The College Fad
College seems to have become the norm for this generation as it has gained the reputation for landing graduates better jobs with better pay. On top of that, it is becoming more expectant of young adults to attend college by parents, peers, and schools. College is deemed as the automatic next step in your advancement into the adult life. And if you don't go to college, you're a no-good, low-life bum.
Or are you really?
While the prospect of picking that special college once we near the end of our high school days has been a looming decision over our heads for most of our lives, college actually might not be right for you.
Now, before you run away, let me explain.
There are two types of careers in this world.
1. The careers that require a fancy diploma. Doctors, lawyers, and accountants fall into this category.
2. And the careers that are based on experience and a portfolio. Generally, this includes careers focused on art and design.
Look at it like this. Going into the medical industry as a doctor, you will be expected to have a doctorate's degree to prove you are capable of the job. As a lawyer, clients will be expecting credibility; otherwise, how will they know you're the right person for their case? But considering you're reading this article, I don't think you want to go into either of those fields. As a game developer, it's not a degree developing teams will be looking at; it's your work. Do you think a potential customer is going to look at a game and think, "Hey, this guy (or girl) has a degree! That makes me want to buy this game!" If you mentally answered no, you win the prize of self-congratulations.
Your Portfolio
Companies like Bethesda or Valve may not look at the dust-collecting piece of paper that says you earned a degree, but as I briefly mentioned earlier, they will be focusing on one main thing: a portfolio. I can not stress enough how important this is. Whether it's a primped and polished website or simply a folder containing all of your work, you will not survive the industry without something to showcase your skills. Even if you're the greatest digital artist or the most advanced programmer in the world, a company simply will not even consider you if you have nothing to show them.
A portfolio should include anything created by yourself including concept art, demos, or even an entire game you made yourself.
"So what does a portfolio have to do with my decision to go to college for game development/design?"
Simply put, college uses up most of the time you could be using to build your portfolio. While you're spending time cramming for an exam that quite frankly will not matter for your future career in game development, you could be working on the next Binding of Isaac or Divinity game. Another reason college life usually hinders the building of a portfolio is that generally a student tends to only complete the assignments given to him/her throughout the course. In your entire four years of majoring in Game Development, you will probably only produce one game. If you had just stayed home and focused on game development, you might have a nice, healthy stack of different prototypes, ideas, and demos sitting in your portfolio.
The Pros of College
Now that I've explained why you shouldn't go to college, I'll play devil's advocate and explain why college may be beneficial. While, in theory, you could teach yourself the ins and outs of game development, it can be very difficult to find all the answers and proper tools to use. Game Development courses are specifically designed to give you a step-by-step approach to creating a game. So instead of searching through forums, documentation, and sometimes online resources that may be wrong, you have all the right instructions and resources right there.
While college may be a supreme tool for gaining knowledge in certain areas, you still should not ignore the portfolio that needs to be growing every single day. What you do in your free time using the knowledge you've gained through the course is what is going to help you land a job.
In a simple statement, college is your access to knowledge, but the work you do outside of your assignments using the things you learn is what matters.
A Happy Medium
In my personal opinion, there is an option that combines the knowledge accessed through a structured course on game development and the time that comes with not taking that path.
Online education.
There it is, the answer to the world's problems.
As a student who has recently transferred from a seven-hour day (not including homework that needs to be done later) in public school to an online school that I only spend three hours a day doing, I have already begun to consider several online colleges that I will be attending next school year. With online college, you'll have all the information you need at your hands while having the time to utilize it as well as gain a degree in less time than it would take attending a campus school.
Here's a non-promotional example of an online college that offers Game Development as a major: Westwood college's page covers a mouthwatering course description including: advanced programming, artificial intelligence, graphics programming, and 3D game architecture.
And you could learn it all on your own from the comfort of your home and even finish early.
In Conclusion
The following is a list of the main points summarizing the article:
1. Your access into the gaming industry is a heavy portfolio, not a college degree.
2. If you do decide to attend college, it should not be a replacement of a portfolio that needs to be built in your spare time, but used as a tool to access a bank of knowledge in a single place.
3. An alternative that I personally suggest is online college. You can learn the information you need while having time to use it from your own home.
Most of all, follow your gut. If you feel more comfortable learning the traditional way, do it. If you're a self-taught prodigy, get your work out there and start living your life now! You don't need to fit other people's expectations in order to be successful in this industry; you just need to put yourself out there.
"Update" Log
[9.30.2014] Initial release.