moocow1452
August 21st, 2009, 07:29 PM
Seeing as it's the start of my Senior year in two weeks, I was looking for collages, and thinking about the rest of my life. What I'm asking is, what the heck is a Computer Science degree good for, and how helpful is it to shoot for it, over more specific degrees?
Having known "Ctrl-Alt-Del" since I was six, and knowing I wanted to do something with computers and programs, just not what, I'm now faced with the grim reality that sooner or later, I'll have to make a choice or what I want to do for the rest of my life, and perhaps I may not get what I want the first time around. At the top of my list for careers is video game designer, mostly because of the computers involved, and a love of writing and fiction. I figure I can split the difference on the two, and a love of videogames fermenting since I had an SNES would help things along.
The problem that comes in is while I could just get a BS in CS and be done with it, I could have a hard time getting a job at say, Valve, EA, and the like, without a more specific degree. On the other hand, (god forbid), video games may not be the thing for me, and with a degree in " Interactive Media and Game Design," I'd be dammed to late nights on "Ultra Kill-Gore 'Death' Jones Siblings 2: Revenge of Evil," with crappy coffee AND the pressure to make the game sell 50 million NEW copies at $60 bucks a pop. Where with a CS degree, I could be working a generic IT job where I could still get the late nights, crap coffee and lack of respect, but have a pay raise, and feel where I'm actually getting somewhere if the game doesn't become "Player's Choice" overnight. You see my dilemma?
The question is, do I take a Computer Science degree and risk being cornered into a corner office for the price of being more flexible? Or do I follow my dream, throw caution to the wind, and risk falling on my face? Or am I just barking up the wrong tree altogether, and worrying too much?
Having known "Ctrl-Alt-Del" since I was six, and knowing I wanted to do something with computers and programs, just not what, I'm now faced with the grim reality that sooner or later, I'll have to make a choice or what I want to do for the rest of my life, and perhaps I may not get what I want the first time around. At the top of my list for careers is video game designer, mostly because of the computers involved, and a love of writing and fiction. I figure I can split the difference on the two, and a love of videogames fermenting since I had an SNES would help things along.
The problem that comes in is while I could just get a BS in CS and be done with it, I could have a hard time getting a job at say, Valve, EA, and the like, without a more specific degree. On the other hand, (god forbid), video games may not be the thing for me, and with a degree in " Interactive Media and Game Design," I'd be dammed to late nights on "Ultra Kill-Gore 'Death' Jones Siblings 2: Revenge of Evil," with crappy coffee AND the pressure to make the game sell 50 million NEW copies at $60 bucks a pop. Where with a CS degree, I could be working a generic IT job where I could still get the late nights, crap coffee and lack of respect, but have a pay raise, and feel where I'm actually getting somewhere if the game doesn't become "Player's Choice" overnight. You see my dilemma?
The question is, do I take a Computer Science degree and risk being cornered into a corner office for the price of being more flexible? Or do I follow my dream, throw caution to the wind, and risk falling on my face? Or am I just barking up the wrong tree altogether, and worrying too much?