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Recently, I've been thinking very hard about dropping out of college. Here in Ireland, the education system is somewhat different to the way it is in the US and

Recently, I've been thinking very hard about dropping out of college. Here in Ireland, the education system is somewhat different to the way it is in the US and many other parts of the world. You pick a course, and then for the next three or four years, you attend only the classes that belong to that course. There's very little choice in the matter (though you can technically attend other classes, but not officially and at the lecturer's discretion). I'm in my third year of a four year computer games development course. I absolutely love the course, the lecturers, and of course my friends at college. I've been thinking about dropping out because I've been finding the course difficult recently and because I've got a skewed vision of myself, of my motivations and my abilities. It's so easy to think "I'll drop out and then I'll have the time to do this and this and this and this," and much harder to think "If I drop out I'll spend every day on the couch playing videogames and growing less and less as a person." That's not the way it is for everyone, but it is the way it is for me. If you told me you were thinking about dropping out, I'd ask for the proof that you're not going to waste, because that's such an easy trap to fall into. Dropping out gives you a chance to do the best things you can do, but it gives you the chance to do nothing, too.

Tsagadai 15y ago
Honestly, if you have made it to the third year of a four year degree you should stay in school. Here is the best reason most people never mention, visas. If you have a degree it is easier to move internationally. If you don't have a degree or at least a million you are pretty much stuck in the queue. It's paper and credentialism but that is what bureaucracies like immigration departments care most about.
- arvinjoar 15y ago
  I see myself as a world citizen (or perhaps as a sovereign individual) and I loathe borders and bureaucracy. With that said though, I would like to be able to move as much as I can and you have to (to a certain extent) play ball with the powers that be. Thank you for giving me another item to put on the "pro-side" of getting a degree.
evanmoran 15y ago
The reason college matters is because people take hard classes and have to fight through them to graduate. Hard is the point of it, not the problem! Now you just have to figure out how to do what the class asks you to do. Work harder. Study more. Make a schedule of when you have to study. Talk to the professor, to TAs, to tutors. Go to every office hour / study group / class you can. You can do it, but you will have to grow as a person to make it. That is the point. Good luck=).
- 565555656 15y ago
  what if the college does not offer hard classes. I am not talking about a scenario where I am brilliant and know everything, I am talking about a scenario where classes are not really hard. Everything is on a basic level and no advanced level stuff.
  - Robin_Message 15y ago
    Then I'm afraid you applied to the wrong college. If it was me, I'd a) work out how to demonstrate you are top of the class and b) befriend someone in the faculty who will mentor you, with the probable aim of c) transferring to another, more challenging institution or at least course at the same institution. Fortune favours the bold.
    - 565555656 15y ago
      a)check b)check c)my education system does not allow that
      - Robin_Message 15y ago
        Bugger. I find it hard to believe its impossible, even if there is no formal or published process though. Good luck devising your own course of study then :)
      - Fliko 15y ago
        I'm curious about what education system doesn't allow you to eventually move on to harder studies. I mean, I've been screwed by schools again and again by their promises of transfer credit and then not giving it to me after I've dropped out of my old school and have applied to their school (while going to a lower down college to fill out some course requirements), but despite that there is still the opportunity for me to fill out requirements and move onto a harder school.
0x12 15y ago
A university level computer games development course? How does that follow, wouldn't it be much more practical to do a general cs curriculum and then to specialize in visualization and/or interaction rather than something so narrow as games?
- kabdib 15y ago
  Games are anything but narrow. Your average top-tier game needs to do (just off the top of my head) - - security - database access (in real time) - effective storage management, both in RAM and on disk, of gigabytes of data - hard-deadline scheduling (every 60th or 30th of a second) - some serious algorithmic work for physics simulations, rendering, AI and so forth - networking - asset management - build systems - scripting and customization - user support, updates, in-game sales ... I could go on and on. Games span the entire stack of modern computing, from bare metal (worrying about how flash wear leveling works, or interrupt latency) to global-scale networking and how politics affects your ability to encrypt voice data. Games are anything but "narrow".
  - cube13 15y ago
    Very little of which is actually taught well by a games curriculum. Most of them are following the "flavor of the month" build environment and platforms, which may be of little use when the student graduates, especially if they try to get a job at any of the more established game companies. A good theoretical CS degree will teach the same concepts, but in a way that prepares the student to apply the concepts on any platform or language. That's why I think that it's better to get a generalized CS degree, and dabble with game development on the side. That's what I did in college, and it taught me that I didn't want to become a game dev.
    - kabdib 15y ago
      I definitely do not recommend a "games curriculum" at any college I'm aware of. A mix of good theoretical CS with some hands-on OS, database, compiler and data structures work is probably best. Graphics, naturally (though you can be successful at a games company without knowing much about graphics -- honest).

