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
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Thanks for the post.
Spot on dude.
I must say I choose a Games Degree course and I made a choice I regret. There are some good courses out there BUT I fell for pretty pictures and marketing spin by the University. My fauly I guess.
The course certainly feels loose, we spend a lot of time discussing the latest games. discussions more worthy of a student bar than the University.
I am desperately worried when I come to graduate next year at my chances of getting a good job in games in this recession.
i wish I had asked your questions EArl when I look at courses.
As a female I am considering working in the games industry. Some of my friends think I am mad, as girls dont play games.
Thanks for this post. When faced with so many degree choices it is hard to pick the best for me.
I will use your questions on Monday to the University that I am looking to join.
EA rocks
Yes, too many degrees. Universities are pandering to student laziness. Choosing a traditional degree means hard work. Choosing a soft degree means a few years of easy work, lots of drinking, sleeping and then Graduate at the end.
We need to start to shame those Universities that are putting together poor courses. They dont deserve students and the money that attracts to them. Courses are there to equip students with the best skills to make them employable. currently, it feels like some universities are missing this point and are not focused on education but their own revenue stream.
Great blog piece
It is one think to be a doctor and to know that only people who graduated Medicine can do this, and a totally different thing to become a specialist in a field where specialists can come from everywhere. It is, after all, about investing money wisely. And, when it comes to money, I think we should be as objective as possible. Do you like games? Do you want to be a game designer? Self study, practice, research can help you achieve this goal.
On the other hand, I must admit that a formal certification can be exactly the advantage you may need to success in a highly competitive niche. Moreover, on a long term basis (a lot of years from now on), I think that jobs will be filled in only by specialists. A specialist = study in that specific area + experience.
Bottom line: what would I choose? I wouldn’t study game design but if my kid ( not born yet ) wants to become Game Designer, I will encourage him to study this in depth in University.
[...] here to see the original: Reflection Point: The rise of Games Degrees [...]
This past December, I graduated from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), a game development master’s degree program at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL). The program was developed in conjunction with EA and the state of Florida to nurture talent in this highly creative, high tech region.
The program is only one its fifth group of students, but they’re given 100% of the faculty’s attention for three consecutive semesters while they train (in production, art, or programming) and work in teams on numerous rapid prototypes and a two-semester long monster project. Many of the games, large and small, have earned acclaim from MTV, IGF, Shockwave, and IndieCade. (Shameless plug: Come see Zephyr: Tides of War at IndieCade@E3, booth 652.) Some of those projects have even earned the students money before graduating. Graduates have gone on to make waves at EA, n-Space, Midway, Neversoft, and numerous other studios. The faculty are industry veterans with many having held lead and executive positions.
To survive takes 100% commitment, and if you can’t eat, sleep, and breathe video games, you’ll burn out fast. It’s like boot camp, you’re thrown in the water to sink or swim. But all the pressure and no-sugar-coating critique is there to make you a stronger developer, able to adapt and think under fire. When stepping into first jobs, alumni ramp-up time is minimal because we’ve been entrenched in the process and used the same tools. The school is dedicated the simulating the real deal and does not skimp on that criterion.
The best thing you’ll earn from the program is not the degree but the experience of producing a project with a large team and all the important lesson-teaching roadbumps that come with that territory. Knowing that, the best advice to catch an employer’s eye is to make something you can show off, preferably as part of a team. It shows you know how to communicate, execute, and deliver. And you don’t necessarily need a degree for that experience.
Speakers come in roughly every two weeks to a month. We’ve had guests from EA, Vicarious Visions, Midway, Microsoft, Nintendo, CryTek, and more. There’s even a “job week” where interested employers conduct interviews at the school or otherwise set up phone/video calls.
More info on FIEA: http://www.fiea.ucf.edu
Great article!
I think it raises a great point that with ALL degrees (even if not in gaming) students need to do their, erm, studies and really work out which courses are most suitable for what they are looking for.
Maybe if more students started asking questions of the insitutions, universities and colleges might give more thought to the worthiness of setting up yet another course.
I agree wholeheartedly with this article. I made the unfortunate decision of taking on a master’s degree in interactive media at a prestigious school in Southern California. While I really appreciate the education that I received, the game industry has thus far seen no value in it. As a result, I’m currently unemployed two years after graduation. The best employment I can seem to find right now is either game testing or taking a low-end PA job at a known game industry non-profit organization. Plus now I’m in the fun position of being too far out from graduation to qualify for an internship, too experienced to be taken on as a Production Coordinator or other entry-level position, and too under-experienced to be taken on as an Assistant Producer.
It seems that even with all of these qualifications, there’s no place for a new person with a “game degree”… Regardless of said person’s smarts, abilities, skills, and education. And worst of all, the industry still scorns those who attempt to become formally educated in the craft.