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Questions on College Minors and which I should take?

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4 comments, last by ShinGoukiZero 6 years, 2 months ago

Hello my name is Jaymie and I am new here so I apologize if this is not the correct place to ask these questions. I have a few questions regarding my education and I feel in order to get the best answers I need to elaborate some on my current situation and background so I apologize if this is long winded. (I have my questions at the bottom of this post if you would rather not read my life story or think it is unnecessary). 

I am currently going to a community college in Virginia and I am in the process of getting my associate's degree with the intent of transferring to a 4-year school for a bachelor's degree. The school I am looking at is George Mason University and the program I am currently looking at is the BS in Computer Science. I initially was looking into getting their BS in Applied Computer Science with a Concentration in Computer Game Design however I decided to go for the normal CS degree instead due to my decision to get my Minor in Math. (This is due to the fact that the CS degree requires 4 out of the 7 classes that the Minor needs while the ACS degree only has 3 out of 7. ) The reason I decided to go for my Math Minor is due to searching what math is useful or even used in game design on this forum.(One such example here. I also apologize if I am not supposed to post links.) I enjoy math to a certain extent and I personally feel I am pretty good at it. Any game programming related courses that the ACS degree offered are available to the CS degree except for one course so I don't think I really am missing out on anything except for the 3 Art classes that the ACS degree requires. That is when I had the Idea to get a Minor in Art and Visual Technology as well to not only get those 3 courses but 2 additional courses as well. They also have a Minor for Computer Game Design and a Minor for Music Technology which are Minors I think I also would love to get.  This is where my dilemma comes in as a lot of the resources I have been looking at suggest that it is not the best Idea to go for multiple minors or two different types of career paths for my degree(i.e. programming and art). I don't necessarily feel that any of these Minors would be useless in the game design field or that they would hinder me even. I do feel however that 4 Minors is too much and I would probably be better off Double Majoring. I would love to double Major in CS and in Computer Game Design but In all honesty I would rather not be in school 2 or possibly more extra years as I am already kind of late to the game of getting my degree. (I'm 23 so I know I'm not that old but the mistakes I have made in life have led to me getting my education 6 years later than I could have and I would like to produce actual results. Maybe some time after I get a job with my CS degree I'll consider going back for another or even go to a game design school but not right now.) I realize that art and sound design are things that I probably would not encounter at a company being that I am programming focused but I still feel they would be useful skills to have and things I would like to know anyway if I work on things on my own. (Which I intend to do as well as work with others.) As of right now I am leaning in the direction of BS CS with the Math and Art minor due to it more or less being the same curriculum as the ACS just with a few more classes. I believe I am more or less set in stone on the Math Minor and on the BS CS degree, however I am fairly indecisive on taking one of the other 3 Minors and at times I even lean towards the Computer Game Design Minor. Any minor I don't take I intend to learn at least some portion of during my free time. 

Questions(I realize that I am kind of assuming what I think the answer is with these. I know that answers aren't always yes or no but I am unsure as to how to address my concerns without asking these types of leading questions.) 

  1. Will employers, be they in the Game Industry or any other field, even care about my Minor or if I have multiple?
  2. Will employers write me off as indecisive if I take a Minor or even learn something in my free time that some would say is unrelated to my field? (i.e. Programming and Art or Programming and Music Technology)
  3.  As I am getting my CS degree, what are some of your opinions on the Minors I am interested in (Art, Music Technology, Computer Game Design) to compliment my degree.(I am open to opinions on the Math Minor as well however I have decided to commit to getting it unlike with the others where I am still on the fence.)

Thank you in advance if you took the time to read this lengthy post or if you answer any of my questions.

Have a good day,

Jaymie

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22 minutes ago, ShinGoukiZero said:

Will employers, be they in the Game Industry or any other field, even care about my Minor or if I have multiple?

Generally no, unless they happen to be in something specific that they need.

A game company that is particularly hurting for art-related tools may give preference to your CS degree with a minor in art.  A game company facing pains in their physics or math libraries may give preference to a CS degree with a minor in physics or math.

 

22 minutes ago, ShinGoukiZero said:

Will employers write me off as indecisive if I take a Minor or even learn something in my free time that some would say is unrelated to my field? (i.e. Programming and Art or Programming and Music Technology)

Generally no, not a problem. 

At the entry level it shows you have multiple interests, with those interests potentially matching their needs.  After several years in your career and after you have some professional experience your degree details become less relevant.  After 5-10 years the schooling will drop to a tiny blurb on your resume with no significant details about what you did there.

 

23 minutes ago, ShinGoukiZero said:

As I am getting my CS degree, what are some of your opinions on the Minors I am interested in (Art, Music Technology, Computer Game Design) to compliment my degree.(I am open to opinions on the Math Minor as well however I have decided to commit to getting it unlike with the others where I am still on the fence.)

The "Computer Game Design" will get a chuckle from some studios. Usually a school's "design" course has nothing to do with game design, and you aren't applying for a designer position.  Some are actually oriented around game design, but in that case you're still not applying for a design position.  

Art and music technology are both slightly more likely to help you get a job.  But neither will guarantee it, and it only helps if the potential employer happens to have an overlapping need.

 

Take the extra courses and gain the extra knowledge only if BOTH (1) the extra courses won't jeopardize your primary degree, and (2) if they are topics you are genuinely interested in. If you're doing it because you think it might give you a better chance at a job rather than a genuine interest, don't bother. 

Thank you for your time and answers frob. I was unsure how others would look at certain Minors and you definitely gave me some insight from your point of view. As far as your final piece of advice goes:

56 minutes ago, frob said:

Take the extra courses and gain the extra knowledge only if BOTH (1) the extra courses won't jeopardize your primary degree, and (2) if they are topics you are genuinely interested in. If you're doing it because you think it might give you a better chance at a job rather than a genuine interest, don't bother. 

I will definitely only take the courses that genuinely interest me. I realize now that my questions were primarily geared towards employment so I understand why you would say this. I would be a liar if I said I don't consider a product of my education being a job but I also know the world isn't going to give me what I want just because I took a couple extra Minors. My main concern with employment was if I would be frowned upon for pursuing the things I like and you addressed that in your earlier answers.

Thank you again for your perspective frob and have a good day.

I minored in Philosophy and I think it was one of the best minors I could have chosen. Here's what I would recommend taking:
-Formal Logic
-Critical Thinking
-Elementary Logic
-Philosophy of Science

You'll find that this helps you reason better and that reasoning ability really helps a lot with game development. Math is helpful too, but mathematics are derived from Logic (See: Peano Arithmetic).

37 minutes ago, slayemin said:

I minored in Philosophy and I think it was one of the best minors I could have chosen. Here's what I would recommend taking:
-Formal Logic
-Critical Thinking
-Elementary Logic
-Philosophy of Science

You'll find that this helps you reason better and that reasoning ability really helps a lot with game development. Math is helpful too, but mathematics are derived from Logic (See: Peano Arithmetic).

Thank you for your suggestion slayemin. I looked up the Peano Arithmetic and it definitely gives me a different perspective on math. I'm not entirely sure if going for a Minor in Philosophy would suit me but I agree with you on the usefulness of reasoning ability so I will probably add that to my list of things for self study.

Thank you again for you suggestion and have a good day.

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