Let me explain my situation. Over the past few weeks I have been having serious doubts about becoming a computer programmer. For about two years now I have wanted to become a computer programmer eventuially in my life. As of right now I am 15 years old and I am a sophmor in high school. My GPA is only high enough for me to get into a 2 year college. If I can only get into a 2 year college im not to sure if this is the right career choice. Also from what I have been reading on these boards is that being a computer programmer (games, businesses, etc...) doesent really make money at all. I dont want to decide my life on becomeing something that I cant, or if I can not making any money at all. As most people will agree, I dont want to pick a job that will make me poor. I somewhat know VB and now im learning C++, YAY FOR ME!

Business programming has a much greater chance for success than game programming. Business programming companies can find more clients in demand for development work.

The only client a game development company has is its publisher (well, that might not be right - I'm not certain about the business structure). And the game has to sell publicly in great quantities in order to keep the company afloat.

I wouldn't charge into programming simply for the game development aspect. Business programming is a wiser choice if you're concerned about stability. But even now the market is pretty slow. Hopefully by the time you are out of college, the market will have picked up again and new jobs will be surfacing.

[edited by - Waverider on May 16, 2003 6:20:37 PM]

If you''re a sophomore this year, then it means you can get your grades up for junior and senior years. Trust me, college competition might be stiff but it is not that stiff. Plus you can always transfer after two years in a community college. It is never too late, and it definitely is not too late for you to wake up and move your ass.
If you become the best game programmer, then you''ll probably find a lot of money flowing your way. But there are many fields that a programmer can go into. Though, money is not everything, it helps a lot, but I am sure you can still live pretty happy being a programmer in the gaming industry .

Good luck.

who cares how much money you make as long as you enjoy it. I''d take a job I love even if it didn''t pay well, no matter what. I think job satisfaction is far more important than money earned, and the two are not the same thing by far. Also, you''re 15. There''s a lot of life ahead of you to be making these kind of choices and to explore options, there''s no need to be locking yourself into one idea now.

NO! It''s a horrible field! No jobs! You''ll die a pauper! Get out of my field of competition!

How appropriate. You fight like a cow.

Thrust, don''t despair, you have a rich life ahead of you if you intend to make it that way.

First of all, like someone else said, you have enough opportunity to raise your GPA before you get out of High School. Secondly, even if you did have to go to a community college it is not anywhere even near the end of the world. LOL! To put it into perspective, there are many people I have known that have opted to go to a community college and earn their AA even when they had a high GPA in college. Then after completing their AA they would apply to a University and finish their final two years there in Upper division. The point is that in this case they were trying to save money as community colleges generally are less expensive than Universities.

Basically if you went to a community college (irrespective of your high school GPA), that is where you would need to "shine" and make the high grades. Also, try to work at becoming more skilled in Mathematics in High School. If you are not in Honors math classes, then try to work toward that just as a recommendation. If you have a love for math then alot should fall into place later on, IMO. You''re young, so anything extra you do than the average 15 year old does will give you an edge later on. I wish I followed that advice back then!

quote: Original post by Sneftel
NO! It''s a horrible field! No jobs! You''ll die a pauper! Get out of my field of competition!

Hear hear.

Honestly, though, do NOT go into game programming for the money. I think we figured out once that if your average Starbucks barista put in as many hours as we did, they''d have more money than us. (having a salary has it''s ups and downs...)

Go into it for the sheer passion of making games. If you don''t have that passion, I sure as heck don''t want you on my project.

I just have the fear that when I actuially get into the real world I wont have the right education to get a good paying job. I dont mind what aspect of programing I get, I love writing code. I just dont want to end up making software for pennies. I heard before that to even get a low paying computer programing job you need to have a degree in computer science and to get a degree you need a four year college, thats where I get the fear from. Maby im trying for something to hard for me.

I somewhat know VB and now im learning C++, YAY FOR ME!

I have a suggestion for you. Talk to your counselor; tell them of your wants, desires and fears. That’s what they get paid for and (at least it should be) it’s why they do what they do – they like helping young adults.

As for the outlook of the IT sector, I think that programmers are going to be in greater demand than they are today. Last I heard there were 100,000 IT jobs that went unfilled in 2002. Of course the hard times that the economy has experienced this past 18 months has greatly affected the hiring in not just the IT industry but in all sectors.

Community College isn’t the worst thing that could happen and after two years you could transfer to another education institution, provided your grades are up to snuff.

Game On!

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

quote: Original post by Dak Lozar
Last I heard there were 100,000 IT jobs that went unfilled in 2002.

really? i was under the impression that there were now (or soon will be) more computer related graduates than there are jobs.