So, I've been trying to break into any industry that could use a programmer for a while now, and I figured, with success rates on both sides being zero, I might as well go for the job I want more than the other. At this point, why not?

So, to give a little background:

I went to a school with a supposed high degree of hire after graduation. At the time, it seemed solid. The tuition was expensive, which made me think that it would be a quality eduction. Unfortunately, though, it appears that a degree from his particular university is a death sentence to your career as a programmer. Despite having a Batchelor's Degree in Computer Science, I still have no job experience and no one wants to hire me.

I graduated in Spring of 2016.

Since, I've been basically working dead-end jobs chasing dead lead after dead lead on how to get noticed by anyone who's hiring, and nothing's worked. So, because I have passion, ideas, and (probably) the programming skills for game development, I might as well give it a shot.

So, I currently find myself at a dilemma. I have 2 options right now... I can go back to grad school, or try to build a portfolio by myself.

And, I wanted to see if anyone had experience with this to see if I could determine what would be better for my situation. Grad school looks good - a Master's Degree sounds good, and typically means that you know your stuff. However, it's very expensive, and 2 more years of schooling is something I am most definitely not looking forward to. Especially considering the state of a lot of American universities.

But, on the other hand, a portfolio isn't a guarantee either. While I can work on it for free after coming home from yet another dead-end job, I'm not sure how much of a bearing it will actually have on my career, and I don't know what kind of things bode well for a portfolio at all. Further, I would have to come up with some.... smaller ideas. I mean, I feel like I have great ideas, but the problem with a lot of them is scale. I know that. I know that I can't pull them off on my own, and I've shelved them in the meantime, and I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that in the first few years of employment, I'll get anywhere close enough to having the manpower I'd need at my disposal to do it. Heck, I know it could be a decade or more of nose-to-the-grindstone work before I can muster up enough resources, if I ever will.

Regardless, I don't know at this point, whether a Master's Degree or banking on a Portfolio is the more risky option here. So, maybe if an industry veteran or two could weigh in, maybe I could get a bit better of a perspective and see just where I should go from here.

A degree on its own is rarely going to get you into the games industry as a programmer. It's widely expected that you will have some sort of portfolio or sample work to be able to show as well. You do not need to assemble a team, and you certainly do not have to spend a decade on it. Just make some simple games to prove that you (a) understand the basics of game development, and (b) that you can actually program. Nobody cares about your ideas, just that you know enough about coding games to be an asset on the team.

So, pick some simple things, like 80s arcade games or the kind of thing people make for modern game-jams, and get coding.

PS. Don't say "the programming skills for game design" because game design is not programming. Programming is part of game development but design is a separate discipline, like art, audio, etc.

9 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

Breaking into the Industry with a Bad Degree - Can it be Done?

With 2 exceptions we don't need to talk about, "anything is possible."

9 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

it appears that a degree from his particular university is a death sentence to your career as a programmer.

Now that you've said that, you have to tell us what on earth you're talking about. ITT Tech? Corinthian?

11 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

I've been basically working dead-end jobs chasing dead lead after dead lead on how to get noticed by anyone who's hiring, and nothing's worked.

Just curious, how many of the 10 dumb tricks have you done? How many of the 10 smart tricks?

11 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

I have 2 options right now... I can go back to grad school, or try to build a portfolio by myself.

Those aren't your only or best options. Building a portfolio doesn't have to be a solitary endeavor, for one. The portfolio is probably the best choice. Grad school has its pros and cons.  

11 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

I don't know at this point, whether a Master's Degree or banking on a Portfolio is the more risky option here.

I recommend you make a decision grid.  

1 hour ago, rcrawford115 said:

a Master's Degree sounds good, and typically means that you know your stuff

I'd hazard that the majority of software engineers don't have Masters degrees. I picked one up because I could do it in one year (it was a combined 5 year program with my Bachelors), but most of the engineers I meet and/or work with do not have one. You learn a lot of interesting stuff in a CS Masters program, but most of it is theoretical and not necessarily applicable to day-to-day software development. If I were doing it over again, I probably wouldn't have taken on the extra $20,000 in student debt (despite scholarships), and just taught myself the pieces I needed to know.

1 hour ago, Kylotan said:

PS. Don't say "the programming skills for game design" because game design is not programming. Programming is part of game development but design is a separate discipline, like art, audio, etc.

Yeah, sometimes I don't say what I mean on the first pass - before your post went up, I changed it to "the programming skills for game development." I thought I typed development on the initial draft, but I guess I was wrong.

And, really I wanted to also convey that I know my ideas won't mean much of anything in the industry unless I was going to develop independently, and then.... well, I'm not going to risk my financial stability doing that full-time.

1 hour ago, Tom Sloper said:

Now that you've said that, you have to tell us what on earth you're talking about. ITT Tech? Corinthian?

