Programming qualifications and career paths

Question

Hello, folks

I'm not quite sure if this question is strictly correct for SO, but i know you guys can help. If it isn't however, no hard feelings about voting to lock.

I am very interested in learning to program, and it's been my hobby for a good while. I have the fiscal oppertunity right now to take a long-distance learning course, so i'm looking around for good options. There's no way i can go to real classes full-time, this is a case of wanting to learn something primarily for fun, and since i have the rare oppertunity to pour some cash into a real qualification in my hobby, i want to make it matter (so that in theory, if i really do get into this in a bigger way, i will have something to work with and help me down the line in a career).

I'm liking the look of this

however i'm not sure what this qualification even if. I want the course i take to be fun, as well as interesting. I don't want to make cataloguing software for 4 years straight, but i want it to contain some juicy math and going into a lot of depth into an interesting and practical language (i've been learning C++). I really don't want to do anything web based yet, i don't know why, it just doesn't appeal to me.

My question(s):

• Is the ICS/GES (Gatlin Education Services) Certificate in Video Game Design and Development relevent, or heard of, has anybody taken this? Any comments?

• Could anybody help point me to any other distance learning courses that might be of interest, and roughly fit my criteria, that are reccomended?

Please note i'm in the UK (narrows my options a tad).

Thanks.

Answer 1

MIT makes available a large number of courses through OpenCourseWare. The Computer Science related courses can be found here. Stanford does something similar with their Engineering Everywhere program. As does Berkley. You can also access a lot of this information via iTunesU.

Answer 2

I do not know much about the game design and development field itself, nor have I heard of the ICS/GES Certificate. However, because you are in the UK, have you taken a look at this?

http://www.developmag.com/news/31907/Tiga-to-partner-in-UK-game-design-course

I have to assume you're looking at game design primarily as the link you provide deals with mainly that. Are there other things you are looking to do with programming? If so, going strictly into game design is probably not your best bet, as its a fairly narrow (although fairly difficult) field.

Answer 3

I think getting into a more formal program (i.e. Computer Science) will be of greater benefit in the long run. You will learn to program some, but you will also learn about computer hardware, software engineering practices, algorithms, etc... which create a good foundation to become a good programmer.

You could then start some programming projects on the side and probably learn much more than you would have in any given class.

Answer 4

I agree with what has been said already. However, please be also cautioned by the fact that as of this writing there's a global recession. The gaming market has taken a huge hit and there are some very big-name companies going into the bit bucket right now. Others are having to merge their talent/capital/resources AND eliminate a good portion of staff just to survive. Gaming is one of those things that thrives when everyone is thriving. It tanks directly proportionate to the economy.

So if you enjoy food, electricity and gas for your car, you may want to focus on other types of programming first and supplement your learning with gaming software on the side. IE: Learn to develop enterprise software in one of the more common non-gaming languages now (.NET, Java, etc.), and do the gaming development as a hobby. At least until the world pulls itself out of the mire it's in right now. You'll be learning solid OOP principles that will definitely carry over into gaming languages.

My humble $0.02 as an enterprise app architect/developer and a gamer. I trust you'll do well whatever you choose!

Answer 5

I don't know if you've done much research into the gaming industry, but it's generally the case that games industry employees (in the UK) work longer hours, for less money, than any other programming professionals.

I took a CS degree with the original intention of working for a games company. After learning a bit more about the industry, I changed my mind. For that reason alone, I'd recommend against anyone doing a degree which is too focussed specifically on game development.