on a resume.
BUT!!!
Life tends to throw curve balls, balls laced with steal spikes. And when all I have worked for inevitably goes to shit, I would like to be prepared.
So I am going to get certified in computer science and/or software engineering, right?. Which leads to my question: what kind of job opportunities (if any)will be open to me with just a certificate. And what do employers look for on a resume.
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Modern games are maid by thoursand people.
if u wanna make a game like that, u need hundreed years.
it'll be better to investigate gamedev copmanies (try to be hired there).
There are different professions:
- ideas-maker
- 3d-painter (designer)
- programmer
- Manager
- merchandiser
- aplha-tester
- ...
Every vocation has it's ow tasks & salary. Check what can u do and hire there as soon as u can.
Later U can change vocation to more significant, and may be u can estabilish own company with all there employeers.
if u wanna make a game like that, u need hundreed years.
it'll be better to investigate gamedev copmanies (try to be hired there).
There are different professions:
- ideas-maker
- 3d-painter (designer)
- programmer
- Manager
- merchandiser
- aplha-tester
- ...
Every vocation has it's ow tasks & salary. Check what can u do and hire there as soon as u can.
Later U can change vocation to more significant, and may be u can estabilish own company with all there employeers.
I dont really want to work for a game company. Even if making games takes a long time, and end up playing like ass, I would still prefer it to working for a company. When I am making something I like to have a hand in all aspects of it. I dont like being a small cog in a large machine. Indie just suits me better.
But I meant something apart from game development. If indie game development failed what other jobs are available for someone with a certification in computer science.
But I meant something apart from game development. If indie game development failed what other jobs are available for someone with a certification in computer science.
Any job in the trades will be more financially stable and rewarding than anything you can get from a comp sci degree. But the good ones require some college education, construction has no requirements so you can jump right into it and see how you feel about on-site trades jobs, but experience wont make you have a much higher pay (even though the salary is amazing, so good that if you live in a winter climate, you can save enough money to not work all winter, implying you work long and overtime).
There are some amazing programmers who have no computer science degrees that have made their own indie companies/games, and even people who have jobs at larger businesses just because they have an awesome game portfolio. In my opinion I think CS is more valuable for the time it gives you than it is the degree itself (although your resume will be rejected from most companies for not meeting requirements as a programmer).
If you DON'T feel like you are the best programmer at your class, and you DON'T have a nice collection of completed projects that can show what you are capable of, and if you haven't even taken an internship (you should have, to at least see what it is like to work in a company, you can't say you hate something that you never experienced), you should probably do a reality check and think real hard about what you really want to do, and how you will achieve it.
And to be an indie dev, you need to have outstanding work habits (AKA: no youtube, no netflix, work the same hours as if you had a job), being able to improve yourself without the help of others (it would be easier to if you had others, as in real people, people on the internet don't count, they are unreliable and impatient, including me, because people don't care about your ideas, they care about their ideas), and you need to have a safety net, like your parents basement, for the time you will spend making no money (even with a job or money from a game you have made, you still need to save the money for when you can pay someone to do art or music for you or whatever, you aren't a god, if you were, you wouldn't be here).
There are some amazing programmers who have no computer science degrees that have made their own indie companies/games, and even people who have jobs at larger businesses just because they have an awesome game portfolio. In my opinion I think CS is more valuable for the time it gives you than it is the degree itself (although your resume will be rejected from most companies for not meeting requirements as a programmer).
If you DON'T feel like you are the best programmer at your class, and you DON'T have a nice collection of completed projects that can show what you are capable of, and if you haven't even taken an internship (you should have, to at least see what it is like to work in a company, you can't say you hate something that you never experienced), you should probably do a reality check and think real hard about what you really want to do, and how you will achieve it.
And to be an indie dev, you need to have outstanding work habits (AKA: no youtube, no netflix, work the same hours as if you had a job), being able to improve yourself without the help of others (it would be easier to if you had others, as in real people, people on the internet don't count, they are unreliable and impatient, including me, because people don't care about your ideas, they care about their ideas), and you need to have a safety net, like your parents basement, for the time you will spend making no money (even with a job or money from a game you have made, you still need to save the money for when you can pay someone to do art or music for you or whatever, you aren't a god, if you were, you wouldn't be here).
| Grand Master stickshift wrote: |
|---|
| So I am going to get certified in computer science and/or software engineering, right? |
You can get a degree in computer science or software engineering, issued by a college.
You can get a certificate in a specific product or technology issued by a company that owns that product or technology.
| what kind of job opportunities (if any)will be open to me with just a certificate. |
None. Nobody cares what exams you paid for.
Degrees, on the other hand, are used as minimum requirements in almost every software engineering job (there is a slowly growing trend to not require them though)
| And what do employers look for on a resume. |
Relevant experience. An employer that makes software will look for when and how you made software before and try to guess how long it will take before you can do anything for them. Passing a cert exam, even CCNA or MCSD, is not experience.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
My experiences, you need the wright bits of paper to get passed the HR gremlins. You need to look at what is being asked for where you are. Saying nobody cares what exam you paid for is fairly meaningless, I have 20 years experience and didn't get to an interview because I didn't have the right MS cert...it's how it goes.
Talk to careers advisers where you live or the HR departments for a few companies that you might want to work for.
Talk to careers advisers where you live or the HR departments for a few companies that you might want to work for.
closed account (367kGNh0)
Curious, what GUI framework do you use? I use cocos2d-x V3.17. Like someone else said, a portfolio would be of assisstance. Invest freetime in that which will impress employers, OR you can freelance, portfolios are in use here aswell
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I don't use any frame works. I am still learning the basics of c++, i am asking about certifications right now because I like to think ahead. I would like to use a GUI frame work but i dont have the knowledge of how to use one, or how to get one.
So basically all I have learned is that certificates are useless and that going to college is my only option. Well I am not going to college. So I guess I will have no back up plan. Game development is ride or die for me then.
Shit
So basically all I have learned is that certificates are useless and that going to college is my only option. Well I am not going to college. So I guess I will have no back up plan. Game development is ride or die for me then.
Shit
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