3 answers
Kush
Student
Hong Kong
1
Question
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I want to be an software engineer. So which subjects are effective for me?
I want to be a software engineer and make games and app in the future.
#engineer
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3 answers
Jillian Wilmarth
Engineering Manager
3
Answers
Wayne, New Jersey
Updated
Jillian’s Answer
Hi Kush!
There are definitely a couple of paths you can take to become a software engineer / game programmer in the future. Both of them, unsurprisingly, contain a lot of math as others have said. Specifically for game programming, that'll be super important.
As far as university, you can either go the Computer Science route or the Computer Engineering route. I'll speak to my own experience, which was studying Computer Engineering. My university courses compared to Comp Sci contained a lot more hardware related courses (and probably even more math than Comp Sci). For example, I took a Logic Design course where I was required to program a game directly onto an FPGA in Verilog. It was a super cool experience, because I got to understand things from a lower level. I was also required to take multiple microprocessors and electronics courses. These may be interesting to you if you're interested in the low level of how your software will work, but won't necessarily be directly related to your day to day career.
I'm super grateful I took this path, as the minimal software courses that I took were enough to land me a good job and be successful, but I feel like I have a greater understanding of computers as a whole. I have several friends who went on to receive master's degrees in video game design and are successfully video game developers.
With Comp Sci or Comp Eng, you can't go wrong, and you'll learn the fundamentals that you'd need to succeed. I thought I would share my perspective in case you hadn't considered Comp Eng before and it sounds interesting to you! Good luck!
There are definitely a couple of paths you can take to become a software engineer / game programmer in the future. Both of them, unsurprisingly, contain a lot of math as others have said. Specifically for game programming, that'll be super important.
As far as university, you can either go the Computer Science route or the Computer Engineering route. I'll speak to my own experience, which was studying Computer Engineering. My university courses compared to Comp Sci contained a lot more hardware related courses (and probably even more math than Comp Sci). For example, I took a Logic Design course where I was required to program a game directly onto an FPGA in Verilog. It was a super cool experience, because I got to understand things from a lower level. I was also required to take multiple microprocessors and electronics courses. These may be interesting to you if you're interested in the low level of how your software will work, but won't necessarily be directly related to your day to day career.
I'm super grateful I took this path, as the minimal software courses that I took were enough to land me a good job and be successful, but I feel like I have a greater understanding of computers as a whole. I have several friends who went on to receive master's degrees in video game design and are successfully video game developers.
With Comp Sci or Comp Eng, you can't go wrong, and you'll learn the fundamentals that you'd need to succeed. I thought I would share my perspective in case you hadn't considered Comp Eng before and it sounds interesting to you! Good luck!
Rebecca Tang
Banking
1817
Answers
Hong Kong
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
I am glad to hear that you are interest on coding. I think the most relevant subjects in the college is Computer Science. Do you attend the ICT classes in the secondary school as well?
In addition to attend the courses, I would also recommend you to start doing some programming yourself first.
Firstly, you can choose some easy programming language you can start with, e.g. Python, Scratch, etc. There are plenty of resources online. You can learn the basic syntax first. Then, start doing some simple programming project, e.g. control robots, robotic cars, etc. After you get familiar with one programming language, you can do another one.
When you attending the Computer Science course in the college, you will learn the fundamental of computer theory and have exposure on different programming languages. It will be beneficial to you regardless you become a game, web, apps, etc. developer in the future.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
In addition to attend the courses, I would also recommend you to start doing some programming yourself first.
Firstly, you can choose some easy programming language you can start with, e.g. Python, Scratch, etc. There are plenty of resources online. You can learn the basic syntax first. Then, start doing some simple programming project, e.g. control robots, robotic cars, etc. After you get familiar with one programming language, you can do another one.
When you attending the Computer Science course in the college, you will learn the fundamental of computer theory and have exposure on different programming languages. It will be beneficial to you regardless you become a game, web, apps, etc. developer in the future.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Daniel Moy
Google Software Engineer
159
Answers
Seattle, Washington
Updated
Daniel’s Answer
In highschool:
- math
- math
- math
- writing (like a good & difficult composition class, not so much the literature / creative writing bit)
- statistics
- Did I mention math?
In Uni, this is mostly a "solved" problem for you, in that you'll have classes you're required to take, but it'll include things like:
- math (haha yes seriously, more math)
- (but actually only ~2 semesters of math, so not too much)
- Intro to programming
- Data Structures
- Algorithms
- intro to logic
- computation (finite automata, complexity theory, etc)
- computer architecture (probably just 1 semester, nothing too hard or too low level)
- operating systems (like how to build one, not how to use one)
And then you'll probably have to take a bunch more comp sci courses, in whatever area you want. This can be web programming, graphics, advanced algos, more architecture, hci, whole bunch of different areas.
General word of caution on video game industry: on average, it tends to be higher stress and lower pay, due to supply & demand (everybody likes video games, so they get a lot of applicants). Not all companies, but many.