Interesting article over at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) website on what their game dev students are doing to promote themselves as well as the games industry in Queensland. The students studying QUT's Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment course have been showcasing their talents as well as those of Brisbane developers such as THQ Studio Australia and Halfbrick Studios at events such as Gen Con at (the Brisbane Convention Centre) and Supanova.
I wasn't aware that game dev work experience opportunities existed in Brisbane, but it looks QUT does organise something like that for their students...
Tyson Zastrow is one such student, now in his tenth month of paid work experience at Brisbane-based games company THQ Studio Australia.
"The work experience I'm receiving integrates well with my uni studies and has been a great help in choosing a career path. I get to work at a great company in one of the coolest industries, not to mention boost my CV in the process," Tyson said.
Heh
I'm about to graduate the Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment too.
Just a shame the internships and work experience are pretty much all for programmers, when I signed up for it there was only 1 design position available, and even it was withdrawn after the studio offering it decided they wanted another programmer instead.
Ah well - been sending out my resume and portfolio to pretty much every studio in Australia so here's hoping there's a bite. =)
This Degree is a Joke!
As the title says it, the Games and interactive entertainment degree is a joke! QUT focuses on training students to be academics, and not developers. Most jobs in the industry (especially art) require applicants to show a strong portfolio over educational qualification, QUT on the other hand, actually keeps you busy writing essays and reports instead of giving you an opportunity to work on small game projects.
Dont get me wrong, there are a few units that actually do that, but its all based in the Creative Industries, not the IT side.
I have to agree
I have to agree with the other posters, as a design major in the it04 can be a bit of a laugh. It has a strong emphasis on academical teaching methods rather then the more hands on approach, even though they say that they can get you a job with hands on experience I won't be heading into any studios anytime soon. Thats for programmers mainly and thats fair, programmers are easier to train.
However I don't regret starting this course, but it is new and like all new things it is going through growing pains.
There are a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. The bad things are a huge focus on writing essays and reports and less time on projects, but I get to work with like minded students and a chance to present my work to the industry. But in the end it won't be the piece of paper that gets me the job, but the work in my portfolio.
I was in QUT's KI25 course
I was in QUT's KI25 course which was 3D animation and all that. We bitched and moaned about how we weren't going to get jobs based purely on our uni work too. We ended up all getting jobs because we took the skills we learnt from QUT (software, networking, bla bla bla) and applying them to our own projects. The mod scene, solo work, all that shit.
So in hindsight, QUT offered a fuckload of software and people we could ask questions to. You shouldn't expect the assignments from your units to land you a job. They won't. They're just training exercises. Go take that, learn learn learn in your own time and build your *own* portfolio.
Focus on what you want to do. If you're doing character modeling as your forte, then fuck trying to do 2D art. Just download some concept art of characters (profiles are handy) and model them. If animation is your forte, animate a stick man because that's what your employer will be judging you on. Take what uni can offer you and put the effort in to stand out. Because no one is going to suck your dick and tell you how awesome you are just by doing uni assignments that you have to do anyway.
oh my, somebody knows how to
oh my, somebody knows how to swear. haha. you have to get one thing straight 1st, we're talking about the games degree, not the animation. I'm an animation major in the games degree which is basically all the animation units, and those units were awesome! well structured and to the point, the game design and IT side of the course is just rubbish!