Need second opinions about college :p

Ok I know no one knows me enough to actually make me decide whether or not to do what I'm gonna ask everyone...but I thought others opinion's would help and since you guys know way more about SL than me, it wouldn't hurt to ask!!

So here's my delima:

I just quit my job in September cuz my boss was being an a$$ and that was like the best job I've ever had (I have no experience with anything so all my jobs have been entry level / low wage) But I'm 22 years old and I'm still living with my parents. The job I just had was paying me $12 an hour (I figure to make it on my own I've gotta at least make like $20 an hour...if I don't wanna live in the ghetto lol) So I'm thinking in order to make that kind of money I need some kind of degree...which means going to college. And I'm a total computer geek (but not the normal kind...I love sk8boarding, snowboarding, and rock concerts (so no pocket protectors!! lol) And so because of that, I think the only college course I wanna take is Computer Networking (I'm into the hardware side of computers...so setting them up and linking them together is like right down my alley)

BUT (and here's where I need help) deciding to go into Computer Networking was made before I became a SL resident. And now I want to get into making things and selling them and scripting. Basically turn SL into my RL. So now I have the option of going to school to get a Digital Gaming Degree (where I'd learn programming, 3D modeling, graphics and game design...everything needed to make killer things in SL) If I were to go into Networking, I'd be making quite a bit of money (good paying job) But I'm totally obsessed with making my money work for me and not just sitting in some savings account not doing anything...so I've also become interested in investing (mainly online) and so with all the money I'd be making, it would basically be funding investments and business ventures (or whatever?!) And in the RL it either takes alot of referrals making you money so that your expenses are minimum or doing things alone and investing 100's or 1,000's of dollars...with no hope of it actually being profitable!

And that's what's so great about SL, you can basically spend 9 bucks and make a living off that (if your lucky enough) But what I see is that its wayy easier and cheaper to set up a business in SL, make, sell, and provide services. Its also wayy easier to take the ideas in your head and actually make them happen in SL because basically there's no rules!!

I just don't know if it would be worth going to school for 2-4 years in order to live in a virtual reality world...or if I should just keep SL as a hobby, get a Computer Networking degree and with the knowledge I get from that, use it in SL??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, to make this mega long story short...2 options:

1) Computer Networking Degree (good RL job, some skills learned that I can apply to SL)

2) Digital Gaming Degree (where EVERYTHING I learned can apply to SL...thus making SL my RL)

So yea thats it...sorry for the whole life story
But your help would be helpfull!!


THANKX
-Monsieur Poutine
(Mr. Disco Fries)

Even in SL, making a RL living is difficult. It requires a lot of discipline, hard work, and patience. Timing is sometimes everything, and conditions will never be so prime for you to attend college. In your 20s, you have parental support and less responsibility. In your 30s, going to college may not be an option. Also, getting a college degree doesn't ensure that you will never be out of work, but it's a lot less risky than a business in a virtual world.

My suggestion: go to an excellent technical college, major in Computer Networking and minor in Digital Gaming.

If I were you.. I would major in Digital Gaming and minor in Computer Networking. The thing about computer networking is that by the time you finish college all you will have learned will be obsolete. The field depends more on those who are fast learners with the ability to adapt to the newest hardware/software/techno advances. And much of what you learn will be useless in just a few years time. A tad of background can be helpful in the field though.

However, the things you learn dealing with art and gaming though, can be timeless. And you could build on any and every technique you learn.

Plus.. it is always best to seek to learn the things that facinate and interest you most. You will retain the knowledge longer.

They are both good options, and I dabble in both. I think Pendari has a really good suggestion.

Note, that a gaming degree is useful beyond SL. Gaming and digital entertainment is a very big and growing industry. We all love the quote that says the Game Industry is bigger than Hollywood (not yet true, but soon).

As a side comment, some of the general education classes I had to take, like Greek Mythology or post modernist literature were a hoot too.

Whatever you do, don't base your decision on SL... it may not be here in 2, 4 years


Leilany

but something like SL will be, if SL is not.

...

my advice - you go for what you are passionate about, believe in yourself, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.

Personally, I feel post-secondary education is far too hyped. Unless you're getting into a profession where you need to be certified in some way because what you do affects lives -- like a doctor or lawyer -- screw it.

Libraries are filled with volumes of knowledge and there are people out there who'd be willing to teach you a few things if you talk to them.

However, going without a post-secondary is a tough road and requires humongous amounts of self-discipline which I know, is far too much to ask for the young generation. However, those of us that can do it -- I highly reccommend it.

You can learn theory on your own time, but you can never get experience in a classroom.

All you have to do is show people you know what you're talking about. Prove yourself.

