Comments on: Thoughts of a Newcomer ./altdevblogaday.org/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-651 You need an employer in Japan first of course :-)<o:p></o:p>From: Posterous [mailto:comment-HsdiFuzvvnHebjm=posterous.com@sendgrid.me] On Behalf Of PosterousSent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:13 PMTo: dylan@q-games.comSubject: [altdevblogaday.com] Comment on "Thoughts of a Newcomer"<o:p></o:p> You need an employer in Japan first of course :-)<o:p></o:p>From: Posterous [mailto:comment-HsdiFuzvvnHebjm=posterous.com@sendgrid.me] On Behalf Of PosterousSent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:13 PMTo: dylan@q-games.comSubject: [altdevblogaday.com] Comment on "Thoughts of a Newcomer"<o:p></o:p>

]]>
By: ColleenDelzer/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-650 ColleenDelzer Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:13:48 +0000 Great post : ) Something I can relate to! I do agree that school will definitely teach you things you wouldn't normally think about that can be of some use later down the line and it can certainly help on your resume, but I don't think it's a MUST. I know of way to many people that have all kinds of degrees and still have no great paying jobs, of don't even have a job at the moment. Great post : ) Something I can relate to! I do agree that school will definitely teach you things you wouldn’t normally think about that can be of some use later down the line and it can certainly help on your resume, but I don’t think it’s a MUST. I know of way to many people that have all kinds of degrees and still have no great paying jobs, of don’t even have a job at the moment.

]]>
By: ColleenDelzer/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-648 ColleenDelzer Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:13:25 +0000 Great post :) Something I can relate to! I do agree that school can show you things that you might have otherwise not thought about like typography and programs you just couldn't afford, but I don't believe it's a must. Great post :) Something I can relate to! I do agree that school can show you things that you might have otherwise not thought about like typography and programs you just couldn’t afford, but I don’t believe it’s a must.

]]>
By: adamfsk/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-646 adamfsk Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:13:12 +0000 I very much agree with the point that a degree “can” show that you tend to specific topic are thesis “can” show your “sacrifice” of time for a topic. This is definitely an indicator about someone, but definitely not the only one of course.And just to clarify: I did not want to say that reinventing the wheel is wrong. It can be good as a new view onto a topic, upgrading, advancing it. That example was just to show that many just don’t do what you suggested: “Do the homework first of researching what already exists!” <->And for xkcd: @Frabrice - I agree with you on re-inventing the wheel. I could write a whole blog on why I hate that metaphore :) And if I run out of ideas I might just do that ... @Frabrice – I agree with you on re-inventing the wheel. I could write a whole blog on why I hate that metaphore :) And if I run out of ideas I might just do that …

]]>
By: Fabrice Lété/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-643 Fabrice Lété Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:22:36 +0000 (except it wasn’t Perl for me, and it wasn’t only 11th grade)I concur with James, many things I learned at university were already outdated and/or regarded as bad practice by the industry, like systematic over-design.As for reinventing the wheel, I still think this is the most efficient way of really understanding a what a wheel does and how it works, but you have to carefully review your choices and do the homework first of researching what already exists.Finally, I should clearly state that university was still a terrific experience for me, besides the programming classes which were of little interest, I learned a great deal about mathematics, logic reasoning and statistics and I met many people who had a deep positive impact on me.

]]>
By: Dylan Cuthbert/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-642 Dylan Cuthbert Thu, 20 Jan 2011 02:28:18 +0000 @dylan yeah, visa's and giving the employee "something" to judge you by is why I say the piece of paper is important. It does need to be computer / career related. I just meant it won't make a huge difference if it is computer science or electrical engineering. They both have things to other that are valuable so go with the one you are more interested in. @dylan yeah, visa’s and giving the employee “something” to judge you by is why I say the piece of paper is important. It does need to be computer / career related. I just meant it won’t make a huge difference if it is computer science or electrical engineering. They both have things to other that are valuable so go with the one you are more interested in.

