Computer gaming courses- The way to a brilliant career

Computer gaming, whether it's video games, mobile apps or the big MMORPG games like World of Warcraft, has become one of the biggest, most high-demand consumer industries in the world. You may be surprised to learn how easy it is to get the qualifications required to work as a game developer in this huge emerging market. A Certificate IV game programming course is the benchmark qualification required to get you started in your career.


Photo: Larry Johnson

How to research your career in game development
Game development is a profession for the truly talented. If you've seen some of the dazzling new games coming on the market recently, you can see how much work and effort has been put into making those games as good as they are. The other ingredient in a game development career is inspiration. Game developers are truly motivated people. They're usually gamers themselves, often experts in particular types of game. They live, eat and breathe gaming round the clock.

That sort of enthusiasm is also good for researching the gaming industry and the different qualifications required to get started in the industry.

There are two basic areas to research when looking at a career in game development:

1. Academic options, course providers, course quality and the types of qualifications available.

Not all gaming courses are equal. Some are "bare bones" courses, teaching basic programming and nothing much else. Other courses provide the full suite of games programming for multiple gaming platforms, game development course mentoring and in some cases even actual apps development and publication.

2. The industry itself – This is an incredibly fast moving industry with new products coming on line all the time.

Important: To work in this industry, your knowledge must always be current. You need to know how the industry works. You also need to learn about the good and bad business options, intellectual property laws relating to games and how to manage development costs among many other things.

Getting started on your computer gaming course selection

The best way to select the right computer gaming course for yourself is to first set some goals and priorities:

• What are your aims for your gaming career? Define for yourself what you really want to achieve.
• What are your strongest talents? The areas in which you have unique abilities are those where you are most likely to be successful and confident.
• What's your budget? Put a hard dollar value on this answer, because one of the primary issues in game development is knowing how to operate a budget. Get started early, and you'll have fewer problems.
• How do you intend to develop your career, after getting your qualifications? Always think at least two steps ahead when you're thinking about any type of career. In this industry, it’s the thinkers who make the breakthroughs and achieve the major successes.

As a matter of fact, you can consider the start of your gaming career like the opening of a game. Play to win.