Ok, I'm kind of worried now because I'm not sure what to study in university, I am interested in electronics I like gadgets and technology, but I also have a liking to games and making games. I'm kinda confused  I chose Computer Science as a course I want to study in univeristy anyway because it is a broad subject but now I'm worried because I don't know if I can cope with it or not, since it involves advanced maths and I failed my A-level maths in college so I dropped it.

I've read a few articles on games design jobs and they don't sound too good, apaprently it's because so many young people like me want to do it that they just pay us low wages and we are worked long hours with less holidays, the other bad thing is we wouldn't be doing any significant probably just coding a small thing in the game. I don't wanna end up like one of those people when I could go to univeristy to study a course to get a better job that I would enjoy therefore I have thought about electronics but the universities require that you have A-level Physics and I do not have that qualification, so I've been really worried and panicing about this lately and I don't know what to do.

I know there are quite a few people in here who are older, mature and I was hoping you guys could maybe help me out... give me some advice.

Drop the whole game industry idea. Unless you're exceptional and amazing you're not likely going to get anywhere. Go for a practical job. Many if not most courses in University don't lead to jobs. It's astonishing as to how many people get degrees but then end up in low-end jobs like cashiers and fast food... Have a plan. It's extremely hard making such a huge life decision as to what you want your career to be, but you'll be much more successful if you do have a definite course laid out rather than just taking university courses and seeing where you end up. University may be a time for experimentation (in more ways than one) for a lot of people, but it's a rather costly experiment!

What other interests do you have? Have you considered a trade job? A health profession? Business? An office job?

It would also be a good idea to talk to some people who work in the field(s) that you are interested in. Their personal experiences and history will be a huge advantage to you. They'll be willing to talk about the downsides of their jobs which is not something you always get to hear from other sources such as schools who want you to pursue that field via their schooling so that they can get your money. Yeah, a primary source of information would be one of your best bets if you can get access to it. I imagine a lot of people would be willing to discuss their careers at length, what the pros and cons are, as well as what it takes to make it.

I know two people (one is top of the class) CS students. They both dreamed for video games too. One fell out and is looking at programming, the other one (the top-o-class) is definitely going to be a programmer. It's not just a tough industry to get into...

Why the fuck does everyone want to make games? Jesus Christ dude. All those kids glamorize the game industry in their heads as something really great and fun.

I want to be a film maker; editing, directing or whatever. At the moment I'm trying to decide whether to go to college for film or computer science. Since I'm pretty pessimistic, I know it's guaranteed I'm not going to get anywhere studying film. So it's either about being miserable and programming shit makin bucks or at least trying to be happy.

EDIT: Woops I thought this was a share your future career choices topic.

Yeah anyway, I agree with Mateui. Those articles you've read seem to be pretty practical. If you really gotta do games, I say find a way to focus on hard core computing and make game shit a side thing.

I don't really know what i'm talking about.

Mateui is spot on. You'll wind up with a terribly boring job in the gaming industry, or none at all; you need to network to get anywhere. My philosophy is to get a job you're good at; If you go for something you enjoy, either school or the actual job will suck the fun out of it, barring a few exceptions.

Any sort of education towards the gaming industry will involve either programming or digital art (preferably both; developers are moving away from rigid roles within game development). Any sort of actual entry-level design position would be unlikely; actually getting hired for that usually requires past experience (developers also request your experience be on SUCCESSFUL games as well) so you have to work your way up in-house from a programming position and then build a portfolio as a designer.

Also, ignore every advertisement you see for "Game Design" courses.

I used to want to be a zookeeper until I realized I'd probably end up shoveling copious amounts of shit for a living.

I'm going to go to school to be a funeral director. I am compassionate, and think it would be cool to work in a funeral home and drive a hearse, hell ya.

make games lol

It's funny how that looks like "I make games lol"...

I'm going to go to school to be a funeral director. I am compassionate, and think it would be cool to work in a funeral home and drive a hearse, hell ya.

A couple of my sister's friends actually took that career route. I don't think it could be something I could handle on a day to day basis (seeing so much powerful sadness, grief and intense emotions) but there certainly are people out there that have the empathy and compassionate outlook to be able to do this daily so I have to give them kudos. It's amazing that there are people all over willing to do all sorts of jobs happily. Finding the right job that does leave you satisfied can be a problem though, but once you find it it's worth it.

music education. i want to teach privately, hopefully in a larger city, but i'm not totally adverse to teaching in a school or college, depending on what i'm actually teaching.

There's no way to tell what you're going to end up in. I'm pretty sure that you'll get over the whole "i want to make nintendogames" thing pretty quickly though considering that youre bad at math and computer science and electrical engineering are really math-heavy. Why would you want to put yourself through that kind of shit?
You should definitely talk to department heads and take a broad range on intro level courses your first year to decide on what you like or are good at. I used to want to be a pharmacist and after about two and a half years of intensive chemistry/biology-physiology/math I had an epiphany and decided I did not want to stand behind a counter in the back of a grocery store slanging boner pills, painkillers, and antidepressants all day. I wasted a lot of time and money and eventually decided on Environmental Science. The most awesome thing is that I have recently found out that I need a master's degree in environmental policy for the kind of jobs I've been looking into so it looks like it's back to school in a year or two!

I'm going to go to school to be a funeral director. I am compassionate, and think it would be cool to work in a funeral home and drive a hearse, hell ya.

oh man. I had a good friend who worked at a funeral home and had all kinds of stories about having to pick up bloated corpses in mobile homes, getting the fire department called because flames were shooting out the top of the incinerator smokestack when he burned a really fat guy, being mistakenly instructed to burn a bunch of medical waste only to have a bunch of doctors show up later informing him that the corpse of a newborn that died somehow ended up with the medical waste that was burning... Guess who had to tell the family? He was on call 24/7 with that job too so he had to live in a flat right above the funeral home.

It depends on what university you go to, but a lot of CS programs don't require you to take that many math classes, and sometimes offer math classes specifically based around CS (so it's different than your average math class).  You should at least give it a try.

I wasted a lot of time and money and eventually decided on Environmental Science. The most awesome thing is that I have recently found out that I need a master's degree in environmental policy for the kind of jobs I've been looking into so it looks like it's back to school in a year or two!

like two or three of my friends are majoring in environmental science

like two or three of my friends are majoring in environmental science

There's a lot of projected growth for environmental jobs, so it's a pretty attractive career direction. The problem is that if you want a good/fun job you need to go to grad school to study policy or environmental engineering. Otherwise you're stuck with shit like low level positions in your state's department of ecology or working in national forests having to stay in those raised house/outposts staring at trees for months at a time completely secluded from the rest of the world.

Really?!

lol

i hate it when graphics have loose graphics

"Better tighten up those graphics" comes up every time anyone in any of my CS classes mentions game design.  Always.

That commercial used to be on all the time when I would get home from High school and watch some tv!