To add my same story to the pile... I too am self taught, with no college degree. In high school I spent all my time coding games and apps for fun / to learn and read tons and tons of books on all sorts of various subjects in the computer science world. I'm just now hitting my 10 year mark as a professional programmer, the first 5 years were business programming jobs, and these last 5 years i've been working as a video game programmer. I'm currently working at a huge company in seattle and loving it (and am preforming comparable to my co-workers with degrees). Tons of personal projects over the years lay unfinished just like you guys, I sort of feel like they were learning experiences that helped me learn enough to get to where I am at today (: On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 1:57 PM, Richard Sabbarton <richard.sabbarton@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > What I find interesting is the similarity I see with my own career. I > am also self taught and also have a vast array of stalled projects > (learning experiences) that never really made it off the blocks. I > didn't go on to college or university and have worked my way up to a > Lead Tech role in Operations for a Software Company. I don't write > code for a living but I do work with the development team regularly. > > For me, the most difficult thing is motivation to complete a project. > When you hit a problem or writers block or even coming back to > something after a break it is hard to make the time. In fact, I would > say that the chatter on this list is a regular poke to get me going > again and help me remember that the reason I am doing this is because > I enjoy it. > > Just my 2p... > > Richard > > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 8:54 PM, Harrington, Timothy > <tharrington@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> Thanks - I actually saw it as inspirational and refreshing as well as >> eye-opening for the younger audience. >> >> Thanks again, Vince! >> >> Tim >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> [mailto:gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Vince >> Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 1:51 PM >> To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> Subject: [gameprogrammer] Re: Welcome new members! >> >> I don't mind if you share it. As I read over it again I think it sounds a >> little depressed, which wasn't my intent, but the facts remain the same. >> >> Vince~ >> >> --- On Thu, 11/18/10, Harrington, Timothy <tharrington@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >>> From: Harrington, Timothy <tharrington@xxxxxxxxx> >>> Subject: [gameprogrammer] Re: Welcome new members! >>> To: "gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >>> Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 6:11 PM >>> Vince, there is a great story of >>> lessons learned in this "novel" of yours - would you mind if >>> I shared it with students. I'd of course change your name to >>> protect your innocence! I'm often asked to talk to high >>> school and early level college students about pursuing >>> programming, and programming for game and simulation >>> especially. Your story really tells the reality of the >>> pursuit best. >>> >>> Thanks in advance, >>> >>> Tim Harrington, Ed.Dc. >>> National Assistant Dean >>> College of Engineering and Information Science >>> DeVry University >> >> >> >> >> --------------------- >> To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html >> >> >> >> >> >> --------------------- >> To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html >> >> >> > > --------------------- > To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html > > > --------------------- To unsubscribe go to http://gameprogrammer.com/mailinglist.html