I am currently/have been attending an online college for a BS in Computer Science (focus is on python/database management/web programming and administrating) but I don't like how the information is presented. I also don't think the school is very well off.

www.tuiu.edu is the school I am "attending" right now. I have been looking for alternatives and DeVry has a very nice online course (or at least it seems interesting). The problem is, I don't know if the degree would be very useful that I am interested in. Wanting to know what you guys think.

» Multimedia Design and Development with emphasis in:
» Graphic and Multimedia Design
» Graphics and Multimedia Management
» Web Design and Development
» Web Game Programming

So I would have to pick one of the last four as an emphasis... My mind wants to pick wed design or game programming... but who the hell would hire basically a glorified flash game programmer?

Any ideas? Any college/universities you guys recommend that can be completed strictly online (military makes it hard to do face to face).

Web Design does pay good money. I can't really speak for the rest of the world, but in this economy in the SF Bay area you're looking at contracts for that kind of work right now. If you want full time work, places like Zynga are staffing up, as well as online retailers. Most retailers would have had there sites ready by now for the holiday season, but they will need support through January.
My advise to you is to get an internship, or a part time job with some of these people. It's never too early to make good contacts. You want names of people that will give you good references, and real experience. It's also a small world out there and you will likely meet those people again.
Also start looking at various recruiters. Check them out on linknin, and find out if they are jack offs, or the type of recruiters that maintain realtionships with their clients, and will help you interview. Give those types of gujys at least two real good references, and will you get contracts right from graduation.

One last thing, and I'm not saying this because this is CA. DO NOT ever work for a dyke. I'm not gay bashing, but those fucks will perfer like an all girl team because they think it's PC, vs hiring people that can do the job. Unless your a catcher, they will make it their personal mission to emasculate you and setback your career.

And since you said you were military, always talk to school counselors about getting people to pay for it.

> I am currently/have been attending an online college for a BS in Computer
> Science (focus is on python/database management/web programming and
> administrating) but I don't like how the information is presented. I also don't
> think the school is very well off.
>
> www.tuiu.edu is the school I am "attending" right now. I have been looking for
> alternatives and DeVry has a very nice online course (or at least it seems
> interesting). The problem is, I don't know if the degree would be very useful
> that I am interested in. Wanting to know what you guys think.
>
> » Multimedia Design and Development with emphasis in:
> » Graphic and Multimedia Design
> » Graphics and Multimedia Management
> » Web Design and Development
> » Web Game Programming
>
> So I would have to pick one of the last four as an emphasis... My mind wants to
> pick wed design or game programming... but who the hell would hire basically a
> glorified flash game programmer?
>
> Any ideas? Any college/universities you guys recommend that can be completed
> strictly online (military makes it hard to do face to face).
>
>

Thanks for the input... I won't be getting out of the military for another 13 years so recruiting and linkedin kind of stuff isn't so useful right now. I haven't paid a single dime for any of the schooling I have taken either.

Mainly I was talking about how useful you guys think a "web game programming" degree is worth. Its technically a Bachelors of Science: Computer Information Systems.

Web Game programming you see companies like zynga, and slide pushing facebook apps. Just answers, and other web based services also seem to be growing. I'd also focus on ATG if I were you. You'd be surprised how many eCommerce sites like special plugin for that cart system, and lot's of big name retailers use it.

Hard to say what the future holds for web game programming. I think you'll want to get in on the next big fad like facebook, or whatever people will be using down the road. I talk to people all the time with great ideas for music, streaming, and various other sites. But they don't really get to far getting them off the ground. But almost all these systems require a database, networking knowledge, load/bandwidth management. You might want to consider some training in those areas as well.

Internationalization is also a big thing but it's a total bitch.

> Thanks for the input... I won't be getting out of the military for another 13
> years so recruiting and linkedin kind of stuff isn't so useful right now. I
> haven't paid a single dime for any of the schooling I have taken either.
>
> Mainly I was talking about how useful you guys think a "web game programming"
> degree is worth. Its technically a Bachelors of Science: Computer Information
> Systems.
>
>

The good thing is this is on the backside/actionscript of flash... so i would think learning "game" programming would easily be translated into pretty much any actionscript around.

Problem I see is that it is relying on flash.

