A game degree, like and degree won't get you ahead or guarantee you a job. It won't teach you everything you will need to know to do the job either. It will give you the basics. Everything else is up to you. Although a good school will have a decent career services to help you out. They may also offer free chances to take certification tests in various programs and programing languages.

It is also very unwise to believe the commercials programs. You are not going to be playing games for a living. Nor will you play games in school except to possibly dissect them later and write papers about the design aspects of the game you just played. Very few will finish the degree, and of those even fewer will get a job in the industry .

The real question is, will a game degree or any other degree help you more then the other? In all honestly I'd have to say no. When it comes down to it a degree means you have basic knowledge and the ability to stick something out for two to four years. Everything else is up to you, a good resume, a good portfolio, being able to prove you are a good investment and can do the job. If you have these things you will have a better chance then someone who doesn't no matter what degree they have.

The good thing about a game design degree? You learn about the gaming industry , it's history, current trends, current project management techniques. Although this may not help you get a job, if you do get a job at least you will know what to expect more then a computer science programing major who doesn't know how the gaming industry works. Along with this is you get a taste of pretty much all the jobs out there. Your cretin program may focus more on one of them, mine focused on art and design, but we still got a taste of programing. Which I decided I liked and wanted to learn more of so I did so on my own. This is also something you are going to have to be willing to do, don't expect the school to teach you everything, you will need to continue your education on your own sometimes to get ahead.

Now do I think when I graduate my degree is going to open doors for me? No, I don't, but I don't think any other degree I could have gotten would of opened doors for me. So my answer to this question is although a video game degree isn't going to get you ahead in the industry.. neither is any other degree out there. It's all a matter of how hard you work, and what skills you have.

Learn more about this author, Lawrence Andrews.
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