I've been chasing down any lead that I possibly can, that I have the basic understanding of. IT jobs, database management, software engineering, tech support, and c++ programmer are all job titles that I've applied for after I started getting desperate for work, where I was mostly applying for software engineering positions before then. I applied to everything and anything I could find that listed a computer science degree in the requirements. It's gotten so bad, and the amount of jobs that I actually meet all the requirements for were so slim, I started applying to the ones that required experience (of which, I have none). Even the companies that I was told by career development work with the university to bring in newcomers to the industry didn't want me. What their reasoning is, I can' the certain because, even though I apply exactly as stated on the website, I hear silence for months until I just give up on them.

Not even the headhunting agencies stick with me. They'll just stop contacting me and answering my emails after a while, so I have absolutely no idea what's going wrong. I've had at least 10 people in career development or headhunting agencies look at my resumes and cover letters, and none of them see anything wrong. So, I have to assume it's my degree. I mean... I can't think of anything else it would be at this point.

1 hour ago, Tom Sloper said:

Just curious, how many of the 10 dumb tricks have you done? How many of the 10 smart tricks?

Well, I hadn't seen this page before, but the 10 dumb tricks doesn't sound like me. I'm well aware that I'm not owed a job just because I graduated from a 4-year program, and I know I have to work for it. And, most of this is common sense - I had most of these resume and email basics down near the beginning of college, if not at least halfway through. I mean, other than the fact that I may email a bit more often than recommended, when possible. I mean, networking is probably an issue of mine as well, because I was in a bad situation for the past year. It's a... messy situation with a roommate that I'd rather not get into right now for the sake of relevance. Most of them are attitude adjustments that I don't think are necessary. If anything, you could argue I have a lack of confidence, but I surely don't let it bleed into my cover letters and applications, and I never let it stop me from applying.

However, the 10 smart tricks page has a few things that I don't. I don't have a network, or experience. A lot of the basics, you know, resume, cover letter, appropriate subject lines, things like that, I've been assured are fine by a lot of people I'm lead to believe are in touch with the the people I'm applying to. I don't have a portfolio of my own projects either. For a while, one of the tips someone gave me was to learn a new language, which I found out later is a bad choice. Or maybe it isn't. At this point, I really am just confused on what I'm doing wrong other than not already having a job.

1 hour ago, Tom Sloper said:

Those aren't your only or best options. Building a portfolio doesn't have to be a solitary endeavor, for one. The portfolio is probably the best choice. Grad school has its pros and cons.  

I'm intrigued to see what you mean by saying it doesn't have to be done by itself. I'd be open to anything else I could be doing at the same time. And, also, if you have other steps I can take, I'll listen. At this point, I can't afford to refuse advice, especially not from someone with industry experience.

13 minutes ago, rcrawford115 said:

I don't have a portfolio of my own projects either.

Fix this. If I'm going to hire someone, I need proof they can do the job. A degree gives me more confidence, but I won't hire you without any evidence you can actually code.

You can have something worth showing in your portfolio just by spending a weekend on it. Spend a few weekends, and it might even be a good one.

3 hours ago, rcrawford115 said:

So, I've been trying to break into any industry that could use a programmer for a while now

I just noticed that your question isn't necessarily specific to the games industry. Looking outside the games industry changes things a little.

Portfolios are valued highly in the games industry, but they are far less common in the rest of the software industry. Startups will often want to see an active github profile with a history of open source contributions. Big companies mostly want to evaluate you themselves via whiteboard coding interviews.

What country/state/province do you live in? Location unfortunately can have a big impact on the availability of tech jobs.

2 hours ago, rcrawford115 said:

So, I have to assume it's my degree. I mean... I can't think of anything else it would be at this point.

The degree just ticks a box to get you past HR. The actual people evaluating your application (e.g. Lead programmer) don't care what school it's from; they want to look over your portfolio. This isn't helpful, but, if you could go back in time, you should've been working on a portfolio the entire time you were earning your degree.

If you already have a CompSci degree, then you should probably focus on the experience and portfolio side. Most job postings I see ask for at least a 4-year math/engineering degree, so you should already be good to go there (even if it's not a super prestigious school).

But the degree alone is not going to get you hired (even if it will open some doors and/or stop your resume from being trashed). So, yeah, work on some projects. Open-source is a good idea, I've been asked for source code in interviews and having something on github would be sweet, assuming the code is a good example of your skills. Making an indie game, even something simple or even if it doesn't make much money, would probably help to get you some experience and also something to put in a demo reel or send to potential employers.

It doesn't even have to be a full game, for example, if you are going for a graphics coding position, maybe a sweet graphics demo (ala a 64k intro) could be enough to gain some interest, etc. Just depends what you are going for. If you want to do gameplay programming, maybe a game with simple polygon graphics like Super Hexagon or something would be fine if the gameplay was solid. People usually say to start with classic clones, like doing Breakout or Space Invaders. I think this is good advice to learn, but you will probably need something more advanced to get hired. But it's a good place to start if you haven't really done much game coding at all. Then build up your skills and try something a little more original or ambitious to make a name for yourself. Like anything else, it takes time and effort, and no one will believe you have the skills until you prove yourself. Good luck!