#I'm convinced that formal education is a waste of time. Convince me otherwise.

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

modern snow
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Hello. I started learning Unity when I was about 15. I'm 18 now, I know a lot about Unity and feel confident coding anything. I've been recently dabbling into networking too.
I got into Unity out of interest and boredom, working my way up with tutorials online and help from discord communities. Every single time I have tried any formal education, be that tutors or courses from different schools, it has been a total waste of time. I feel like anything that could have been learned from there could have been learned with another few tutorials watched. School courses never teach you what you came there to learn, and you leave off knowing how PNG image compression works or how a plant pot could be used to inspire a game.

Now, I'm going into college. I'm apprehensive about taking a game design course because of my terrible experience, and I cannot imagine what they would actually teach me in terms of game programming, unity or otherwise.
Could somebody who has been through a game design major in college give input?

primal inlet
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For my part, I think it's a good supplement and teaches some core basics - but my hiring is based on portfolio and paid coding challenges. I don't have post secondary myself, and I've taught classes at colleges, and done quite well without it.

I like to have a balance on my team though of formal training and learned in the streets where possible.

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It's probably important to mention it mostly supplements not having a job to learn from, and is a financial ecosystem all on its own

modern snow
primal inlet
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In a lot of cases it can be a lot worse (large classes, small lectures, less guidance). And lots of schools sell game design classes but aren't really exceptional.

We did a lot of hiring from EDAC, which was really good for game design. But they are closed now. VCAD would be the alternative where we are, but they just punch out wave after wave of students without jobs to back them up - and the classes while well formulated, aren't quite a fit for us

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U of C gives us good staff for our medical stuff. LC gives us good interns for multimedia but usually teaches them Maya which is less helpful. Bow Valley teaches game design but they are using godot and not really showing them scalable designs. NorQuest is mostly focused on esports. Like each school has its advantages and limitations.

ancient warren
# modern snow Well, core basics sure, I probably will end up taking it anyway just so it ends ...

You can definitely learn how to code and how to develop video game without ever going to school. However, in most case, it is really hard to keep being motivated. I usually find formal education to be way more safe to learn the basis.

Also, note that video game is a really competitive market and that it might be hard to get into it depending on your location. Usually, having a degree in something more generic such as Computer Science is a safe bet to get "filler" jobs.

And, people are most of the time ridiculing formal education, however there is really interesting and important stuff that you can learn. As a piece of advice, go read some of the curriculum and look into things that you might not know. Things like clean code is most of the time forgotten by people that are self-taught.

I did a Master in Computer Science, and while I am definitely not better than anyone on the usual coding task, I sometime able to take out piece of what I learn and applied it. Nothing you cannot learn by yourself, but things you will most likely never even think of learning. Such as the different programming paradigm (Functionnal vs Object) or the SOLID principle. Even basic algorithm knowledge such as HashMap or Big N complexity.

modern snow
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However, in most case, it is really hard to keep being motivated
funny you say that, a few more weeks of the game design course my school offers and I would have dropped it out of frustration

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I get what you're saying. Do understand that this isn't a "Should I go self taught or formal" question from a beginner. I have proficient knowledge in Unity with a wide range of skills, even experience in base (non-unity) C#. While I would agree that a lot of beginners miss out on some of the basic fundimentals while pursuing whatever it is they want to code. I know for a fact that a year ago my code formatting was repulsive. But hey, that's something I learned to improve on too through online communities like this.

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So with that in mind, that I do know the fundamentals of development, would you say that a university would teach me anything new code related?

ancient warren
# modern snow So with that in mind, that I *do* know the fundamentals of development, would yo...

Yes. University go beyond fundamental. Sure, the first semester and even the second might be easy for you, however you will learn things for sure.

Go see the curriculum, I can guarantee you that you will learn a whole lot. It might not be all directly applicable to Video Game in general, but a considerable amount of it can help.

Course Like: Computer Architecture, Data Analytics, Theoretical Computer Science, Operating Systems, Databases, Computer Vision (Really important in Video Game), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (Can be really useful), User Interfaces, Programming Language (Functional vs Oriented Object), Linear Algebra (A most for Video Game), Data Structure (An essential in Video Game)

https://www.concordia.ca/academics/undergraduate/calendar/current/section-71-gina-cody-school-of-engineering-and-computer-science/section-71-70-department-of-computer-science-and-software-engineering/section-71-70-10-computer-science-and-software-engineering-courses.html
https://www.mcgill.ca/study/2024-2025/faculties/science/undergraduate/programs/bachelor-science-bsc-major-computer-science
https://you.ubc.ca/ubc_programs/computer-science-okanagan-bsc/

unborn nacelle
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My two main arguments for why higher education for games is good is:

  1. Structure. Some people simply need the framework around to learn. Deadlines, deliveries, assessments, it's important to learn to work with those.
  2. People. In most courses you will have elements of teamwork. Whether you like it or not, you're gonna have to work with other people, either in development, for marketing, for publishing. Working with people is a really important skill and not something you can teach yourself
unborn nacelle
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That isn't to say everyone needs it, but some people will

modern snow