High school student seeking University Advice

Hey all,
As some of you might know, I'm an italian high school student that is now going to start his last year before heading into college/university.

I have always been interested in computers, as a lot of people from my generation, but I took it one step further and headed into programming, first with Unity ( and I would like to give a big thank to all the people behind Unity, that made this possible for me ) and then with more in-depth ( and useless, with my level of knoweledge, some might say ), XNA, Ogre C++/DirectX programming.

I am nowhere to say that I am an experienced coder or programmer, but I can say that I enjoy doing it, and that I lately became fairly proficient, up to the point of freelancing for some random jobs around the internet, and the only thing that prevented me from actually completing a project, is that I have sub-zero skills in graphics, and I never wanted to really "draw" anything.


I am now writing this because I am to take a decision really soon: what university ( and where ) should I attend.

And now a big question arises: where do university courses lead to? What are the oportunities they offer?

I've alredy had some sort of feedback from some "biggies" working in computer graphics, as they are from my same home town, and I had managed to talk with them ( if anyone cares, the guy behind the fur animation in King Kong, and another one who worked on procedural content generation for the avatar movie ).
One of them suggested me to study Maths, as this would "open my mind" and give me a lot of "hints" in the direction of "how-to-solve-that-problem" algorithms, while the other suggested me to take a course in whatever I wanted, and to study seriously, but in my own, whatever I felt I should study regarding programming, because ( according to what he said ) those are topics that, if you are really interested into, you can dive in by yourself.

I would like to point out that I am really serious in this question, and I am not only talking about the college course I would be attending, but I also want to take into consideration the job opportunities those courses would give me once I'm done with them.

In particoular, I'd like to hear the opinion of those that are INTO the industry.


Thanks a lot,
Philip

P.s: A pointer, I live in Padova/Padua, wich has the best Math/third best Phisycs courses in the whole Italy, but there are no courses in computer science...

 

I'm no coder, but from what I know and what I've seen, Math and Physics are the best paces to start as well as computer science. I'd say, and this is just me so don't hold it against me, but get that extra math credit from high school and try to get as many physics credits as possible and maybe a computer science credit or two wouldn't hurt. I know I've already taken 5 math credits, 3 physics credits and 2 computer science credits and it's done wonders. It really opens doors for you when you want to reach college/university.

You may be able to take some computer science courses online depending on where you apply too.

 

Concentrate in Computer Science with a minor in mathematics or physics. Don't be lured into a game development degree. Those are not worth it. Your friends were right by saying you can just get the books yourself and learn development that way. A degree in computer science (or software engineering) leaves your options WIDE open, in case you decide to not go the game development route later on (blasphemy!!). Getting a bunch of mathematics and/or physics under your belt supports a career in game development as well as numerous other non-game industries.

 

I would defiantly agree with not going to a game design specific school. Game design is more portfolio based than degree based.





Physics/Math/Business degree + Good portfolio > Videogame design degree.

 

Yeah, I kind of got that... but my point is more regarding Computer Science / Software Engineering versus pure Math or Phisycs: what does computer science give me exactly? is there anyone here currently undertaking a course on computer science?

 

If you do a maths or physics degree, employers tend to assume you've got the basic type of brain for programming anyway, especially if you can produce examples of code you've written. With a maths degree, you will probably have no trouble understanding the physics required for games and likewise, doing physics will probably give you enough maths for many game tasks. A CS degree will give you a thorough knowledge of programming and you will likely cover things like databases, networking, GUI and AI in depth. This is a good basis for many broader aspects of game development that exist nowadays.

I would say that if your interest lies mainly in basic gameplay, shader or engine programming, then a maths or physics degree might give you an edge (although CS would not exactly be a handicap). If you want more options for broader game dev tasks (multiplayer backends, networking, AI, etc) then a CS degree is probably a better background. I would say the best advice is that if there is one of these subjects that you really like, then go for that anyway

 

Thanks for the comment Andee, I really appreciated it.
But let me see if I am understanding: CS does give you a more basic Math formation, ( as opposed to a pure Math course ), while giving you all the fundamentals about programming... But what about advanced programming techniques like Prefetching, SSE2 instructions, assembly language? Are those topics covered inside a CS course? Or you are supposed to learn them on your own? and are those topics that you could learn by yourself?

My idea is that if I am done with a CS course ( 5 years, right? ) I could easily jump stright into the industry, while if I had a Math degree, I would first need to have a portfolio.

Ok, I need to have a porfolio anyway, but with a CS degree you are alredy supposed to know what you are doing, while with a Mathf degree you are not.

 

Make sure you take a close look at the course listings and curriculum for a Computer Science program if you go that route. I know some people who were able to specialize in game-relevant things whereas others at a different school did nothing outside of console/terminal applications.

 

I have to agree with what people are saying in regards to avoiding 'game degrees.'

A few years back EA came and did an internship/co-op presentation at the University of Alberta and they sent John Buchanan[1] to do it. Not sure what he's doing now but at the time he was in charge of new grad hiring. What he said regarding gaming schools was that they were in a sense "degree by cheque" programs (I know this is not true of all gaming schools). He also gave a really good example of why a non-game degree is a good thing: At the time, generally coders were only staying in the games industry between five and ten years; when/if you decide to leave the industry and try to get hired at say IBM, a 'games degree' won't do you much good.

In my own experience, there's nothing limiting about getting a non-gaming education because as stated by several people already it's all related. I have a BSc in Computing Science and a BSc in Mathematics and now I'm doing a PhD in Electrical/Computer Engineering and none of what I have done is/was directly gaming related. However, I'm constantly seeing how my current research (healthcare/pandemic related) could be used for dynamic worlds or ALife.

No matter what you end up doing though, don't only do or rely on coursework. What will help you stand out in general, and especially with gaming specifically, is if you do work outside of school. You'll understand your coursework better because you'll have applied it to a broader scope, and you'll have something spiffy to show off/sell.

I'm not sure if I've really added much as the people before did a great job of explaining the situation so I'll end by saying good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for.

[1] He was a graphics prof in the CS department until '99. Very basic info can be found here, ctrl-F his name.