Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: Peter Passmore Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: Advice needed! Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 21:59:50 +0100 Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 41 Message-ID: <35C8C7C6.567A@mdx.ac.uk> References: <35C8656E.EC8288B0@nospam.easynet.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: staff-dialup3.mdx.ac.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04 (Win95; I) Hi Phil, Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier but let me answer here. The MSc you're thinking of is a conversion MSc aimed at people outside of IT to enable them to get into it, which it does very well and the students off the course don't have trouble getting work. Being computer literate and a programmer you could pick up most of this stuff anyway but it's a question of time. Multimedia is an area that has been much hyped and web stuff can be good fun but it's dangerous as you can end up being a web master (more usually a web slave). Having said that multiplayer web based games are a growth area and I have been contacted by developers looking for people to work on such systems. Generally it's a good idea to decide what you want to do first and then go for it. Otherwise you can end up digging yourself a hole and falling into it, eg: like people who get secretarial skills whilst they decide what to do and never manage to get out of being a secretary... The good point of the MSc is (of course!) that you can optionally take some of my 3rd year graphics modules which are highly relevant. However many Universities will let you register for individual modules so there is no need to follow a degree programme if you know what you what you want to do. The games industry is moving more towards wanting people with degrees but the right portfolio will open any door and you already have an encouraging start on that... Also the computer entertainment/graphics industry is growing, and it not just games, in the recent documentary 'the computer that ate hollywood' the guy from cinesite made the significant point that 80% of some comtemporary film budgets can be given over to the special effects... So my advice is work on the portfolio, if you want to take the odd module here and there it's probably a good idea, in your case you could probably get to the same job destinations as the MSc would provide under your own steam (especially in two years!), but you need to have time to develop your game work. One observation that strikes me though is that people can get much further if they collaborate as I think was shown by the short course. It's much harder to do virtually, than meeting people in the flesh, but the Yaroze setup (and DEnnis!) try to encourage this. Peter.