EArl believes that there is no tougher decision for a student than choosing which University to study at and what degree they should choose. This is the 2nd reflection point of the day, (to kick the series off, and goes in depth). Students are faced with a multitude of choices. Often selecting a career to go into after University is not at the forefront of a student’s thoughts. Many don’t know what they want to do exactly and hence further study at University delays their career choice. What the video games industry is witnessing is that there is a huge, growing undercurrent of people wanting to work in gaming, and why not? Gaming is the fastest growing media segment, it is holding up well in a recession, the sector is earning more in revenues than the Hollywood box office, games are becoming more and more recognised as a great form of entertainment, and those in technical roles see the HUGE challenges that working in games provides. And students can see that the games industry is maturing with competitive compensation and benefits, training & development and solid career structures.
The allure of gaming is interestingly having a number of effects. Firstly that Universities are recognising the appeal that students have for wanting to work in gaming. Hence they are reacting. Universities themselves are facing challenges. Trends are starting to emerge that traditional degrees are becoming less and less popular. Degrees like Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Business Studies, English are seeing, in some cases, seeing year on year falls in applicants at degree level of 10-15%. That is a lot. Why is that? Well students are faced by growing choices—hundreds of new courses to choose from. Thus, Universities, have to compete to attract students and hence offer more and more courses. More students, means more funding for their University. Hence, like any business would do, they have to ensure they have a solid mass of student numbers to maximise revenue for their budgets. Unpopular Universities get less money.
Given the huge interest in gaming, Universities have started offering a range of games degrees courses and specialist courses like game design. Many at EA have spoken out on this issue, including Matthew Jeffery, the Global Head of Talent Brand. Here he discusses with Phil Elliott the Editor of GamesIndsutry.biz, concerns over education http://tiny.cc/6UyR1 a year back.
Now, given the huge proliferation of courses, over 150 in the UK alone, how does a student know which courses to select from? How can they spot the quality courses from the hastily organised? This is a critical question. What is clear is that senior figures in the games industry are concerned at the quality of some of these courses and hence for the future of the students on these courses. There are many great games courses, particularly in the USA, but key to this blog is saying to students….please think, research and understand the University & course choice you have made.
What is also a concern is that game design courses are spiralling. Game design is the hardest discipline to recruit for a games company, quite literally because a great game designer came come from anywhere. A games programmer will generally have a maths/physics/computer science background and can easily be assessed though a programming test. An artist can be assessed by the strength of their showreel. A game designer? Well they could come via Quality Assurance, (ie games testing), and through their passion of gaming and understanding the dynamics of a game, move on into design. They could be an artist, a programmer, a producer, a marketer. Game Design comprises of natural skills, like creativity. Now consider that a game team recruits externally for very few game designers, (especially given the HUGE competition for the role internally). How many game designers do you see being recruited in the industry at any given time…..very few. In Matthew’s interview he points to the previous 300 hires, only 3 were entry level game designers. And that is for EA a large employer of talent.
Also, important to remember, as you look at game design courses is new ways that game designers are being spotted and recruited into the industry. With games possessing more and more potential for User Generated Content, gamers can show off their creating skills and levels they built to potential recruiters. Microsoft XNA has helped a whole community of games see the light of day on the Xbox Live Community. So, students remember, studying for a Game Design degree does not necessarily place you at the front of the queue for a job.
So there is a very real danger of a flood of game design graduates coming on to the market and them not being able to get a job in games. How transferrable is a Games Design Degree into other industries? (already recruiting at low levels due to the recession). Not highly transferable as it is quite a niche course. So, if a graduate can’t get a job in gaming and it is hard to transfer into other job markets, what do they do? The prospect of unemployment for a graduate is frightening but a very real one. Not what any one wants to see.
As you will see from the interview with Matthew, EA has a lot of success with Graduates from traditional degrees, (maths, physics, computer science, English, Business Studies), as students have the grounding to understand how things work, feel happy getting into the detail generally and are highly inquisitive. Several games degree courses teach specifics like the history of gaming or look at programming one technology eg EA has interviewed students recently that were taught to program the PS2, (when PS3 been in market for a couple of years already). The speed of the development of the games industry, leaves technologies quickly feeling dated, hence teaching core traditional skills helps the student adapt than focusing on teaching current technology or system specific information. Also, arguably, possessing a traditional degree leaves more options open to the graduate….eg they can apply for jobs and stand a greater chance of success in different sectors.
So what advice can EArl give on choosing your degree? Tough call for a student. In the UK Skillset started off accrediting key recommended Universities and awarding specific courses its seal of recommendation. However, given Skillset have nominated only a few courses and not one as yet comes from outside of a games degree course, students don’t have a definitive place to look for recommended courses.
EArl’s advice for any student wanting to work in games is to ask a number of key questions when selecting their degree to their University of choice….
- How many former students have gone on to work in the games industry?
- What percentage of candidates end up working in games?
- What companies have they gone on to work for (look at the names and make a judgement on their quality)
- What history of success do former students have in being promoted? (any industry superstars?)
- Which games companies do the University partner with on advice for academic course curricula?
- Do any games companies come and speak at their University?
- What careers have students gone onto who were not employed into games?
Hopefully, you get the idea……….
Given that, in the UK, the average student leaves University with a personal debt of approaching £20,000, choosing the best course to build a career is vital.
Love to hear your views on this contentious subject.
EArl
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