As for gaming industry jobs... have fun in the rat race. (I know it's cynical and I have friends trying to get into it too.. but like becoming a doctor or lawyer -- there's a long line of people).

Sorry, but that's the best 0.02 cents I got.

If you are technically inclined, don't do either one.

Most people presume they will still enjoy such work - a risky proposition if there ever was one in industries where 80 hours a week, perma-temps, job exporting, and boom-bust cycles are common.


Go for one of the more traditional, less worker-fungible professions such as embedded systems engineering, niche-market medical engineering or say, patent law.

I give no justification for this remark whatsoever, but in 10 all-too-quick years the reasons will become self-evident.

- Desmond Shang

Finally, a no-brainer!

Major in physics or knot theory, minor in 20th century US/European history. Hang out with the geeks. Pay for college off poker with the liberal arts guys. Come out a 21st century digital boy - able to mentally construst nanos and why the panzers had nothing to do with the axis failure. Chicks will dig you, you'll dig you, and you'll find yourself pushing everybody else toward a better future.

You're a New World Man!

I personally wouldn't go into either. You gotta look at the "Will this be outsourced" question.

In both cases, the answer is "yes".

I've got a ton of friends that took/are taking Computer Science, and there are zero jobs that are sustainable beyond the poverty line right now.

This is because everyone saw the money when the dot.com bubble was booming, and ran to become CS majors. Now that all the stupid companies folded, there's a glut of computer geeks and opportunists roaming the employment offices.

As for game design... I'm fairly cynical on that, too. EA Games, anyone?

If it's your passion, well, you shouldn't listen to me. But if you're doing either for money, you'll be sorry.

Find what you're really interested in, and go for that. It took me 3 years to find it, but now I'm truly excited to go to school every day.

LF

Unless, of course, you want to actually have a career working for something other than insignificant startups full of unprofessional "VB programmers" doing mind-numbingly trivial crap. In that case, your employer will probably get resumes by the thousands and instantly throw away the ones belonging to people without a degree from a reputable institution, and even if you get in they may have a salary policy where people are paid according to a formula proportional to their level of schooling, years on the job etc.

Just my 0.02 EUR

1. go to college.

2. Find one that offers a good well balanced degree for the two things you are interested in. And possibly some other things that you might like.

3. take a bit of classes in both.

4. choose the one that you like best.

5. work with the department and pick and choose what classes most "fit" with what you want to learn.

I applied to my school for computer animation. A week before school I was bored and was looking through the catalogue of all the different classes and saw one called live action special effects. Where you learn how to set people on fire, blow things up, and how to make a squib (spelling? its the little explosive that ruptures a thing of movie blood to make it look like someone just got shot) So I changed my major from computer animation in the computer department to visual effects in the film department just so i could take that class.

Ended up graduating with a degree in motion picture and television with an emphasis in editing. Won the award for best editor at my school's fim festival. Was the first person to take their senior film back to actual film in the history of the school. Then that same film has been to multiple film festivals.

If someone would have told me when I was still in Nebraska struggling like you are in what to do with the rest of my life that a couple of years out of college I would be editing TV in London... I seriously would have laughed at them. Life just kind of turns out funny.

So really.. you don't know what you want to do or what you are good at until you actually try it. Personally that's what I think college is for. One person I know changed his major like 10 times and is now extremly happy digging through ruins in south america. I think he started a path to being a laywer.

Go to college. set yourself a goal of only finding what you love to do and what you are good at. Not that you are going to be such and such thing when you get out.

Screw college! Become a cat burglar!

Ok, maybe I didn't word that right... what I mean is, don't do it because of SL, (which may or may not be in your future either because you're not interested in it anymore or because it ceased to exist) do it because it's something you want to be doing and are passionate about.

Leilany

Do what i do, pursue your goal, and get that degree, make sure to do part time, at a college that's going to off you the best service and fee's in your career. Then work hard at it <i'm lazy thats why i come here> and make sure to get a minors job to pay off your regular life. Since your still living at home, ask parents if you can help pay the bills to help you out for when you go out into RL job, and get used to making checks, on time for money laundering, and things of that sort. Then when time comes move out to a really cheap apartment and get some time to see what its like on your own. That's an experience in and of itslef, but its hard to maintain without a partner to help pay some the rent...i moved in with 4 friends in an tiny appartment.

It's been a kooky expenience for me, and I love every minute of it, just do your best at your own pace, and if you cannot get into attending classes, take online classes! They are alot of reading but there also at your own pace so there more fun. Since computer's s your thing, to take appart or tinker inside, as Pen said, major in one, minor in other. They will help you in many way's then u'll know and be there for you in end. In college i'm planning to be a CJ major, and minor in some computers within my feild. I still dunno what exactly, but i do know i wanna live simple life and carry a gun ^_^