Going back to School

[Tyszka]

So as the title says I am going back to school to finish my associates degree then going forward towards my bachelors. I am 26 years old about a year away from my associates in general science and would like to get my bachelors in either computer science or software engineer. I know this task will take time and be fairly difficult considering I work a pretty demanding full time job and will be going to school full time as well, but my dream has always been to work on video games of some sort. And I want to stop sitting in the dark daydreaming about that and actually start doing it. I don't have much for art skills but my imagination is huge and I have started learning basic coding hopefully doing small projects on the side combined with school I can get a much better understanding of it all.

I am going to guess this field is extremely hard to get a job in? I have done some research not all that much due to time restraints, I would love to eventually work for a company like Blizzard, Arenanet, Ubisoft, Sony etc especially blizzard. I just recently got into computer gaming and I am now completely addicted to it and all this time I thought console gaming was better I was wrong so very wrong.

Anyways the point of this post was to get advise, and ideas. Thank you for any and all feedback it will defineitely be greatly appreciated, off to class I go!

[Deleted]

Schools are cursed and doomed - if you believe only a little then you realize schools are hell incarnated.

[Tennis]

1) What did you do after high school?

2)Are you sure you're gonna fit in with 18 year olds in the program?

3) It's always good to gain more education. It's a good field but competitive. What university are you going to go to?

[chazus]

What skills do you have, and what qualifies as 'basic coding'?

Loving video games doesn't necessarily count as a qualification (but it is a requirement most of the time). It's great to aim high, but don't get too hyped up about it. You'll need background work.

It is a VERY difficult industry, as well as a volatile one. I'm part a small studio, and I've done some minor work and interviews with Riot and Blizzard both. My advice is, aim high but don't get disappointed when your dream isn't happening either. Keep learning, always look for opportunities for experience.

[Independent voter]

Getting a job programming business forms on the web is pretty easy, gaming is extremely competitive. I think if you go into programming and like the work you'll never be out of a job but it's very likely you'll not work in the gaming industry.

Then again, you might get lucky and get your dream job in gaming, I just think it's highly unlikely because there are a lot of candidates for each job so it's almost like winning the lottery.

Good luck to you!

[Tyszka]

1) What did you do after high school?

2)Are you sure you're gonna fit in with 18 year olds in the program?

3) It's always good to gain more education. It's a good field but competitive. What university are you going to go to?

I was basically forced to work, and help take care of my siblings. Both my parents passed so it was pretty rough.

Weirdly enough due to never really having a childhood of my own, I get along with the younger crowd more so then I do with the older crowd.

my goal is to get accepted into either Arizona state university or university of Maryland.

- - - Updated - - -

What skills do you have, and what qualifies as 'basic coding'?

Loving video games doesn't necessarily count as a qualification (but it is a requirement most of the time). It's great to aim high, but don't get too hyped up about it. You'll need background work.

It is a VERY difficult industry, as well as a volatile one. I'm part a small studio, and I've done some minor work and interviews with Riot and Blizzard both. My advice is, aim high but don't get disappointed when your dream isn't happening either. Keep learning, always look for opportunities for experience.

I have made a few basic games with Java, nothing complex and a bunch of basic drawings just started doing it less then a month ago so don't know all that much yet, its extremely enjoyable trying to fix the stuff you break tho. Just like a giant puzzle that you're putting together.

You know what they say, you miss 100% of the chances you never take. I know with the degree I should be able to find some sort of job doing programming if its with a game company ill never know unless I try of course.

And from what I have actually gotten to read that seems about right, a lot of coming and going.

[cubby]

So as the title says I am going back to school to finish my associates degree then going forward towards my bachelors. I am 26 years old about a year away from my associates in general science and would like to get my bachelors in either computer science or software engineer. I know this task will take time and be fairly difficult considering I work a pretty demanding full time job and will be going to school full time as well, but my dream has always been to work on video games of some sort. And I want to stop sitting in the dark daydreaming about that and actually start doing it. I don't have much for art skills but my imagination is huge and I have started learning basic coding hopefully doing small projects on the side combined with school I can get a much better understanding of it all.

