The Games Game June 2005

Focus on the Job at Hand (June 2005)

Dear Tom,

I'll start with my question, then give you some background.

What grade point average do employers want to see? Are they looking for a GPA of no less than 3.5, or is 2.5 okay, can I get hired with a 3.2? Would an employer be more impressed by a collection of original completed games than high marks?

The reason I ask is that I've recently been spending more time working on my portfolio than on my studies. I'm in college, studying programming. I've learned enough in my first two years to enable me to program my own games. I'm honestly learning more on my own projects than I do in class.

I was getting A's before, but now that I'm prioritizing my own projects above my studies, I'm getting less A's now. In fact, I've got a 2.1 in math. I can improve my grades, but to do it I'd have to stop working on my own projects. Which raises the great irony here: I'd sacrifice learning, just to raise my GPA.

I've heard arguments for both sides. Some rumors say employers will toss out your resume if it doesn't have above 3.5 on it. Others say nobody will even look at your GPA. I'm confused, and I hope you can help me see the truth of the matter.

B.

Dear B.,

You're not fooling me with this "I get a better education by myself than in my classes." The only one you're fooling is yourself.

Look, while you're in college, you have a job to do. Your job is to be a good student, to do the best you can in all your classes. If you can do your own programming without detriment to your "job" responsibilities, then more power to you. But since it's clearly interfering with your main job, you need to refocus.

College isn't just about grades and beer. It's about sticking to a commitment and learning how to learn. You're undoubtedly learning through applying your knowledge to making your own games, but you're not learning the right lessons. You're learning how to skirt the system. You're learning how to justify your personal desires over your professional responsibilities. And you're learning how to program games, but that's not nearly so important.

What you should be learning is that focusing on your assigned tasks will garner you the respect of those who assigned you the tasks. That lesson will get you much farther in life.

Those personal projects that you want to work on can wait. Learning doesn't happen just in college. It happens all throughout life. Focus on your current job - get the grades you are capable of. Then after college you can program your own stuff to your heart's content, and continue learning the craft of making games. And of course you'll need to work, to earn money, to feed yourself and put a roof over your head. Your first job out of college might not be a game programming job - it's still your job, and you still need to do good work. Having a former supervisor's respect for your professionalism and work ethic will help you get the game job you want.

T.

Tom Sloper's game biz career began over twenty years ago at Western Technologies, where he designed LCD games and the Vectrex games "Spike" and "Bedlam". There followed stints at Sega Enterprises, Rudell Design, Atari Corporation, and Activision. In 12 years at Activision, Tom produced 36 unique game titles (plus innumerable ports and localizations), designed four games, and won five awards. Tom worked for several months in Activision's Japan operation, in Tokyo. He is perhaps best known for designing, managing and producing Activision's "Shanghai" line. He is currently consulting, writing, speaking, teaching, and developing original games. Find out more at Sloperama.

© 2005 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.