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Video games degrees: 95% fail to hit skills target
Quote:
Nearly all degree courses in video gaming at British universities leave graduates unfit to work in the industry, campaigners warned today.
Leading figures in the video games industry, which is worth about £500m to the economy each year, are unhappy with the 95% of degree courses at UK universities that are unaccredited and fail to equip graduates with the necessary skills to build a career in the industry.
A new campaign - Games Up? - which is backed by most of the UK's gaming companies, urges the government to address a serious skills shortage in the sector that could see the industry move abroad to find more talent.
I think it's awesome that gaming companies are going to the government about this.
Or it could be a general lack of qualified students. Someone see's Fast & Furious and decides to learn automotive technology. Someone loves watching ER, and applies to medical school. Someone loves gaming and... decides to be a gaming programmer? Usually anyone who goes to school for those reasons ends up with a big warm sloppy mug of fail.
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But, that is also what inspires people to go for those jobs. You see a Doctor save someone's life, you see a Lawyer defend a man who is innocent, you see a guy repair your car and for some reason you are interested.
Whatever reason something drives you to a profession, at least it gives you that drive. I agree, sometimes seeing it on TV or in Movies deludes people ot how things are done, but nevertheless, I like that the gaming industry is petitioning the government here to recognize gaming as a general job industry, as opposed to say working in labor or such.
Inspiration can never replace inate talent. Take my field, automotive technology... I've seen so many "graduates" of the Universal Technical Institute come along, and even say they're a top level technician, and are unable to diagnose a flat tire, let alone something a little more substantive like an emissions system computer failure. Oh they had inspiration... they saw the ads in Hot Rod Magazine and their ilk, bought the hype, got their shitty certificate without realizing it's not even a degree and none of their courses are transferrable, and... fail in the real world. DeVry Institute is the exact same deal... they prey on people who want to get into the technology fields and take the money of all comers. Again, no degree, no accreditation, and a subpar education. I can't remember who it is, but there are American commercials for video game programmer schools... they're targeted at gullible gamers and clearly won't deliver any kind of quality education.
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That's why I appreciate this so much more. The Gaming Industry is lobbying the government in this case saying the exact same thing. That these kids/students have no technical knowledge or skills. It's sort of the same thing with any degree here though. I can't tell you the countless times that I speak to ppeople who say that they don't use anything they learned in college, and that they learn everything they need at their job.
It's been my experience you learn little in the way of skills, but if you studied hard, you learn the underlying theory that will make you excel in whatever field you're in.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DennyCrane
It's been my experience you learn little in the way of skills, but if you studied hard, you learn the underlying theory that will make you excel in whatever field you're in.
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