Still very much unsure about major/career, need guidance

[Zandorian]

I have done this before, I know, and it may be getting old, but I still can't make up my mind.

Video Game Designer or Physicist.

I guess it comes down to whether I should want to be something that I think will be fun or something that will make me feel good about myself.

I also want to write books about social issues. It seems like people would pay more attention to a Physicist rather than a Video Game Designer.

However, being a computer software engineer right out of college and working my way into the game industry would be the best decision money wise. Not that I am just interested in money.

What I was thinking of doing was getting a dual-degree (two degrees at same time). Both in computer science and physics, then I could get a job and test the video game designer racket. If I don't like it, or if I just wanted to go ahead and get my Physics doctorate, I could do it.

These are my thoughts about it. Someone give me some good advice (I have had some b4). Someone told me a physics self-ed isn't possible, and I agree. I wouldn't have time. That's another reason to get my Ph.D! Just to know the mind of God

 

[selfAdjoint]

If you want to write books about social issues, neither physicist nor video game designer would be a good choice. The first could be dismissed as "What does that ivory tower dweeb know?" The second as "What does a low-life entertainment techie know?" Consider the rep that Noam Chomski has acquired. He is a famous linguist, maybe even a great one, at the top of that profession. But his books of social criticism are smeared as the products of a disordered mind.

I have another point. Perhaps by the time you get into the market the job of video game designer will have morphed into something else. Imagine someone setting out to become an animated cartoonist just before the Industrial Light and Magic revolution took off. But physics, some kind of physics, will always be there. You wouldn't really know which physics discipline really attracted you until grad school anyway.

Some professions that allow you to comment on society legitimately: sociology philosophy (ethics), poly sci.

 

[artist]

advice from Holland

What I was thinking of doing was getting a dual-degree (two degrees at same time). Both in computer science and physics, then I could get a job and test the video game designer racket. If I don't like it, or if I just wanted to go ahead and get my Physics doctorate, I could do it.

It is up to you to understand which elements of each profession attracts you and why. Then you must think of what you really want to do with your life and how best to achieve it. There are no rules. You do not have to make black and white choices. Listen to your gut feeling. It is when you follow it you create your own field of expertise and in that differentiate yourself from mainstream. It won't be long before people find you when they need you. And you will be doing exactly what you want to be doing. It does not all have to be logic in the beginning. If there is something you want to achieve, but you do not have sufficient knowledge, find someone to collaborate with who does.

 

[MJH]

I'd avoid the computer game designer thing like the plague due to the recent trend of outsourcing anything computer-related overseas. Even if you can get a job in that field you can bet the salaries are going to drop (if money is a consideration).