Distance Learning Courses, are they worth the money?

[Adam_Q]

Hi all!

I'm thinking of a change in career and have thought about becoming a games designer or developer and came across this company "Train2Game" (http://train2game.com/index.html) and wondered if anyone else had used this company or similar companies before? If so, is it really worth it? It states you will get a recognised qualification through Tiga but is that actually recognisable qualification or diploma?

Appreciate your help!

[Gary-VTR]

If you're going to splash out on distance learning courses I reckon Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk/) would be your best bet.

It'll be guaranteed that it's a recognised qualification + you could get financial support.

You won't be able to do games design specifically, but their Java courses will teach you the principles of OOP programming.
Then you could pick up the programming side of game development easily, and 3d modelling is something easily self-taught.

[olie1988]

best thing to do is call a company and ask them, like if theres a particular games company you want to work for then call them and ask them if they recognise that qualification, and if they do, go for it!

[Adam_Q]

Yeah that makes sense! I'll call a few companies and find out what they want. But Open Uni does look like the best bet.

Thanks guys!

Anyone actually done this?

[Alex]

Might be worth looking into making some flash games so you get a feel and can work on formulas etc.

There's a company called Babel Media in Hove, Which does QA for games companies, Might help as a stepping stone in to dev.

[Flixified]

I started a Distance Learning course with Skills Train over a year ago, and I'm still paying for it, but it's completely useless. It's just constant reading with multiple choice tests over and over and the textbooks/whatever they provide are really dated compared to industry standards.

That's just Skills Train, so maybe others would be better but who knows.

Open University on the other hand should be fine...

[Andybhoy]

Try and find out if they guarantee you job interviews mate and also go on the internet and see if there is any reviews on them.At least with a distance course you can still have a full time job mate.

[Saxo-SX]

Open university have a pretty good reputation.

Im doing a distance learning course alongside my normal college course and work.

I just complete 1 piece of work per week (doesn't count towards your grade) then just go to 2 exams in the year. Yours will probably be different though as mines just A level English.

My advice would be to just plan your time and stick to it. Ive found myself short for time and have fell behind quite a few times and its always a pain trying to catch up whilst doing new coursework.

(saxp is a big distraction)