Is uni worth it nowadays?

[real onyx]

Hi everyone,
I’m a 19yo wannabe gamedev. For the past 8 months I’ve been making my game engine, and recently decided to try out vulkan and dive into graphics, and loved it. And so im working on a somewhat moderns vulkan renderer rn, very much WIP right now tho.
And from my perspective I have 2 paths now:

• Continue to develop my engine and game, and continue to apply to any remotely relevant game/engine developer or renderer developer junior role I find.
• Go to uni (one in mind for me now is BUAS CMGT), do bachelors and go from there.

The main drawback from going to uni is fuds, and by my rough calculations it will cost my family around 50-60k euros, which we think is affordable, but barely. I know that there is this thing called DUO and student financing, but for that I need to work a minimum of 32 hours a month on top of studying, and from what I’ve read online BUAS CMGT is pretty intense, so idk I I will be able to both work and study and not completely burnout in a couple of months.

And im not sure which way I should go, uni seems cool, networking, connections and all that, but 50k is 50k.

How slim are my chances to get a graphics or engine related job in the near future without going to uni? Thoughts?

Engine repo: https://github.com/Salio24/CoriEngine
Game repo (more of a engine demo): https://github.com/Salio24/VoidScape

[vapid oriole]

depends

where do you live, where do you wanna work, what position?

[regal geyser]

I'm self taught, but I'm very lucky to live in one of the major game development hubs. I would probably have struggled to find my first job if I didn't. I also think BUAS specifically looks incredible. The fact that the students get access to console devkits is a nice bonus. Everything I've seen coming from that school looks solid. If I could go back all the way to when I was 19, I would go there for sure. I wouldn't do self-taught again unless I had to and I lived near one of the big hubs

[real onyx]

im currently in Latvia, but i will move either way as the education and IT marked here is nearly dead. I don't really aim for a specific company, somewhere in the gaming sphere likely, that all (i would like to work at valve sure, but thats not happening in the next 10 year of my life for sure xD). Speaking of position, game engine/tools/rendering developer, more interested in graphics tho.

[real onyx]

fair enough, well and im pretty far from a big hub. One of the big advantages of going to breda now for me is finally moving from my home village, it has 15k population an literally nothing happens here, feels like a dead town.

[vapid oriole]

latvia?

brother

do college

corps arent hiring people from latvia without a degree even if you're overqualified and better than everyone

or even, any foreigners at all

college will open many doors for you

I'll dm you a vid that summarizes it pretty well

[vapid oriole]

you can definitely hired, dont get me wrong, but the quality is usually lower and prob all the places you have in mind will require a degree

[north mirage]

I will speak very general and from my own experience. Uni is always worth it if you make the correct decisions and are active and not just aiming for the degree. Studying computer science or software engineering while you are networking with the uni’s cg professors and also working on your engine is a fantastic tool for later in your career. From joining a project happening in the uni to meeting someone from the industry through the uni the possibilities are much better than trying alone. As you said 50k is 50k but the struggle learning everything solo and then competing with degree holders is harder if I may say. Partly because you will have to show a much better portofolio if you dont have any other qualifications (again this is my opinion not an industry rule)

[urban oar]

before you ask such question, look up the uni you can enroll to and look up their program. See for yourself if you are really going to learn new experience of just throw away 50K which tbh.. that's a heck lot of money! You could start you own indie studio with that money!

[deep hornet]

I went to BUAS for 2 weeks, dropped out, and got a graphics programmer job in AAA a year later (with the help of having a little gltf renderer on youtube)

I don't recommend it though, get at least some degree

[real onyx]

thanks guys

[real onyx]

well CMGT looks interesting to me, i'm 99% sure that first 2 blocks of year 1 i will do my own thing as they're tailored to complete beginners, but everything afterward seems fun. And tbh im starting to slowly but surely burn out from solo dev, and having a community there is a big bonus for me personally.

[lime ridge]

I'll say this, I think every AAA job I've applied to has asked what degree I have, and In a lot of job requirements a degree in CS is usually there. That being said, I still don't have a job, and I barely learned a thing about graphics in college. There was one open GL class, I took two independent research classes on graphics, and I attained a research job under my professor, which also included graphics. That all being said, my biggest mistake was not socializing. I was at a point where I was scared, I didn't even want to try, nor did I know what trying really meant. If you go to college, make sure you socialize both for your health and your career.