Tsagadai 15y ago

Honestly, if you have made it to the third year of a four year degree you should stay in school. Here is the best reason most people never mention, visas. If you have a degree it is easier to move internationally. If you don't have a degree or at least a million you are pretty much stuck in the queue. It's paper and credentialism but that is what bureaucracies like immigration departments care most about.

arvinjoar 15y ago
I see myself as a world citizen (or perhaps as a sovereign individual) and I loathe borders and bureaucracy. With that said though, I would like to be able to move as much as I can and you have to (to a certain extent) play ball with the powers that be. Thank you for giving me another item to put on the "pro-side" of getting a degree.

evanmoran 15y ago

The reason college matters is because people take hard classes and have to fight through them to graduate. Hard is the point of it, not the problem! Now you just have to figure out how to do what the class asks you to do. Work harder. Study more. Make a schedule of when you have to study. Talk to the professor, to TAs, to tutors. Go to every office hour / study group / class you can. You can do it, but you will have to grow as a person to make it. That is the point. Good luck=).

565555656 15y ago
what if the college does not offer hard classes. I am not talking about a scenario where I am brilliant and know everything, I am talking about a scenario where classes are not really hard. Everything is on a basic level and no advanced level stuff.
- Robin_Message 15y ago
  Then I'm afraid you applied to the wrong college. If it was me, I'd a) work out how to demonstrate you are top of the class and b) befriend someone in the faculty who will mentor you, with the probable aim of c) transferring to another, more challenging institution or at least course at the same institution. Fortune favours the bold.
  - 565555656 15y ago
    a)check b)check c)my education system does not allow that
    - Robin_Message 15y ago
      Bugger. I find it hard to believe its impossible, even if there is no formal or published process though. Good luck devising your own course of study then :)
    - Fliko 15y ago
      I'm curious about what education system doesn't allow you to eventually move on to harder studies. I mean, I've been screwed by schools again and again by their promises of transfer credit and then not giving it to me after I've dropped out of my old school and have applied to their school (while going to a lower down college to fill out some course requirements), but despite that there is still the opportunity for me to fill out requirements and move onto a harder school.

0x12 15y ago

A university level computer games development course? How does that follow, wouldn't it be much more practical to do a general cs curriculum and then to specialize in visualization and/or interaction rather than something so narrow as games?

kabdib 15y ago
Games are anything but narrow. Your average top-tier game needs to do (just off the top of my head) - - security - database access (in real time) - effective storage management, both in RAM and on disk, of gigabytes of data - hard-deadline scheduling (every 60th or 30th of a second) - some serious algorithmic work for physics simulations, rendering, AI and so forth - networking - asset management - build systems - scripting and customization - user support, updates, in-game sales ... I could go on and on. Games span the entire stack of modern computing, from bare metal (worrying about how flash wear leveling works, or interrupt latency) to global-scale networking and how politics affects your ability to encrypt voice data. Games are anything but "narrow".
- cube13 15y ago
  Very little of which is actually taught well by a games curriculum. Most of them are following the "flavor of the month" build environment and platforms, which may be of little use when the student graduates, especially if they try to get a job at any of the more established game companies. A good theoretical CS degree will teach the same concepts, but in a way that prepares the student to apply the concepts on any platform or language. That's why I think that it's better to get a generalized CS degree, and dabble with game development on the side. That's what I did in college, and it taught me that I didn't want to become a game dev.
  - kabdib 15y ago
    I definitely do not recommend a "games curriculum" at any college I'm aware of. A mix of good theoretical CS with some hands-on OS, database, compiler and data structures work is probably best. Graphics, naturally (though you can be successful at a games company without knowing much about graphics -- honest).