You have already put quite a bit of effort into attaining your degree. Go through with it. I agree with the other posters' sentiments. A degree will never hurt you. Why do half of a degree and not finish, when having one will only make you a stronger applicant for jobs.

Well, I disagree about some of the things you say. I guess it really depends on the employer, because as far as I know most of them really look at your work, and previous experience, and they don't care about your degrees. Obviously, I'm talking about game companies, I don't know the politics of movie/cg studios. I guess its safe to say that 50% of the people in my company (130ppl in total) are drop out or self taught.
If you have a very good portfolio, and you show that u can produce, and finish stuff, that has a lot of value for us.

I suggest doing both things, you can continue learning, but keep building up your portfolio in your free time. When u're ready u can send your resume to some companies and see their replies.

Get the degree.

First off, you will get paid more. Some studies show a million dollars or more over your entire career.

It doesn't matter what field you eventually work in. Simply having a degree will make you more employable and give you more money. If you decide game programming isn't your thing, and you instead want to take a job as a postal worker, the degree will still help.

Having a great portfolio is nice for a game programming job, but all other things being equal, the person with a degree will be hired. Things being unequal, the person with a degree is still generally preferred.

Quote:
Another question: Would completing a Total Conversion mod count for anything about my committment? How long would one work until a BFA degree doesn't really mean much to employers (or is this never the case?). I'm pretty sure what the answer is already, but I just don't want to have any regrets or what-ifs when I decide to finish college.

No really, and absolutely not if you intend to ever get a job outside of game programming.

If you don't break in to the industry, you'll be worse off. Saying "I completed a Total Conversion mod" is not going to help if your studio folds and you have to take an SQL programming job, and would probably count against you.

Having or not having a degree will be a factor in every job you get in your career. Again, if two candidates both have 10 years of comparable real-world experience, the one with a degree will win.

For a game programming job, having a degree and the mod will be nice to see. Seeing the mod and an abandoned degree might count against you, since you abandoned a major project, possibly one of the most important projects in your career.

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I knew when I posted that that heavy odds were I'd finish school anyway (its pretty difficult to defy a mother), but I wanted to see what some industry people said (since the handful of things I've read have said a good portfolio was the very most important thing, and mentioned less about a degree). Working overseas was a good point.

Standing up for yourself is an important skill to have. Learn how to defy your mother if you need to, but also listen to her council. Parents have a lot of experience.

Having a good portfolio will help in getting in to the industry. Not having a degree will hurt in getting in to the industry. Abandoning college in an attempt to break in to the industry will dramatically hurt your chances of getting in the industry.

frob.

Quote: Original post by robals
Well, I disagree about some of the things you say. I guess it really depends on the employer, because as far as I know most of them really look at your work, and previous experience, and they don't care about your degrees. Obviously, I'm talking about game companies, I don't know the politics of movie/cg studios. I guess its safe to say that 50% of the people in my company (130ppl in total) are drop out or self taught.
If you have a very good portfolio, and you show that u can produce, and finish stuff, that has a lot of value for us.

I suggest doing both things, you can continue learning, but keep building up your portfolio in your free time. When u're ready u can send your resume to some companies and see their replies.

(Ahem, it is "you", not "u". Perhaps the spelling is a by-product of the working at a place where "50% of the people in my company (130ppl in total) are drop out or self taught.")

Since I've interviewed several prospects while working at three different companies, and been involved in weeding out candidates based on resumes alone, I can tell you that it is not true.

In each company that I have worked with, we scored people (among other things) on gamedev experience and non-gamedev experience.

Personally, I count a BS degree as 3-5 years of non-game work experience, and a MS degree as 5-8 years of experience. The exact numbers vary based on other factors stated in the resume. A person listing a BS with several major in-school projects and a published article would get a 5 year work experience bonus with me.

A good portfolio counts a little, perhaps a year of gamedev experience. Possibly up to two years for an exceptional portfolio with fully-functional games. Most would count as 6 months or less, in my book.

