Ask CompSci: Where did your CS degree lead you?

BrainInAJar · 1 year

Do you like making a respectable salary that isn't half as much as your classmates ?

Do you like working less than 12 hour days?

Do you like having gaming be fun and not ruined forever ?

If the answer to any of these is yes, shelve the idea of working in games. Playing games is fun, making them is hell. If you work in not-games you can make enough money and have days short enough to still enjoy games.

Abyss_Shadow · 1 year

[deleted]

eaturbrainz · 1 year

DO NOT try to go into video game development. It's a miserable, horrible job.

kokey · 1 year

lots of good coders gets paid peanuts in the video game industry for a while, it's a combination of lots of people wanting to work in that industry and a lot of small startups that try get something developed on a tight budget.

however, if you are good then the money can be pretty decent, but that means you have to be pretty good at it, well above average. if you're going to be average then there might be other industries that will pay much better and might suit your talents better, unless perhaps you take up work doing online casino software.

nmcyall · 1 year

I don't think video game programming is what most people take CS for.

Auxxix · 1 year

I'm currently a Junior going through a CS degree. Growing up I had a passion for programming. To this day I still have a passion for programming. Being a game programmer seems like something that would be fun doing, but in reality, I don't care whether I'm programming for an embedded system or programming the next big hit on the fill in the blank platform.

The biggest struggle I'm having right now is dealing with the math courses. Throughout High School I didn't take very much math, and the math I did take I didn't really hold in. I learned by rote using methods to solve made up questions out of a book and never understood the why. I'd really like to start from square one and take all the basic math over so I can get a better understanding when dealing with Calc II on up. I don't know how I'm going to achieve this, however.

MacTuitui · 1 year

Do you really want to program video games or do you want to take part in the design process of the game? Those are completely different parts of the game industry.

I have a PhD in computer graphics and now I work as a "mad scientist" for a Japanese company (do what I want to do, but do it well and care about applications later - yes it's an amazing job), but a friend of mine (who also got his PhD at the same lab) is now lead graphic programmer for a major game developing studio (also in Japan). He does crazy stuff regarding the graphics engine but has no influence on the gameplay.

So I guess the real point is what you want to do. If you really enjoy programming, well go for it. If you think you might prefer the game design part, being a programmer can help but that's a different field.

Poromenos · 1 year

If you want to be a theoretical computer scientist, take a CS course. If you want to become a video game programmer, program some video games.

TopRamen713 · 1 year

If you want to do video games, get involved in a gaming community or two. Especially mods and map making. This way you have a portfolio when you get out of school.

One of my friends was interviewed for a job working on Starcraft II, just because he's an advanced competitive Starcraft player. He didn't ultimately end up getting the job, because he doesn't have the mathematical understanding that would be required as well (he went for a philosophy degree, and sucks at math), but it is still impressive because they went to him.

dearsomething · 1 year

1) Yes, but you'll be a testing bitch for a while, most likely.

2) I would say a solid 90% of people go into CS because of video games, only to have those hopes crushed by the second semester of sophomore year. Video games aren't easy.

3) Very good - if you can get in, and to the top.

My degree took me to a PhD in cog/neuro. It's way cooler than video games.

0rigin · 1 year

IT support for a major university.

AngledLuffa · 1 year

It worked out okay I guess

Abyss_Shadow · 1 year

I work in the video game industry as a programmer so I'll give your questions a shot.

** 1) Is a CS degree the right way to go to enter the video game industry?**

I have a CS degree and it got my foot in the door, but I know some video game programmers who are self taught. If you go that route make sure to program some games on your own time (can be simple 2D games) to show you know the basics of programming a game.

** 2) Did you enroll in CS to go into video game design?**

Most video game designers I know start out as testers and just have a high school diploma, but it can take a while to work your way up to a designer and testers start out making very low hourly wages.

** 3) How good is the pay for a software programmer in the video game industry as compared to other industries?**

I use to think I was making 10-20k more as a video game programmer, but I have a Java web developer friend who makes 10k more than I do with about the same years of programming experience.

