PREPARING FOR YOUR FUTURE
Many times, I'm asked how should a student prepare themselves for their future careers? The game industry is a very competitive industry, with many more applicants than there are jobs. As a potential game developer, you have to prepare yourself such that the industry wants you for a job, not someone else. This is critical, you have to be a better applicant than the next girl or guy! So what is the best way to succeed?
Many of you have already taken the first important step. You have hired a school to provide you with an education. And you probably have spent a lot of money in the process. Notice how I phrased this, you are the customer that has hired a school. It is up to you to insure that the school performs, just as you would with any other purchase. Make sure you get your monies worth. Take responsibility for your curriculum, and if it doesn't meet your needs, then correct it.
Education is also not passive. There is the old saw that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. You can hire and attend a school, but your school cannot make you drink of the knowledge and skills they are making available to you. It is absolutely YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to learn, and no one else's.
One area that you might have to take into your own hands is the breadth of your education. You will be entering a creative field, even though it is highly technical. As a creative field, knowledge of the human condition is very important. Philosophy, history, psychology, literature, mythology, art, culture and even religion, i.e., the humanities, all speak to that human condition. All are important if you are going to be creating the next great work in computer games, to allow the game to speak to the audience. As such, it is my opinion that not only is the technical important, but the humanities are important to your future. If you have the time in your curriculum, fit in whatever humanities classes you can. Or extend past the school to your own education in the area. One outside source that I can recommend is college lectures that can be purchased in audio and video formats. They are generally given by some of the best teachers in the field and I'm constantly using them to advance my own education. I believe there are several companies that do this, but one company I can recommend is The Teaching Company (http://www.teach12.com) You can also find their courses resold on eBay.
I would also recommend staying up to date on the latest technology and methods. Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com) is a must for your continuing education. I highly recommend using it to keep up to date, it's worth it.
Another way to prepare for your future is to start making contacts with the industry. If there is a local group of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association, http://igda.org), start attending their meetings. Also, in the spring of each year there is a major Game Developers Conference (http://www.gdconf.com) If you can, start attending it. The conference has a volunteer program for students where you can exchange work for admittance to the conference (http://www.gdconf.com/volunteers) which is a great opportunity.
My last piece of advice is to start building and designing games. Get together with other students and start creating mods or even full projects. If your school has a games club, JOIN IT! Not only is this important in building up your portfolio, but you will learn a great deal with every project. But you can also do work outside of teams. If you're an artist, keep making more art and models. If you are a programmer, start writing your own programs. If you are interested in design and writing, start writing proposals and design documents and scripts. With every new piece you create, you will learn more.
Now for one last question for you to consider. You are going into a world of creativity and creation, so my questions for you is "What have you created today?" I'm not necessarily saying what games or games ideas have you created today (although that's a great area in which to express yourself), but anything. Perhaps you have taken a moment to write a haiku or maybe you wrote a program to write haiku's. It doesn't matter what, but at least once a day, take a little time to create something, anything. It adds to your own creativity and it adds to the world that we live in.
I wish you all the best of luck, and hope I was a little help in you archiving your goals.
Mark