I am going to guess this field is extremely hard to get a job in? I have done some research not all that much due to time restraints, I would love to eventually work for a company like Blizzard, Arenanet, Ubisoft, Sony etc especially blizzard. I just recently got into computer gaming and I am now completely addicted to it and all this time I thought console gaming was better I was wrong so very wrong.

Anyways the point of this post was to get advise, and ideas. Thank you for any and all feedback it will defineitely be greatly appreciated, off to class I go!

Want to say up front I think it's awesome you're doing this - way to take charge of your life. Sounds like you had a pretty rough situation and it's fantastic you're able to do this now for yourself.

Computer science is literally the foreseeable future, so if you already have a knack for it, do it. A college degree is science is will worth a great deal, and most reputable University programs have an internship/externship/placement program that will get you a job right out of college.

Don't worry about the following:

-Younger grads
-Employment

Do worry about the following:

-Student loans
-Working in the gaming industry
-Work/life balance while finishing your degree
-Length of time to complete your degree

Try and find a way to either get grants/scholarships or pay for tuition as you go.

If the bachelor degree completion path, after your Associates is finished, is going to take longer than 3 years, consider taking a leave of absence from your current employer to do school full time and finish the degree faster.

How long have you been doing full time school and work?

[Tyszka]

Want to say up front I think it's awesome you're doing this - way to take charge of your life. Sounds like you had a pretty rough situation and it's fantastic you're able to do this now for yourself.

Computer science is literally the foreseeable future, so if you already have a knack for it, do it. A college degree is science is will worth a great deal, and most reputable University programs have an internship/externship/placement program that will get you a job right out of college.

Don't worry about the following:

-Younger grads
-Employment

Do worry about the following:

-Student loans
-Working in the gaming industry
-Work/life balance while finishing your degree
-Length of time to complete your degree

Try and find a way to either get grants/scholarships or pay for tuition as you go.

If the bachelor degree completion path, after your Associates is finished, is going to take longer than 3 years, consider taking a leave of absence from your current employer to do school full time and finish the degree faster.

How long have you been doing full time school and work?

I worked at a warehouse job while going my first year which was easy because I had 4 days off and only worked 3 days, I went to a police academy and became a law enforcement officer which I thought id be set and not have to worry about school anymore well time has past and I realized I didn't want to do the job for the next 25 years of my life. So schools going to be a bit trickier this time around but I believe I can do it.

[cubby]

I worked at a warehouse job while going my first year which was easy because I had 4 days off and only worked 3 days, I went to a police academy and became a law enforcement officer which I thought id be set and not have to worry about school anymore well time has past and I realized I didn't want to do the job for the next 25 years of my life. So schools going to be a bit trickier this time around but I believe I can do it.

Ok, that is fucking awesome - seriously. You know you want to do something different in your life to be happy, and you're going after it. Hat's off to you!

Couple of quick questions:

Does your city/county/state offer tuition reimbursement?
Are you working 8/10/12's?
How much PTO have you banked so far?
ASU iirc has a 100% online program. Have you looked at their program closely?
Would you be moving for your Bachelor's?

[Tyszka]

Ok, that is fucking awesome - seriously. You know you want to do something different in your life to be happy, and you're going after it. Hat's off to you!

Couple of quick questions:

Does your city/county/state offer tuition reimbursement?
Are you working 8/10/12's?
How much PTO have you banked so far?
ASU iirc has a 100% online program. Have you looked at their program closely?
Would you be moving for your Bachelor's?

State does alot of grant money my first year I believe only cost me about 800$ which was put into a loan which is already almost paid off.
I work 8's 5 days a week with the occasional 16 once every other month or so.
I have about a month I could take off currently
And yeah id definitely have to do it 100% online currently no way I could move, buying a house was kinda a bad idea but at least the housing market is looking good.