These are biggest pros/cons that battle in my mind when I wonder if I should still work in this industry:

PROS:

Work is challenging and interesting.
You usually work with some very smart cool people.

CONS:

Hours can be brutal at the end of a project.
Volatile industry (I've been laid off twice in the last eight years).

oceanographer · 1 year

1) That really depends on you. 2) Yes, and I that's what I ended up doing. 3) Pay is significantly lower than other fields because everybody and their brother wants to do games. A PM who doesn't know shit about anything will always be paid more than you, but that's true for most fields.

boot20 · 1 year

I went to school to be a coder. I got through grad school with an MS CS, but I found out that I hated being a dev (for a number of reasons). I then moved into being a sys admin (and my pay doubled). I now do consulting work for a software company. I go to customer sites and implement our software and give them customizations that they request. I also show them how to use our software (everything from customizing to packaging msis).

Anyway, my point is take some classes that give you an idea and if you can volunteer to work as a coder over the summer somewhere or go somewhere and give your time to be a sys admin or whatever. You need to find what you want to do, and for the most part, the corporate world sees a CS degree as a degree in IT....so take from that what you will.

dieselcreek2 · 1 year

Network security for the Department of Defense (Navy, specifically). Then, different jobs doing network administration and network security for a contractor, on an Army contract.

The work as a contractor got me over to Korea, halfway around the world from home. Don't have to pay taxes, get a big housing bonus, and some other nice benefits. Plus, I get to work on some big time, expensive enterprise systems that I might not get to use anywhere else. My degree didn't take me down the programming road, but I never really intended it to. The programming-only portions of my degree program were the annoying parts for me.

gaijinX · 1 year

I got a sweet job working in Japan as a game programmer, so yeah it can be done. Studying CS definitely taught me the fundamentals I needed to know (although it depends on the university program), and telling the interviewers about all the cool projects I made in school definitely impressed them. I also had some experience making some (small) games on my own though; if you want to apply for a game company, then I highly recommend programming some stuff outside of class. In Japan, the salary starts out pretty low though, maybe $20-35k a year based on the company. Not sure about other countries.

Eeyore_ · 1 year

My undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science. I work for a big bank. I write Algorithmic Trading and Market Analysis software.

The large majority of CS graduates do not work in gaming.

Game developers are some of the most over worked under payed developers in the industry.

arcticlobo · 1 year

If you want to get into video game programming, a cs degree will suit you well. I would also recommend a second major in physics or mathematics. You may want to look at the resources your cs department offers. Is there a course in graphics? AI? Any professors have experience in the industry?

It is also helpful to do some game programming. Try to focus your class projects into some area related to games. Write a mod or 4 for a game you like.

Money wise, game development does not pay as well as some development fields. A lot of younger developers try to get in, and many have to work longer hours to meet deadlines. I remember when i was job hunting a few years ago and was offered an interview with a big time game company. At first i was like awesome, and then i did some research. The pay was not competative, and there was a class action lawsuit against the company on behalf of developers regarding unpaid overtime. Compared to other jobs for computer scientist it gave me enough reasons to not even bother with an interview.

If you want to go into games, do it. Do what you love but be prepared to pay the price to work in an industry that can be selective in who they hire and may not need to treat you as well as other industries

nofrak · 1 year

Elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, I love programming - in fact I'm doing it right now - but I find that I'm more useful in another field (public policy) where I can actually fully utilize a computer while everybody else can only push buttons and pray that the numbers on their screen mean what they think they mean.

Abyss_Shadow · 1 year

1) CS definitely is a good way to go. However, straight out of college, it will be tough. I would definitely recommend something like http://www.fiea.ucf.edu/joomla/ if you can afford it. It seems like an amazing program!

2) I guess. I really just wanted to program.

3) From what I can tell, the pay is garbage. I have a graduate degree in CS and was recently offered a temporary position with a small game development company as an "intern" for a whopping $10 an hour. As fun as that would be, I couldn't even make my student loan payments.