Quote:
If you have a very good portfolio, and you show that u can produce, and finish stuff, that has a lot of value for us.

Completing a BS degree shows that you can produce, finish stuff, write grammatically correct memos and email, and also demonstrates the potential of being a valuable employee.

frob.

Ill just pile on and tell you to finish school.

In our society, a university degree is a ticket to be punched that employers look for. Usually it means a higher salary, but more importantly it just puts you at another level.

While this is terribly artificial, I wouldnt totally discount the role of a university in teaching people to think critically...so looking for a college degree isnt totally without merit.

Moral = more money, sense of accomplishment, better standing with employers = university degree.

Finish school. Because:

You're getting it dirt cheap

While companies may look past the degree if they see your CV, chances are they won't get to see your CV - recruiters won't pass it on or someone low down will weed you out from the other 100 people with portfolios AND degrees</li/>

An A- doesn't sound amazing if you're so far ahead

If the work is so easy then you don't need much time to get good grades - so build a portfolio in your spare time from a secure environment (and with all the nice equipment the Uni has).

It shows you can - dropping out looks bad. You can try to convince people of the reasons in an interview, but again you're unlikely to get the chance

If it's easy but boring, that is like many peoples' jobs. It's quite likely your first job(s) will be less interesting, especially if a lack of degree forces you to take something less impressive and work up - after a year or two you might not have achieved a job you could walk straight into after graduating

Go to school and actively look for jobs, that's a no brainer. The hard decision will come when you get a job: is it worth wasting a degree on a particular position at a particular employer?

After one year of qualified work at a respected company you will have ZERO need for university credentials --- but what if you accept an unqualified position, or the company goes belly up?

Just keep on studying, if you get a _good_ and solid offer and feel confident you can take it on and shine - by all means, quit school for that job.

I tend to have the same opinion as Anon Mike above. I'd suggest you enroll in leadership positions within school clubs; it's a great use of your free time, a way to get visibility to potential employers, and a hands-on forum for honing your leadership skills. Besides, it's a highly regarded element of your resume. Leadership skills (soft skills in general) get more and more important as you progress in your career. In a school environment you can afford to make a lot of mistakes; it's better to make them at school and learn from them early in life than experiment at work where you have a paycheck and a little family to deal with.

-cb

Quote: Original post by frob

(Ahem, it is "you", not "u". Perhaps the spelling is a by-product of the working at a place where "50% of the people in my company (130ppl in total) are drop out or self taught.")

Yay! sounds like a prima donna ;) or a narrow mind dude :D

Getting the degree is _obviously_ better, BUT not all game development companies hire the same way as Frob commented.

If u're ...whoops...you're...in doubt, go ahead and continue you career, u can't be wrong that way. Cheer up!

Well, I'm glad there was so much input to this issue.

Well, after some meetings with my advisors and program directors, it looks like I won't have to spend an extra year in school, just a couple summer classes. So I'll be finishing it.

But now I ask another question. Next semester I begin my Senior Thesis pre-production. The actual Degree Project runs the course of an entire year. The pre-production course is spent mainly working on story/script/storyboards, which receive a heavy emphasis. However, I would ultimately like to go into modelling/character design (the latter presumably when I've achieved enough prestige to have some influence in those stages) and as far as plot/story goes, I can't say I care much. What are the most important aspects of a Degree Project/demo reel?

I am asking you guys here about these quite serious issues because I feel the faculty at Pratt (at least those I've had) lacks woefully in knowledge in the video game field (or CG in general, though I can't say I myself know enough to judge them). There is a heavy emphasis on fine/experimental art, as opposed to commercial art, which is what most CG is.

Which is why I ask the above question. I enjoy high and medieval fantasy themes, and while I consider myself funny and enjoy humour, couldn't work an entire year on some comedic project. I'd much rather model the gritty warriors I enjoy and animate a fight scene than produce some witty animated humour.

Is a good story important to a DP? Or would I be better served to spend the extra time working on character design/modelling?