Hey.
I don't really know where to post this, so I'm going to just put it here in the general discussion thread.
Basically, I'm on the verge of dropping out of college, I've missed a lot of it due to illness and just not coming in due to really crippling depression.
I'm in my first year, so I'm 17. I really just can't stand to be here anymore. The lessons are fine, but not for me, if that makes sense.
Lessons are put together well, but even for the subjects I have chosen, they're not things that I want to do. I've done game development, something
that I really want to take on, partly so I can apply for a job at Facepunch Studios and partly so I can make video games. All we have done so far is
3D modelling, we've dabbled a little bit in Unreal Engine 4, but I haven't learned much.
3D modelling isn't something that I want to do, and I know that it is something that I should have expected, but that is pretty much all we have done.
I really enjoy working in Unreal Engine, but we do it so little that I barely have time to learn anything. In fact, I've learnt more through just generally
fucking about in the engine and watching tutorials than I have done in lessons. Other lessons consist of mainly bullshit. Programming being the worst,
I started in October, a month later, we haven't done a single thing about programming. We have talked about hardware and that, but actual code?
Nope, nothing. We have done about business studies and that, absolutely awful and in my other programming class, we are learning how to do Flash
animations.
Seriously, I see no purpose in staying here, especially considering that I have almost 4 hour gaps between lessons some days. This combined with the
fact that I have to travel around 30-40 miles per journey to college, I really don't see the point in staying here at all, especially considering that I could
be looking for a job (Albeit without the better qualifications that I could gain from being here) and learning everything by myself on the side.
Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do? I'm really stuck because I want to drop out incredibly badly, but I feel that there will be quite a
lot of bad things to come in the future if I do.
I aplogise for the long post, but I really am stuck with what to do now.
Thank you.
What semester of what course? Game Development?
Also, if you don't mind, what college? Might help to look at your future classes.
I'd say stick with college, just find something that you really enjoy. I made the mistake of leaving college at 17 because I didn't enjoy my Electrical installation course, I then ended up going from job-to-job, I'm now stuck as a Sales Associate at Staples, which definitely isn't something I want to do. My grades weren't the greatest (A*-D), and finding a job which I actually enjoy is damn near impossible, since I'm having to limit myself to apprenticeships / trainee jobs only. I'm now 18 years old, hating the job I'm currently working at, whilst spending 2-3 hours per day constantly looking for new opportunities. I wanted to go back to college, but It's just simply not an environment I enjoy in the slightest (my lecturer hardly gave two shits on how much we learnt, at some points they were more immature than the students). The thing that sucks the most, I had an interview two weeks ago for a IT Hardware apprenticeship. Safe to say, I didn't get the job which was an awful feeling because it was the first company out of many which actually got back to me.
So unless you have really good fucking grades, parents / friends who can get you a job once you drop out (another thing, parents are on your ass constantly when you drop out of college) or the motivation to keep continually pushing for a new opportunity, you'll end up in the same boat as me, and it's something I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
I hope you don't mind if I don't say the name of the college, at least, not while I am on their Wi-Fi.
Currently doing B-Tec Games Development. One year course and currently half way through it. We've done some things about how technology has improved and the increase in polygons etc now it has essentially turned into 3D modelling class. To which I know nothing about due to missing lessons.
The other class I take is split up between two.
B-Tec IT studies, I'm pretty sure that half of it is programming and the other half is practitioners, they've somehow fused the two so the teachers are working on the same sort of things that fuse between the two classes. This one is a two year course.
I can't tell you if we are doing actual courses as they seem to be written by the teachers themselves rather than coming from a third party. I wish I could be a little more helpful.
Personal health takes priority, and you're only 17. Focus on that first.
One year course? I'd say stick with it, man. Who knows if later in the course you'll find something you truly adore? Just because the road is a bit bumpy in the beginning doesn't mean it'll be bumpy for the entire duration of the ride.
Also, with college, it's best to have it. Not having it will severely limit your employment opportunities. And nothing's saying that after the end of this year you can't look into something more specialized. Even so, don't stop studying. If you think college is not doing enough, study at home. Read tutorials, practice with the engine, try and look for those teachers that actually teach and talk to them. Try to make use of the college environment? Dropping out is faster and easier, but not the better way.
With all of that said, do focus on your personal health. Try and talk to your friends, or your parents, or your counselor- if such a thing exists in college.
I felt the same way in my first year of university, but I stuck it out and here I am with one year left on my bachelors. I transferred out of multimedia into IT because it was making me want to kill myself.
Transferring is always a possibility, yes.