You're in a good spot right now. I would definitely recommend finding some sort of related internship (asap!!) and taking electives geared towards graphics programming and that sort of thing. Good luck, you can do it! :)

FlyingBishop · 1 year

It was odd. Yes, but by the time I'd finished my degree I had decided games were a frivolous pursuit, and started searching for other things to dedicate my time to.

Right now I'm a sysadmin/db programmer, we'll see how that pans out.

seabre · 1 year

It doesn't hurt. Minor or double major in math if you can..the calculus sequence, linear algebra, and differential eq. will be especially useful..
No.
From what I hear. Not too awesome.

thephotoman · 1 year

Probably not, but I have a friend that came into video games through an interest in computer graphics and AI. He was working on an Imagine Cup finalist project towards the end of last year.
Personally, no. I came in wanting to make more utilitarian programs. I've got nothing against video games, and wouldn't mind moving to that part of the industry, but frankly, I just want a problem to solve. In fact, I came in through an interest in open source. I play video games, but it's not what got me in the door.
If you can get in, the pay's good.

skeeto · 1 year

I got a degree in computer engineering and after college I started my career at (another) university laboratory. The closest I get to video game programming is an OpenGL-rendered simulation that looks a bit like Google Earth, but I don't work on that very much. Much of my current work is simulation and data reduction (i.e. converting weird field data people throw at us into a format our tools can use).

I started programming at age 10 and thought game programming would be a fun thing to go into, until I was about 16 and my programming interests had expanded beyond games. Pretty much all of my early programs were games, but I haven't written any sort of computer game since I was a kid. Similar to what Auxxix said above, I just have a passion for programming. So I didn't go into college with an interest in games. I'd imagine if that was your end goal, and all you really cared about, you'll probably get pretty bored with your classes. What you'll learn in college will be more theoretical than practical and the programs you write for classes won't be games.

shaurz · 1 year

I graduated in 2008 and I now work at a hardware IP company developing development and debugging tools.

sindrit · 1 year

Simple fact based answers without adding my opinions to it:

1) Yes, a CS degree will definitely be relevant to working as a computer game programmer.

2) No, I dropped out of Physics and had found the required CS1 course I did as part of that interesting. Looking back this was the right thing to do.

3) The pay for programmers is generally inversely proportional to how interesting the programs you write are. Financial institutions tend to pay programmers well, independent software vendors slightly less, etc. The games industry is pretty much the bottom of that list. I expect the best paid programmers in the games industry do have a CS degree.

Edit: I work as a programmer @ a software vendor making enterprise content management systems.

agbullet · 1 year

I like that you have a clear idea of what you'd like to do for a career, however at the risk of sounding like a discouraging asshole, some points bear repeating:

Just because you enjoy playing games doesn't mean you'll enjoy developing them. Now I don't work in the gaming industry, but it's not a long shot to imagine the SDLC being similar to any other large project in the non-gaming world. Behind the gloss and glamour of a AAA game lies thousands, if not millions of lines of code which aren't "fun". The networking code, for example. The server browser. Maybe you get stuck with debugging fucked-up normals in the bump-mapping code. It's not much different from any other dev job.
If you're thinking of the "fun" bits, you might be thinking of a game designer. If your idea of game development was coming up with gameplay ideas and new weapons and stuff, your ambition is misplaced.
Somewhere else in this thread someone asked you to get more involved in gaming communities - especially modding and map-making - and you replied that you were a WoW raid leader once. I don't think that really counts.
Beyond your theoretical subjects and the general java classes which you find "very interesting", do you have any programming background at all? If not, you could consider picking up some stuff on your own; because depending on your CS course to teach you Java isn't going to get you an inch into any dev studio (as a developer).

trukin · 1 year

tl;dr gaming industry for computer scientists is horrible

Tim_M · 1 year

If you want to get into video games then don't do CS but a video games course. Here in NZ we have this and there is probably something similar in your country.

__mlm__ · 1 year

"Like a majority of the people entering a CS program I did so intending to program video games." I'm not sure this is true. Over 50% of the people entering CS programs do so because they hope to write games?

RedSpikeyThing · 1 year

Currently finishing off my Master's in CS and will be starting a full-time software engineering position at a major company in the fall.

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