Full Sail, Digipen and Guild Hall are among the best if you're trying to become a game developer
Maybe you're lucky, but everyone I know who's working that came out of those schools says they're lucky as hell to have a job.
Reality is, that's absolute rubbish. Unless you intend on working for John Romero, you won't get much/any respect with one of those degrees.
I don't judge anyone based on the school they come out of, but based on the people I've met/worked with who came out of those schools, they've no business competing with real degrees from major universities. I had a "professor" from Full Sail talking to me over dinner and I've never heard anyone so far up their own ass. Best part is, the guy had never written a game in his life and he's sitting talking to three guys who just got done getting their names in the credits of various PS3/360 games. Yeah, let's just say the only person who wasn't pissed was the guy who brought him. He was a nice guy, both of them, but the "professor" had no business teaching anything based on the conversation.
They've cut down on the overtime since that EA Spouse incident and the real crunch doesn't start in any company until the gold deadline is getting close
None of the people I talked to said they ever had issues with overtime. Of course, I was at Tiburon, so my experience is not global. Madden went Alpha/Final for the 360 while I was there, so it's not like I didn't see the team, particularly my roommate (also an intern), working overtime.
Nice thing is, you get free food and snacks when the game goes Alpha. There was food all over and beer in the frige (though I don't know where the beer came from or what it was for, but the frige was stocked full).
I interned with EA Tiburon this past summer, I worked as a Software Engineer on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour team for the PS3 and Xbox360.
First off, noone was working insane hours. It's a misconception that people have that you get worked to death. I didn't see anyone on the team working like that and I sure as hell didn't work like that.
Yes, they liked me there, before some smartass posts "Well, you didn't work late because your code sucked."
I was the build engineer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour and I also implemented some features into Tiger Woods 2007 (I haven't seen the credits yet, but they told me I'd be in them).
Next up, one of the interns was from Digipen (and he can drink as fast as I can). There's no discrimination against people from trade schools. Hell, the guy who replaced me as Build Engineer when I left graduated from Full Sail. However, in general, the people coming out of those trade schools have no business competing with people who have degrees from major universities (when asked what schools to go to, Will Wright responded GeorgiaTech, USC, and Carnegie Melon on multiple occasions). I, personally, am from GeorgiaTech and will be graduating in the Spring with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science. This isn't to say those schools aren't valuable, but you get what you put into them: they graduate everyone. Again, this is a generalization, this isn't always the case.
I loved working at EA and I'm definitely staying in the game industry. Despite the fact that all of the armchair engineers on various forums (you know who you are) are constantly ragging on <i>something</i>, it's still fun. I still love the fact that everyone who said "oh you're going to work for the slave drivers at EA" when I was leaving have eyes glazed over after hearing the great work experience it actually was.
Chris Burke is right, when he posted the two main reasons for an engineer internship as being cheap labor and an extended interview. This is the case everywhere. However, that doesn't mean they overwork you or treat you like crap. I was a part of the team when I was there, or at least felt that way, and loved going to work every morning (ok, sorta true, I hate waking up in the morning). The hours were flexible, I went to work in a tshirt, shorts, and sandals on many occasions, and I had a PS3 and an Xbox 360 at my desk. How awesome is that?
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Maybe you're lucky, but everyone I know who's working that came out of those schools says they're lucky as hell to have a job.
Reality is, that's absolute rubbish. Unless you intend on working for John Romero, you won't get much/any respect with one of those degrees.
I don't judge anyone based on the school they come out of, but based on the people I've met/worked with who came out of those schools, they've no business competing with real degrees from major universities. I had a "professor" from Full Sail talking to me over dinner and I've never heard anyone so far up their own ass. Best part is, the guy had never written a game in his life and he's sitting talking to three guys who just got done getting their names in the credits of various PS3/360 games. Yeah, let's just say the only person who wasn't pissed was the guy who brought him. He was a nice guy, both of them, but the "professor" had no business teaching anything based on the conversation.
None of the people I talked to said they ever had issues with overtime. Of course, I was at Tiburon, so my experience is not global. Madden went Alpha/Final for the 360 while I was there, so it's not like I didn't see the team, particularly my roommate (also an intern), working overtime.
Nice thing is, you get free food and snacks when the game goes Alpha. There was food all over and beer in the frige (though I don't know where the beer came from or what it was for, but the frige was stocked full).
I interned with EA Tiburon this past summer, I worked as a Software Engineer on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour team for the PS3 and Xbox360.
First off, noone was working insane hours. It's a misconception that people have that you get worked to death. I didn't see anyone on the team working like that and I sure as hell didn't work like that.
Yes, they liked me there, before some smartass posts "Well, you didn't work late because your code sucked."
I was the build engineer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour and I also implemented some features into Tiger Woods 2007 (I haven't seen the credits yet, but they told me I'd be in them).
Next up, one of the interns was from Digipen (and he can drink as fast as I can). There's no discrimination against people from trade schools. Hell, the guy who replaced me as Build Engineer when I left graduated from Full Sail. However, in general, the people coming out of those trade schools have no business competing with people who have degrees from major universities (when asked what schools to go to, Will Wright responded GeorgiaTech, USC, and Carnegie Melon on multiple occasions). I, personally, am from GeorgiaTech and will be graduating in the Spring with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science. This isn't to say those schools aren't valuable, but you get what you put into them: they graduate everyone. Again, this is a generalization, this isn't always the case.
I loved working at EA and I'm definitely staying in the game industry. Despite the fact that all of the armchair engineers on various forums (you know who you are) are constantly ragging on <i>something</i>, it's still fun. I still love the fact that everyone who said "oh you're going to work for the slave drivers at EA" when I was leaving have eyes glazed over after hearing the great work experience it actually was.
Chris Burke is right, when he posted the two main reasons for an engineer internship as being cheap labor and an extended interview. This is the case everywhere. However, that doesn't mean they overwork you or treat you like crap. I was a part of the team when I was there, or at least felt that way, and loved going to work every morning (ok, sorta true, I hate waking up in the morning). The hours were flexible, I went to work in a tshirt, shorts, and sandals on many occasions, and I had a PS3 and an Xbox 360 at my desk. How awesome is that?
Flame away.