]]>
By: Dylan Cuthbert/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-640 Dylan Cuthbert Thu, 20 Jan 2011 01:56:53 +0000 ./altdevblogaday.org/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-640 Also makes it a *lot* easier to get visas.  (I don’t have a degree but I started in the industry in the late 80’s when you could get away with that, and when the ratio of learning in the industry compared to at school was close to infinity)<o:p></o:p>Some visa info, for example, in Japan the visa for artists/game designers is much easier to obtain than the one for engineers/programmers.  Artists/Game designers only need 4 years of experience and no degree is required (it helps of course).  Engineers/programmers need *twelve* years of industry experience OR a 4 year college degree in engineering/tech or something computer science related.  (so the type of degree is important for visas – you can’t get a visa to work as a programmer in Japan if you have a degree in History)<o:p></o:p>From: Posterous [mailto:comment-HsdiFuzvvnHebjm=posterous.com@sendgrid.me] On Behalf Of PosterousSent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 8:20 AMTo: dylan@q-games.comSubject: [altdevblogaday.com] Comment on "Thoughts of a Newcomer"<o:p></o:p> Also makes it a *lot* easier to get visas.  (I don’t have a degree but I started in the industry in the late 80’s when you could get away with that, and when the ratio of learning in the industry compared to at school was close to infinity)<o:p></o:p>Some visa info, for example, in Japan the visa for artists/game designers is much easier to obtain than the one for engineers/programmers.  Artists/Game designers only need 4 years of experience and no degree is required (it helps of course).  Engineers/programmers need *twelve* years of industry experience OR a 4 year college degree in engineering/tech or something computer science related.  (so the type of degree is important for visas – you can’t get a visa to work as a programmer in Japan if you have a degree in History)<o:p></o:p>From: Posterous [mailto:comment-HsdiFuzvvnHebjm=posterous.com@sendgrid.me] On Behalf Of PosterousSent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 8:20 AMTo:
dylan@q-games.comSubject: [altdevblogaday.com] Comment on "Thoughts of a Newcomer"<o:p></o:p>

]]> By: James Podesta/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-639 James Podesta Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:49:23 +0000 As someone who works in the industry and has a CS degree, I would actually recommend computer or electrical engineering over CS for a few reasons:1) more exposure and use of mathematics than a CS curriculum2) more emphasis on rigor than CS, which IMHO lends itself too well to a trial-and-error heuristic methodology3) focus on the low level hardware vs. focus on high level abstractions (which can cause people to lose sight of what's going on under the hood)4) It seems like too many CS programs standardize on Java these days :P As someone who works in the industry and has a CS degree, I would actually recommend computer or electrical engineering over CS for a few reasons:1) more exposure and use of mathematics than a CS curriculum2) more emphasis on rigor than CS, which IMHO lends itself too well to a trial-and-error heuristic methodology3) focus on the low level hardware vs. focus on high level abstractions (which can cause people to lose sight of what’s going on under the hood)4) It seems like too many CS programs standardize on Java these days :P

]]>
By: James Podesta/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-637 James Podesta Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:20:13 +0000 Great article. I like the point about the professional community aspect; the gamedev crowd are an incredibly welcoming bunch in my experience and there tends to be lots of knowledge transfer going on constantly, which is an aspect I really enjoy. Great article. I like the point about the professional community aspect; the gamedev crowd are an incredibly welcoming bunch in my experience and there tends to be lots of knowledge transfer going on constantly, which is an aspect I really enjoy.

]]>
By: Savas Ziplies/2011/01/19/thoughts-of-a-newcomer/#comment-635 Savas Ziplies Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:02:04 +0000 Regarding education I feel that math is more important than any of the other CS subjects. I believe most CS students work through Cormen algorithms, system architecture, etc... But I have come across a large amount that took the smallest amount of math possible for their degree (basically filling up with all the various other CS subjects). In my experience I have found that the developers who concentrated their studies mainly on math and learned the majority of software development, algorithm, data structures, etc in their own time (and of course loved doing it) were much better game programmers. Regarding education I feel that math is more important than any of the other CS subjects. I believe most CS students work through Cormen algorithms, system architecture, etc… But I have come across a large amount that took the smallest amount of math possible for their degree (basically filling up with all the various other CS subjects). In my experience I have found that the developers who concentrated their studies mainly on math and learned the majority of software development, algorithm, data structures, etc in their own time (and of course loved doing it) were much better game programmers.

]]>