Since you say it's only for one year I would recommend sticking with it. Especially if it's in the same field you're looking to work in. You said you have gaps that are nearly 4 hours between classes? My recommendation would be to use that time learning on your own. If you're interested in programming then start programming something, no matter how basic it is. There's a programming sub-forum here that I'm sure you know about, so why not check it out?
Another thing is to not be upset over learning things that are seemingly unrelated to what you want to do. So they're introducing you to 3D modeling. Despite it not being what you're interested in it's still a good thing to know the basics of the jobs people you'll be working with perform, you'll just have to trust me on that. Another thing is to not let your dream get in the way of potential opportunities. In college I studied journalism, and after I did an internship for a small news site I made my own site for gaming news/reviews. During one interview that I did, I had met someone in the industry who had opened the door to video game marketing for me, and that's where I'm at now. Now I do that while also studying sociology online (surprisingly enough there's a [I]ton[/I] of complete lecture material from some pretty nice universities on YouTube, I've already sunk around 30 hours in them :v:).
With college/university some argue that meeting people is the biggest part of the experience, so I would really recommend sticking it out. I know it's tough, and if it becomes completely unbearable for you then I think it would be best to call it quits. However, if you do that, then you'd better find other ways to open up opportunities for yourself. I recommend [URL="https://www.mooc-list.com/"]Massive Open Online Courses[/URL] a lot to people, so it might be worth checking out what's available to you. Looking into [URL="http://www.indiedb.com/jobs"]existing indie teams[/URL] that need help could benefit you as well. One rule that I follow, especially for my job is to never turn down an opportunity to try something new. If a developer already has a publisher, and I want to pitch promotional services to them that the publisher might already be providing, then I'll just send them a mail anyways. Who knows, maybe they'll accept because they want as much coverage as possible for their title, or maybe they'll keep me in mind for a future game? For you this would translate to contacting a team for a job, even though you may not fit the bill perfectly. Who knows? They may take you on anyways, and teach you what you don't know. Or, they could recommend you places to learn what you need to learn. You'll never know unless you try.
That's all I got for now, I expect payment for our next consultation.
Oh, keep in mind that Twitch also has a [URL="http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Game%20Development"]game development category[/URL] where you can check out developers streaming some game dev. Maybe you could learn something, or meet someone who could open up some opportunities for you.
[QUOTE=Red Skull;47301026]I hope you don't mind if I don't say the name of the college, at least, not while I am on their Wi-Fi.
Currently doing B-Tec Games Development. One year course and currently half way through it. We've done some things about how technology has improved and the increase in polygons etc now it has essentially turned into 3D modelling class. To which I know nothing about due to missing lessons.
The other class I take is split up between two.
B-Tec IT studies, I'm pretty sure that half of it is programming and the other half is practitioners, they've somehow fused the two so the teachers are working on the same sort of things that fuse between the two classes. This one is a two year course.
I can't tell you if we are doing actual courses as they seem to be written by the teachers themselves rather than coming from a third party. I wish I could be a little more helpful.[/QUOTE]
BTECs won't get you far because they are not the high-quality education you would expect. There's BTEC and there's A-level, both will grant entry to Universities, which in turn focus on something specific. In my case for example - I picked BTEC ICT and A-level ICT for my Sixth Form in school(year 12-13, or in other words years 16 to 18). BTEC ICT is a bunch of units that focus on different things(one unit for networking, one for control systems, one for legislations and safety of information and etc.) and A-level has everything that has any relation to the computer or information or data but it focuses on how the information and data are processed, transferred and similar stuff instead of "how computers work, now on an Advanced level!". If I understand this system of education right and if colleges work similar to schools, then University is the way to look upong to focus on something specific, like BTEC/A-level will be bits of everything that will push you into the Uni later on.
BTEC/A-level stuff comes from a marking board that set up assignments and everything and teachers in school change them a little bit to have different scenarios but that's all I know.
At the least try to finish this semester if you think you can pass the classes
Alright so you want to do programming in university? If you want to go the btec way, look for a college or sixth form that offers the level 3 extended diploma in software development. I know someone doing it and they have 5 uni offers right now, all in computer science/software development. Bear in mind a btec won't get you into the top universities, but surprisingly you still have a huge choice.
If you want to go into A Levels, do computing, maths and a science. The road will be much tougher but with decent grades in those subject you're almost guaranteed a good university place.
Are you in your second year of college?
What is your major and what are you expecting from it exactly? It seems like you don't want to do art or programming which are paramount to development.
If you're there for design, you would learn more working on a game in your free time for a month than taking the game design track at almost every university or BTEC.
Unreal 4 is free. So download it, get a book from the library on C++, and read the documentation.
