How many of you people who actually know a thing or two about game programming either went to college for computer science or have/had a job as a programmer? And how many are self taught, with little to no professional programming background?

All of the above.

- Taught myself BASIC and C from elementary to high school.

- Got a 4 year degree at Oregon Tech in software engineering. Their courses focus on C++, with a tiny bit of x86 assembly.

- Taught myself C# during college.

- Have been working at a game development studio for a little over 5 years now.

- Teaching myself F# in my free time.

First programming language I learned was Hypertalk, around when Hypercard was released (early 80s). I taught myself other languages and software development techniques until I went to college, where I studied computer science, and learned that much of what I thought I knew was wrong. I studied computer science and game development formally in college for four years, then I got a real job, where I learned that much of what I thought I knew was wrong.

Et cetera.

I actually went to college for computer engineering. We had a few basic CS courses, but the majority of what I learned regarding programming was self-taught. I've been working as a professional programmer for about 2 years now.

Self taught, no education to speak of, and a job.

(Not a combination I recommend, by the way [wink])

Self taught first, then university (software engineering), then games job, then boring programming job, then games job again ;)

Self-taught, went to college to make things "official." Now I work for Symantec.

Self taught (with Qbasic, asm, C) starting before highschool. Went to college for a CS degree. While at college, I interned making nuclear simulation software. Got a game job right out of college, now with 2 shipped titles.

Self motivation really is key. School doesn't really teach you all the things you need to know. The CS degrees tend to miss out on some of the specifics to game programming. And the game colleges tend to miss out on some of the specifics of CS. Companies swing either way on that. Some prefer CS, some prefer game schools. I'd personally lean towards CS still, since you aren't locked into game programming at that point. But i work with really good programmers from Fullsail, so the game degrees can work if you are motivated to follow them through.

The self taught thing also doesn't end. The schooling usually does (no time for it once you have a job). School is important for making things "official" to prove to everyone else you have team skills and motivation. After school is gone, maybe you attend the occasional symposium (GDC, E3, CES), but it is up to you to keep learning about all the new techniques and technology, or you will fall behind.

I started off messing around when I was younger and taught myself starting with QBasic and moving on to Visual Basic and later C++. I've since done a Diploma course where we learned C, Java and a bit of basic ActionScript and asm, and a degree course where we used C++ and Java. As some of the others have said, continued self learning is important, and I've picked up some Python, &#106avascript and an assortment of web related languages and technologies along the way.

I've never had (or tried to get) a 'proper' job as a programmer, but I do some freelance work programming and doing web-design on the side. I have done a 'proper' job as a network admin based on the qualifications from the same study.



Since you've asked this question you might be interested in one of Promit's latest posts:

Quote: from Ventspace: Screw Degrees! Right?

A few months ago, I pushed for GameDev.Net to add a new forum, Breaking into the Games Industry. Overall, this has been a great place and some excellent discussion has happened there. I've noticed one particular trend though, and I wanted to discuss it a little bit. Basically, there's a surprisingly large number of people who are either dubious of a degree (computer science or otherwise), or actively believe it's not needed. This particularly eloquent fellow may have summed it up best:

Quote: sure stay in school for your deplomas, in my apionon unless you wanting to work for others its a complete wast of valuable time.

I'd like to provide some commentary, as someone who actually got a game industry job without a degree, and who just finished his degree.

As usual, the rest of the post is available on Ventspace. This way, I get to actually track statistics!

The replies to this thread so far seem to support what he says in the post, and I think will likely continue to do so.

Quote: Original post by ApochPiQ
Self taught, no education to speak of, and a job.

(Not a combination I recommend, by the way [wink])

Me too (to both sentences), but I'd not recommend it if you want to get in the game industry. You'll at least need that piece of paper, unless you're really good and can show some solid projects to interviewers.

I did manage to get into the industry without a degree by sheer tenacity, but that would be difficult these days.

I've been writing code since 1980 and doing it as a job for about 15 years. I'm strictly an indie now and will probably never work for another pro studio again as I've been spoiled by C# and won't use C++ again. Until C# becomes commonly used in the industry I'll just have to get by as an indie. [grin]