[Iconicmoronic]

I am presently looking into school. Prompted by my inability to pay for a psychology degree because of the lack of opportunity in the lower degrees of the field, I chose to do something IT.

Initially I got really interested in Game Programming, and bought a few books so that I could start teaching myself the trade. It isn't that I've been unsuccessful in understanding the material, its just that I've become paranoid I'm going to miss something that will be detrimental.

So I thought I should begin with a programming degree versus trying to learn programming designed specifically for gaming. To me it made sense to know programming, then try to learn game specific programming. I'm not deterred by the math even though historically, I haven't been the best math student. What has been deterring me is the schools I've been looking at are not state schools. Itt Tech and some local community colleges or national campuses. Some of these schools offer 8 week sessions two per semester so classes are either 4-16 weeks long. What I've been finding is that the majority of the core courses are around 8 weeks long. This inlcudes programming in a multitude of languages and modifications. It just doesn't seem like enough time!

ITT offers the most fleible course, with 12 week courses over 3 and a half years.

But I've come across another consideration: should I just go get certified (a+, networking+,linux+, windows certs) and take networking security and information security, which includes intro to programming. Should I go with electronics engineering which will also expose me to intro to programming?

What would be the smartest beginners route to learning programming while still haveing the essential understanding of the platforms and hardware I'm working on? I would hate to learn to program and design a program that is airtight in its languages capabilities but doesn't perform to security preferences or operation standards because I didn't know about crucial configuration habits and options available on the platform the program is designed for. I wouldn't want to write a program that is going to perform according to its languages standards, but bog down the system with all its fancy smancy mess.

Yes, I'm a newb to this. I could really use a little common discussion and advice on where to start in the IT field if ultimately, I want to write an awesome game program that is going to be optimized for its platform and take advantages of the features of its hardware and software like directx and opengl.

Thanks for any who respond.

Edited by Iconicmoronic, 14 November 2009 - 02:05 PM.

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First off it sounds like that you want to be a programer or a game designer.
You should have no need for any A+,MCSE etc... those are IT certs and you are going into game design and programing.

I would recommend learning the programing languages. Perhaps look into some open source gaming projects.

[anzenketh]

First off it sounds like that you want to be a programer or a game designer.
You should have no need for any A+,MCSE etc... those are IT certs and you are going into game design and programing.

I would recommend learning the programing languages. Perhaps look into some open source gaming projects.