[Deleted]

Did you get bachelors?

Nobody cares about bachelors?

[cubby]

State does alot of grant money my first year I believe only cost me about 800$ which was put into a loan which is already almost paid off.
I work 8's 5 days a week with the occasional 16 once every other month or so.
I have about a month I could take off currently
And yeah id definitely have to do it 100% online currently no way I could move, buying a house was kinda a bad idea but at least the housing market is looking good.

Well done - sounds like you're on top of the various programs that can keep your from being drowned in student debt.
Owning a house right now is pretty ok, the housing market seems to still be going up, and it's not based on any foreseeable bubble. But who knows.

Does your police department have a financial crimes division? Could you transfer into it? Would you want to?

[Tyszka]

Well done - sounds like you're on top of the various programs that can keep your from being drowned in student debt.
Owning a house right now is pretty ok, the housing market seems to still be going up, and it's not based on any foreseeable bubble. But who knows.

Does your police department have a financial crimes division? Could you transfer into it? Would you want to?

That would be nice unfortunately not tho! Would definitely awesome if it did tho.

[cubby]

That would be nice unfortunately not tho! Would definitely awesome if it did tho.

You know, if you like law enforcement, but not necessarily the patrol parts, and computer science degree along with a solid LEO background could get you into the feds - DEA/FBI/etc in their financial crimes departments. Just a thought.

[vindicatorx]

Uhm if you are going into CS don't even think about the games industry. It's a shitty field and you get treated like shit by the few that do hire for it. Your best bet is to get a CS degree and maybe a minor in business and get a grown up job which allows you to do the game thing in your off time as a hobby.

I went back to university @32 years old and pretty much had to retake a lot of stuff it took 4 years. You will qualify for grants and if you keep your GPA up you will get scholarships that will cover most the tuition. My student loans were strictly paying for housing. I graduated in 2014 with my BS in CS from a Well respected Big 10 school. Most jobs will want someone with 2-3 years experience and this is entry level so try and get as many internships as possible. Unless you are female or a minority it will take you a while to find a job which is another reason for the internships it's a great means to find an actual job.

Yeah going back to school is annoying more than hard. The age gap thing was fairly annoying as it seems most uni students now are completely self absorbed assholes who do not communicate with people around them and are completely oblivious to other people. I did make about 10 friends most of which I still talk to now.

If you go to a larger university, there will be clubs and such you can learn more about game creation I know we had a club for it and a few elective courses as well.

So you need to decide. Do you want a fun degree that means nothing to almost no one and be forced to work at that warehouse still, or do you want to get a degree that allows you to get a real job that gives you the freedom to do your hobby on the side?

- - - Updated - - -

You know, if you like law enforcement, but not necessarily the patrol parts, and computer science degree along with a solid LEO background could get you into the feds - DEA/FBI/etc in their financial crimes departments. Just a thought.

Yeah the NSA, FBI, and Homeland Security were at every job fair we had. I know the NSA just opened up another data center in like Utah.

[Tennis]

Nobody cares about bachelors?

Do you have a graduate degree? If not, not impressed.

[Dwarfhamster]

You may already know this but in case you do not:

Check with your community college to see which four-year colleges/universities they have transfer agreements with, and which degrees they have articulation agreements with. The guidance counselor will help you lay out your path to get into that four-year institution--which classes to take and when to make sure you get your AA and be able to transfer in the fastest way possible. You DO NOT want to have to take unnecessary courses at the community, and you DO NOT want to have to retake courses at the four-year because a course doesn't qualify for transfer. The more time you spend at the CC or the four-year is more time and money spent.

A transfer agreement/articulation agreement will basically lay out what you need to do to transfer.

[Rudkobing]

Don't get this teacher.

[Deleted]

Not to piss on your parade but it's very very unlikely at your age now that you're going to get into a big gaming industry