IT vs English Philology. I need serious suggestions.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
In Denmark, your piece of paper is the single most important thing in terms of getting the job.

I interview a lot of potential programmers to work with me and my team ( I'm not in the gaming industry, business unfortunately) and it's the same in the US for a serious programming job. Non university trained programmers are generally self taught are pretty sloppy coders and don't know a lick about optimization and a lot of basic foundations that larger frameworks are built on. As part of my team, I need to know you know that stuff. A university degree in any subject tells me you can solve problems by yourself and work hard enough to get through a 4 year program.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I know in the US, the "norm" for getting into the gaming industry used to be to start out as a beta tester (or similar) and work your way up. I'm not sure if that holds true today, because the industry is so much bigger and teams are so separated on a big project. But I think if you're very young, it might be a great way to start.

What I hear the most often these days is get involved in the modding community. Release a good mod for your favorite game and companies will take notice. To them it means you have the skills to work with modern games (if it's for their game, big plus) and understand game design.

With all the video game degrees from "higher education institutions" (not trying to offend anyone here but these places aren't generally well regarded ) having actual experience by completing a mod is a huge indicator you actually have what it takes.

That's funny in Sweden you don't have to show a single paper