Currently doing the first year in a Game Art Course at Uni, but I'm kinda on the fence about it. The Industries terrible, I'm not really sure if I even enjoy art that much or if I just went with it to meet more queer kids tbh. It's also an industry were alot of people are self-taught, so at the end of the day if I think I've made a major mistake the doors not completely closed.
My other option is a course in Digital Forensics, which has the advantage of being a steady STEM subject that I'm interested in that has a lot more employment opportunities and definitely far less chance of crunch. I have done previous qualifications in coding and enjoyed them too. I kind of like the idea of being able to make art as a hobby again instead of it always feeling like work too.
Whats your opinion Chapos? Anyone with any expertise in either fields that could give me some pointers?
Vote in this strawpoll: https://www.strawpoll.me/20672196
A lot of people get into games development related programs (myself included) without realizing what a horrific industry game development is and how much work actually goes into making a video game. Realizing now that you might want to do something else is better than down the road, when you have a degree and a job that you absolutely loathe.
Digital Forensics seems like it'll give you a general knowledge in IT, from networking to programming to sysadmin, which will at least give you some options on what lane you want to pursue. It'll also give you a wider field of employment, you could be developing drones that vaccinate animals or have a bougie corporate job where you read theory on the toilet for 3 hours a day.
One good thing about the course is they make it very clear how shitty the industry can be from Day one (I already knew, but it was still good to see).