Hello everyone!

I've got a question: What is the best way to get into the game industry with my background?

I've been stressing about this for a couple of weeks now, and everytime I think I have found the perfect solution.

Okay let me tell you a bit about my background.

I'm 23, live in the Netherlands and I just received my Vocational Degree in Game Programming. The course was mostly about Unity, Scrum and some core programming stuff. I used my free time to work on a wide variety of projects. I taught myself Python, PHP, SQL, ASP.NET, Node.JS and more. Currently I'm learning C++.
I enjoy programming games because it is challenging and rewarding. I worked in teams ( During school but also after school ) of programmers and artists.

Now I have to decide whether I want to pursue a Bsc degree or if I want to get a job.
Right now I have two vocational degrees, One in IT and one in Game Programming.
My degree in IT is my safety rope, but if I want to get a bachelor's degree that would mean I have to abandon that safety rope because I will be overqualified for most jobs.
I got a degree in IT because that is something I also really enjoy doing ( Service desk stuff, helping people. )
If I would decide to abandon the idea of becoming a game programmer then I would pursue a career in IT to become a System Administrator. But like I said, getting a bachelor means giving up on that safety rope because I would become overqualified.

Currently I’m able to join a course for game programming at University A or join a course in software engineering at University B.

University A has teachers who actually worked in the game industry, some of which have worked at a AAA studio. There I’ll learn stuff like graphics programming, 3D Mathematics, engine programming but also stuff like console programming. University A claims that almost all graduates land a job in the game industry and the small percentage who don’t start their own indie studio. I tried to confirm this claim by looking up alumni on linkedin and I still have mixed feelings about their claim. They do not accept everyone though, it’s hard to get accepted.

University B is more general, their teachers have either just graduated and started teaching immediately or have worked in the professional field for a couple of years and started teaching after that. and the course is something you can expect from other software engineering courses.

I have found a couple of job openings at a couple of indie studio’s that completely match my background. But because I want to eventually get into a AAA game studio I’m not sure if this will be the right choice because that means I won’t have a bachelor's degree if I chose this route.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to get into a AAA company and get mixed answers, some people say: “Your degree does not matter, your portfolio does” and some people say: “Employers prefer someone with at least a computer science degree and a portfolio over someone with no bachelors degree at all”

I also have read a lot about people saying that you shouldn’t get a Bachelor major in game programming because that will make it harder to get a software development job outside of the game industry and employers will still favor someone with a computer science major because they have more in depth knowledge.

At this very moment I have a couple of options available:
1. Abandon the safety rope and go all in on getting a Bachelor’s degree.
2. Get a job at an indie studio that works with Unity and teach myself C++ on the side and do more freelance projects and make games using C++ and other engines.
3. Get a job in IT and do the same on the side as in option 2.

I already knew It would be quite challenging to get into the game industry, what caught me of guard is the fact that you need to have a bachelor's degree to be able to land a job as a software developer ( some AAA studio’s require it and most software development companies like FAANG require it. )

It’s a lot of text, and I understand there is no straight answer to this. But at this moment because there are so many options I just don’t know what to do anymore.
Money is not an issue, the only thing I’m worried about is not having a safety rope/net and my age ( Yes, I know I’m young but if I go to University it would mean I will be 27 when I graduate and want to land my first full time job )

I appreciate any help!
Thanks in advance! :)

Well, first things first, the two most known game engines are Unity and Unreal, one is written in c#, the other c++.

It's best if you have a kind of portfolio, like a voice actor and his voice reel to showcase his abilities.

I would strongly recommend having a look at the devlog for a game called “Road to Vostok” on YouTube, the person behind the game and his story, as well as progress, is quite remarkable.

There is no golden ticket into the game industry, you can watch some documentaries on indie game designers, their stories surely will provide some insight.

Now as for a Bachelor's degree, it is a door knocker or a basic requirement for certain positions, further education will affect future career trajectory.

However, it seems to me that you haven't taken the plunge to get your feet wet. Now, mind you, I am not the sorts who believe in “Either swim or sink”, some sort of guidance should be provided.

It seems like you would dedicate yourself to becoming a programmer, but there are different roles in the industry, unless you are going indie solo, networking and interpersonal skills are going to be essential, especially in a triple-A studio.

You really should try your hands at some game jams first, it is totally understandable that you want to aim as high as possible, by getting into AAA, though it wouldn't hurt to take one step at a time.

Use Linkedin, Indeed or Fiverr, post your resume and talk to HR and potential customers and employers. Digital nomad and remote work are a thing.

You need to truly get your feet wet, not being an armchair traveller, daydreaming of what's to come.

I was 27 when I strated working too, the age thing is not as much as a blocker as you think it will be. Even if you do go for the Bachelors you can always still become a Sys admin, having a higher education is not stopping you from doing that stuff you already know how that works. I did go for the Bsc(Normal CS) and MSc(Games Programming) even in the end but in my time the indie stuff had just started. The one thing I will say is make sure that the people that teach you know what they are talking about, I had really good teachers in my MSc. The indie job is definetly a path to becoming an AAA programmer and its likely you will actually do more interesting work than in AAA. AAA is extremely specialised at the moment specially at the higher end studios. But it will take time in the same way that they BSc. will take, experience and doing the things and achieving them is something thats prefered more in games than actual education.

I have worked with people that didnt do any higher education too and it really doesnt matter all that much except for landing your first job where it might be a minus point but if you can show really strong profiency in programmer that is what matters more to be honest. Some of these people are much better programmers than me and have thought me a lot of things.

Once you have some experience in the games industry the whole question of education is less important since you already have done this job so you have kind of shown that you can do this. Also even though a position says we want “X” that is not neccesarily a hard requirement, I have applied to job roles when I started that I definitely didnt have the experience for but still got the interview. A portifolio helps with this specially in the beginning and I would embedd this in your CV/Resume somewhere. Cover letters don't always reach the person that will interview you the CV/Resume will.

On the topic of learning C++ I mostly did that myself during internships for my Bachelors degree, once you know how to actually program in C# or any other language C++ is not that much harder. You have already learned the hard bit which is how do I solve a problem with code so that the CPU does what I want it to do. The really different thing with C++ is that you manage everything yourself (this is where pointers and RAII come in), although even here lots of change has happened over the years with things like make_unique and make_shared, which are used in games btw.

I'd get the Bachlors in CS.

Too many game degrees are marketed as the golden ticket in. Once people graduate, they find out that the games degree is too specialized to do anything else, and people outside the industry don't know what to do with you.

Depending on your bandwidth, you should be working on your portfolio all the time your in school. Join an indie team.

Not going to speculate whether a company would hire you without a degree, but I can say for sure that a degree in computer science would teach you skills that would be hard to acquire through other means. I think that's the key to a CS degree, not the piece of paper you get at the end.

Regarding your possible options, option A sounds like it would teach you more valuable skills from what you've explained. You say option B teaches you software engineering. Does that mean it doesn't teach you computer science but rather just programming and software engineering practices (teamwork, refactoring, architecture etc)? If that's the case, those things are actually more suitable to learn once you get a job or work on side projects. Not that those things are easier to learn, but they are more practical in nature and practical things are easier to learn in the real world whereas theoretical subjects are more suitable to a classroom.

I don't think your backup plan makes much sense. First I doubt you could be overqualified for many IT jobs. Secondly a system administrator is not necessarily more employable than a games programmer, and certainly not more employable than a programmer outside of games. So I think if you have an interest in programming/CS you would be shooting yourself in the foot by picking a “safe” option that is actually no more safe than the other option (and probably a lot more boring if you like problem solving).