The best way to learn is to explore on your own, rather than wait for professors to tell you something useful.
I can understand not wanting to do the work you're getting and how disappointed with the program you must feel. I felt the same way as a first year.
I realized the classes that seemed pointless were actually important. Not all of my classes were enjoyable, but they have helped in my game production career.
That said, if it's only one year and you're about halfway done you might as well stick it out if you want to try. But your health is more important.
How much longer until the semester finishes? I you are passing and it's ~1 month then I'd say stick it out until the end of this semester. [B][I]Be sure to tell your professors what's going on.[/I][/B] Then once the semester is over and you've passed what you can, withdraw from the college (I'm sure you would get a refund for the unattended semester, minus any withdrawal fees) and start thinking about what else you would want to do.
If you're failing things and the missed month won't matter, then withdraw when you can (But still tell the professors what's going on).
Transfer transfer transfer.
Sounds like you're in a pretty bad college. A decent one should be teaching you a good amount of basic programming by now.
Check page 7 of this:
[url]http://www.ece.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/APS105F-syllabus-%2B-weekly-schedule-combined.pdf[/url]
That's an introductory programming course I took a few years back.
Just stick with it a little longer. Your first semester isnt a good representation of what youre going to learn later down the line. Formal education can be slow and unappealing but the degree will be well worth it
Do the work, get a bit of C++ experience on the side doing exercises and tutorials, then apply to the absolute best universities you can. I'm over at Abertay in Scotland doing CGAD (Computer Games Applications Development.) Its quite heavy stuff, so if you don't do the programming soon your kinda boned.
I was in your shoes not that long ago, take it step by step. If this isn't what you want i understand.
At the moment, I'm currently in a situation similar to your own - I've got Depression, and I'm studying from Home. I've found it harder over the last few couple of months for me to really be able to get on with things, and I don't really think that it's going to improve at any point, I'm predicted to get Triple Distinction star. It's worth sticking it through, if you can. If your college has a therapist, or a Counsellor, it's worth going to see them, so you can find out any options that your college could offer you. Talk to your tutor, assuming that you're in England, and be as honest as you can with them.
[QUOTE=Ehmmett;47304912]lol[/QUOTE]
Do you know how fast the gaming industry is growing? It's insane.
[QUOTE=Daemon White;47304954]Do you know how fast the gaming industry is growing? It's insane.[/QUOTE]
not for people with game development degrees
College starts out like that, they give you a bunch of unrelated classes along with overview classes in your field. Then as you go into your second, third, and fourth year they get much more specific. Also I've wanted to drop out every single semester, but it's worth it in the end to get that paper that gets you past the HR filter. Of course there's always the tech fields where you can make plenty of money not in an office. Still not sure whether I've made the right decision.
[QUOTE=Ehmmett;47304966]That's not what I'm laughing about
It's becoming a cliche that people go into college for game dev and quit when it's not what they expected/wanted it to be. I've seen it happen to a handful of people now.[/QUOTE]
Oh, ok. I misinterpreted it.
Yeah, it's a fucktonne of work. I've survived 3 years of it and am graduating in like a week.
This is news to me.
I want to get into programming but not game programming, should I expect the same thing?
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;47304987]This is news to me.
I want to get into programming but not game programming, should I expect the same thing?[/QUOTE]
Go for either software development or computer science. Both are the most programming heavy.
[QUOTE=leontodd;47305041]Go for either software development or computer science. Both are the most programming heavy.[/QUOTE]
I'm going to be talking to a career counsellor and I'll bring those two up, thanks.
[QUOTE=leontodd;47305041]Go for either software development or computer science. Both are the most programming heavy.[/QUOTE]
Sorry if this is kinda off topic but it's a serious question I have. What should I go for if my interest in computers is much more on the hardware side than programming or software?
[QUOTE=milktree;47306129]Sorry if this is kinda off topic but it's a serious question I have. What should I go for if my interest in computers is much more on the hardware side than programming or software?[/QUOTE]
electrical and computer engineering
[QUOTE=milktree;47306129]Sorry if this is kinda off topic but it's a serious question I have. What should I go for if my interest in computers is much more on the hardware side than programming or software?[/QUOTE]
Electronics Engineering
you'll deal with logic circuits, integrated circuits, microprocessor design, signals and systems, switching networks, embedded computing, VLSI, etc
[QUOTE=elitehakor;47306220]electrical and computer engineering[/QUOTE]
Not sure if it's different in the US but here in the UK (generally speaking):
Electrical engineering = high voltage (power lines, generators, etc.)
Electronic engineering = low voltage (microcontrollers, CPUs, embedded programming)
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