Do I need a degree for game development?

[Juraj Petrina]

Hi, I want to make a team where we will make games. But I don’t know if I need a degree for that.( Me and some friends want to make games so we are learning c++ , game development from professionals).

Thanks.

[GDRRiley]

you don't need a degree to do almost any creative work, can it be helpful yeah but certainly not needed

[GenericFanboy]

It depends. Does the person you want to work for require that? If you can code, you can code. If you do your own startup.. Why would you need a degree?

[vorticalbox]

1 minute ago, Juraj Petrina said:

Hi, I want to make a team where we will make games. But I don’t know if I need a degree for that.( Me and some friends want to make games so we are learning c++ , game development from professionals).

Thanks.

Not at all. You can learn all this stuff in your own time. When the time comes to get a job be sure to have your work in a portfolio so you can show off.

[Juraj Petrina]

Thanks guys

[aDoomGuy]

It would make it easier to get a job that's all.

[Juraj Petrina]

All of you answers were best but I can pick only one.

[goldmunds_the_dealhunter]

You dont need degree, thats for sure.

You need some skill

[Juraj Petrina]

1 minute ago, aDoomGuy said:

It would make it easier to get a job that's all.

I know but I want to make my own games cause I have many  good ideas for games that don’t exist right now so I would like to make some of them.

[aDoomGuy]

1 minute ago, Juraj Petrina said:

I know but I want to make my own games cause I have many  good ideas for games that don’t exist right now so I would like to make some of them.

That's great! There is absolutely no problem with learning to do so on your own. 

 

I'm sure there even are folks here that can help you out if you get stuck.

[vorticalbox]

20 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

It would make it easier to get a job that's all.

Not true at all I know that I was not employed because is at in a class room for 3 years to get a piece of paper.

[Sauron]

Depends, do you know what you're doing? Because if you need to ask then I think a formal education would help

[Juraj Petrina]

34 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Depends, do you know what you're doing? Because if you need to ask then I think a formal education would help

Well I have a mentor/teacher that comes to my home and teaches me and my friends programming(In this situation (covid) he calls us on zoom/Skype), game development is online.

[antdowling]

The degree is more like a checkmark that makes it possibly easier for a potential employer figure out you have at least achieved a certain level of learning.  This 'checkmark' will have more or less value depending where the degree is from.

 

Where it gets tricky is the degree may not be directly related to the specifics required for a job, but most employers will understand that people that hold degree's usually have some level of ability to know how to learn  (i.e. they'll have some experience researching or learning new things).  In lay mans terms it roughly translates to a person with a degree has half an idea of how to learn something.

When it comes to specific requirements for a job, experience (either from other jobs or your own projects) is going to be extremely valuable, in that a potential employer will see that yes you have been working in a particular field and have experience (i.e. in game development if you have started using some of the freely available gaming frameworks and produced your own stuff, like a portfolio that is going to be invaluable.)   This is especially true for creative works.
 

One area where degrees may be a required, is if they are used for secondary processes, i.e. if they are needed for visa/work permits but that'll be specific to a job and country (if you're not thinking of working outside your own country it may not be an issue)

 

Otherwise experience and passion for game development will be your trump cards.

[Guest]

Make a AAA game on your own, get hired to be AAA at work.