> Web Game programming you see companies like zynga, and slide pushing facebook
> apps. Just answers, and other web based services also seem to be growing. I'd
> also focus on ATG if I were you. You'd be surprised how many eCommerce sites
> like special plugin for that cart system, and lot's of big name retailers use
> it.
>
> Hard to say what the future holds for web game programming. I think you'll want
> to get in on the next big fad like facebook, or whatever people will be using
> down the road. I talk to people all the time with great ideas for music,
> streaming, and various other sites. But they don't really get to far getting
> them off the ground. But almost all these systems require a database,
> networking knowledge, load/bandwidth management. You might want to consider
> some training in those areas as well.
>
> Internationalization is also a big thing but it's a total bitch.
>
> > Thanks for the input... I won't be getting out of the military for another 13
> > years so recruiting and linkedin kind of stuff isn't so useful right now. I
> > haven't paid a single dime for any of the schooling I have taken either.
> >
> > Mainly I was talking about how useful you guys think a "web game programming"
> > degree is worth. Its technically a Bachelors of Science: Computer Information
> > Systems.
> >
> >
>
>
>

The design / multimedia field is just really oversaturated right now. You have to be really talented and really enjoy it in order to make it in this field.

I hate to say it but if you see all these colleges begin to advertise a field, right now criminal justice and radiography seem to be popular right now, I would avoid the field. If you take a class and there are say 30+ other students you are going to be competing against them for jobs.


> I am currently/have been attending an online college for a BS in Computer
> Science (focus is on python/database management/web programming and
> administrating) but I don't like how the information is presented. I also don't
> think the school is very well off.
>
> www.tuiu.edu is the school I am "attending" right now. I have been looking for
> alternatives and DeVry has a very nice online course (or at least it seems
> interesting). The problem is, I don't know if the degree would be very useful
> that I am interested in. Wanting to know what you guys think.
>
> » Multimedia Design and Development with emphasis in:
> » Graphic and Multimedia Design
> » Graphics and Multimedia Management
> » Web Design and Development
> » Web Game Programming
>
> So I would have to pick one of the last four as an emphasis... My mind wants to
> pick wed design or game programming... but who the hell would hire basically a
> glorified flash game programmer?
>
> Any ideas? Any college/universities you guys recommend that can be completed
> strictly online (military makes it hard to do face to face).
>
>

Actionscript is very cool and fun (I've done lots myself) but to be honest a concentration on "online web games" sounds like the latest fad to me. What I would recommend is that you strengthen the "classics" of Computer Science (algorithmics, operational research, C, C++, OOP, etc) which, once you know them well, should allow you to pick up any other language or technique that comes along.

Of course, you can always learn C++ on the side and apply the cool graphics techniques you learn for Flash into a C++ app, which would make your game/multimedia thingie it much faster and more impressive on a portfolio.

And I say that only because I make tons of money off of it. I think any of those concentrations will lead to a great career.

I wouldn't discount the web game programming thing. Everything is going to the web anyways, right? Not like it's always going to be Flash. You'll have opportunities to try other languages/frameworks and as bandwidth increases and deskstops get beefier, we'll be delivering bigger and better games directly over the web. There's an NES emulator written in javascript. Goddam javascript! See it to believe it. Seems pretty damn cool to me.

I'd skip C entirely. C++ is only marginally better. Better to latch onto a modern language like Java, Ruby or C#. Dig into OOP like a mad man. When you want to think about algorithms or your domain you don't want to think about how you're managing your memory. We've abstracted away the nonsense of older languages because they led to buggy and brittle software. Hardware is cheap, memory is abundant and bandwidth is wide. Enjoy it ;)

C++ and C are still relevant for games and graphic apps (either 2d or 3d), so it's good to know them if you want to move into that field in general. They're not so relevant for the web, though.

On the other hand, I agree that Java and C# are more than enough for everyday "business" use. They are still much more robust than higher-level languages such as Python and Excel/VBA for business tasks.

You can now use C++ to write Flash games though... Adobe came up with something called "Alchemy" that can compile C/C++ code into Flash, so you can run Quake (1) to run on a browser, or Doom/Heretic/Hexen. Very neat. If Alchemy becomes commonplace, I would expect to see game companies using this technology to target games to Flash and other devices at the same time (e.g. handhelds, iPhone), and that would mean that the language would be C++.