Hello. I''m facing a pretty large decision and I''m not sure if I''m informed enough to make it. I''m enlisting your aid to complete it! I am currently attending Illinois State University, with two semesters remaining after the current semester before graduation. My major is applied computer science. So far, I''m completely disgusted with the quality of education. I don''t feel like I''ve learned much from school and don''t see much more coming my way in 5 of the last 9 classes. The classes I have left are communications 223: small group processes, biology 197 - molecular and cellular, english 249: technical writing, MQM 220: statistics, General studies elective (a philosophy or history class), acs 388: distributed processing, acs 383: principles of OS''s, acs 279: algorithms and data structures, acs elective (could get AI or user interface design, but UID is done in VB). The computer science classes could be good. The others.... Anyway, I''m thinking about leaving ISU and going to Fullsail for a degree in game design. Do you people think that the game design degree would be more influential for getting me into the job market or should I stick out the half-arsed attempt at education ISU is giving? A quick tidbit. I want to stress that my classes barely prepare me for anything! I''m doing my 3rd IT job currently (applications development), and am apalled at how useless 90% of my univ. education really is. I am a true believer in experience over education. I''m doing an independent studies project for the univ. honors program and it involves the development of a rudimentary 3D game engine. Also, I don''t think that graduating, then going is a very good option because that would make me more prone to taking a rotten job in an office because they offered me 60K/yr... Give me any thoughts you have, or ask any questions so you can help me better! Yours might be bigger. Yours might be harder. BUT, mine is multi textured, bump-mapped, pixel shaded & fully user customizable!

You''ve got one more year? Just finish it. And no offense, your education seems useless in the IT sector because most of the IT sector is not very advanced. Chances are your job is an easy one. When you work in an evironment that''s actually developing complex software or developing new approaches to a problem, you''ll be very glad you had that ''useless'' university education.

I currently work for the 2nd largest insurance company in the world, and previously worked for a company voted Best place to work for IT.

The companies are definitely advanced.

As far as my job being easy... Perhaps. I''ve only worked for 2 large companies and one small firm.

It seems to me that it is my university education, with it curricula based on 5-10 year old standards and classes is non-advanced party.

Thanks for the input, though. I''m still contemplating it all, anyway!

Yours might be bigger. Yours might be harder. BUT, mine is multi textured, bump-mapped, pixel shaded & fully user customizable!

I cannot guarantee it, but I believe your standard University degree will carry better weight. Game companies are still companies and still look at credentials the same as any other company. A degree from a fully-accredited University will likely be considered just as well as (if not better?) than a degree from a gaming institute.

Honestly though, it would help if I knew more about Fullsail. I''d just finish your current degree though. And if you think Fullsail would really give you that much more of an edge, and you REALLY just want to work in the game industry, I''d look into attendance post-graduation and in the meantime apply to a whole bunch of game companies. There''s nothing that says you cannot apply while trying to attend. Heck, if you wanted you could work a job, try to attend Fullsail and send out a bunch of resumes to game companies and tremendously improve your chances of getting the job you want.

Charles Galyon

quote: Original post by camcbri
I currently work for the 2nd largest insurance company in the world, and previously worked for a company voted Best place to work for IT.

The companies are definitely advanced.

Well, we just have different definitions I guess. Compare working in the insurance industry (not very technically advanced, really) to working on software for, say, GPS or gigabit ethernet.

It may be difficult to land a game related job right out of college, but you should DEFFINTLY finish the cs degree. SO MANY companies look for that these days because tech related people aren''t as scarce as they once were. Also in the future that cs degree may be the difference between you and the other guy.


My recommendation, finsih up at ISU, or transfer to another university that has a more reputable cs major.
Once you''ve finished your degree, you may want to persue that game design at Fullsail, to my knowledge Fullsail isn''t really a recognized name. Also no non game company is going to care about the degree, but every company respects and pays for a CS degree. You may not be learning anything but you''ll have all the money you need to get by.

p.s. I love getting honors credit for programming game engines, i''m doing it right now

-Scott "ORBIT" Markwell

Your points are all definitely well taken.

I keep remembering something I read that went like "the degree can get you the job, but knowing what to do will keep it." The actual hands on experience of a fullsail or digipen looks mighty attractive.

I hate feeling like I''m wasting time & money, and I don''t like to feel incompetent. I, for one, could not handle getting a job and showing up but not having a clue how to do it!

I suppose you just don''t accept offers where you don''t have a clue! The one recurring theme is that my edu hasn''t prepped me for accepting ANY jobs.

Another reason I''m pining to swap schools is my age. I''m already 24 and I would like to be done with school and get a job I enjoy. I think about staying here for a year+, leaving, going to another school for a year+ and I''ll be almost 28. There is no age limit on desire, I know.

Anyway, you''ve now added a third option. I''ll search for a school for transfer with a more reputable CS degree or a program of study closer to my interests.

It seems to me that if you''re that close to being finished, it would be a shame to not go the whole way. FullSail will still be there once you have your degree, and having a complete CS degree might open a lot more doors for you in the future than you can imagine in the present. Not to mention that it might not look so good to a future employer that you chose not to finish something you started. But these are just opinions...

R.

quote: Original post by camcbri
Another reason I''m pining to swap schools is my age. I''m already 24 and I would like to be done with school and get a job I enjoy. I think about staying here for a year+, leaving, going to another school for a year+ and I''ll be almost 28. There is no age limit on desire, I know.

Weigh that against quitting now, then discovering at 30 that you should have gotten your degree and trying to go back to school, hoping that you won''t have to retake too many classes that you already took.

As much as you might hate it right now, it would be worse later.

One thing you could look into is taking some physics classes at ISU. I graduated from there many years ago, and know that the phyics department has a very strong computational bend. Game companies like people with physics backgrounds. I have worked for two different ones without a CS degree.