DAVE school?

Hello everyone, so I want to get into the games industry when I'm older and have been looking round at various schools. The DAVE school in particular looks very good on the surface but I'm wondering if anyone on these forums has anything to say about it? Good or bad. I've already had a look around online for reviews but it's hard to tell which ones to trust or not.

 

If you search google, it says: "This site may be compromised."

 

@eskimojoe I saw that too, thought it could be bad sign but wasn't too sure what to think of that.

The only reason I found out about this school in the first place was due to the fact a 3d magazine I get advertises it all the time, one would hope that they wouldn't advertise a useless place to go study but I don't know how much control they will have over the adverts in their magazine as they are part of a bigger group (I think)

I've also found the Gnomon school now, which originally I thought was just offering short courses on individual subjects but turns out they're doing full four year/two year etc courses. Gnomon's a name I'm pretty sure I've heard in the past. The Gnomon workshop definitely rings a bell.

 

See:
http://www.creativecrash.com/schools/the-digital-animation-visual-effects-school-dave-school-


Do beware of unaccredited status** (as what the website says).
Do your own research.


The problem is not the school. The problem itself is debt -


Many students that come from unaccredited schools have very high debt ratios, very weak or non-existent knowledge about the course they are taking, unskilled, and very high expectations of wages for what we consider as poor works.


If the school closes down, you may find your certificates worthless.


Please note that I mean you no disrespect.


This is an employer's view-point of people going to unaccredited schools or for-profit schools.

 

Yeah don't bother with unaccredited schools. Or ones that say their credits don't transfer.

 

@eskimojoe Okay looks like Dave school isn't a good idea, thanks for the link to that site I've been searching for something like that all day, no idea how I didn't come across it. I did check Gnomon school on there and it says it's accredited so I'm hoping that is still an option.

Alternatively I'll just carry on with what I'm doing and do a uni course over here in the U.K, it just seems schools such as Gnomon seem more specific towards what I want to do. However Gnomon doesn't get you any qualification as far as I can see but I've been looking at dozens of game studios/companies job pages and all the positions I've looked at haven't asked for qualifications, they've asked for good portfolios/reels instead.

 

What SuperPig said.

I'm going to school now for computer science for a quarter of the costs to go to a "Game Design" school. If I decide I don't want to make games, I have something to fall back on. The first couple courses I took were programming courses so after those you will already know how to make a video game(mostly) as well as other software.

The way I see it, Game Design courses will teach you computer science, just with a small twist towards video games.

 

In the world of Computer Graphics 'accredited' doesn't really mean that much. In the context of CG schools the word 'accredited' has really become somewhat fouled. Don't get me wrong there though, I am not saying accreditation doesn't matter across the board, just in the world of CG it doesn't mean as much.

For example the Art Institute is accredited, but in the CG communities, the Art Institute is a joke in and of itself, it has the worst reputation of any CG school.

Conversely, AnimationMentor.com is not accredited but carries one of the best reputations for an animation program in the CG communities.

This whole business of 'accreditation' really exists as a way for colleges to give out a piece of paper to instill value in an individuals knowledge and skills, and then other people trust that paper is signifying some true value in that individual. Because for most professions, all you get is a resume and degree to prove you know what your talking about, so that degree needs to have a standard held up for its value to hold anything.

But in the art world and the CG world we get more than just a resume, degree and text to prove ourselves. We get a portfolio, a demo reel. Most people in the CG art world get jobs from people only watching their demo reel and judging them based purely on their visual output. Whether or not you went through a program thats accredited or not, or whether or not you even went to a program at all does not really matter. A school is only good if it makes your demo reel better. If you come out with a bad demo reel, but an 'accredited' degree, you aren't going to be getting any job over the guy with a good demo reel that didn't even go to college or finish high school.

As for DAVE school specifically I do not know too much about them, I haven't heard anything bad. But I do know that usually those focused CG trade schools are not really intended for general college education alternative. Rather they are more for older people, who have the money to spend because they are expensive, and already have some past career, who wish to dive head first into being trained in CG skills. To go to one of those expensive trade schools with no prior ability and expect to come out on top I don't think is really how it's supposed to work. It's more for like, lets say you have spent 4 years working in film production for a tv studio, and you have some knowledge of CG, some knowledge of VFX, and you really want to just hit it hard and push those things into professional quality, take the time off to focus solely on improving those things as fast as possible. Thats when you would go to a specialized trade school.

 

My suggestion, do a traditional college/university.

Find one that will allow you to Major in Computer Science and Minor in Art "or" the reverse depending on what you think you may want to focus on more.

Right or wrong, debate it to death, hate it, love it, but for right now, the reality is, having a traditional degree from a traditional higher education institution will give you a better shot at landing a job than doing an alternative path. Of course you will find people here and maybe in person that did the alternative paths and are doing fine career wise but they are the exceptions, not the rule.

Ten years from now, with open courses and the changes that will have to occur in higher education, my answer may be different but for now and the next several years at least, I encourage you to research this path and give it consideration.

 

Thank you for all the replies, lots of useful advice here.

 

+1. The reality is a game will be a team effort, so get really good at something like "programming" or "art" and you'll be a valuable member of a team. If you ever get tired of the game industry you can always go corporate or into design or art.

 

I've done a lot research as well. 6 months, to be exact. These people are bringing up some good points, but none of them have heard of the school, so the opinions are kind of askew. They are not well known by other students, but they are very well known by employers, which is MUCH better. Everyone here keeps bringing up that fact that what if you don't want to do game design, but this course teaches you a whole lot more, from film making to advertising. You'll be able to get a job anywhere. Not to mentions they have TONS of connections in the film industry. The website note on google wasn't always there, as this school has been around since at least 2003 (not sure about the history). I believe they had 45 graduates work on Iron Man 3 alone.

I have signed up for this school and will be starting in September. If you haven't already found a school by now, I'd be more than happy to give you further thoughts about the school after after my first block, and again at completion. To me, it sounds like exactly what I'm looking for in a school; short graduation time, high job placement, and career security (as you will be able to find a good paying job in any city in the country, if you don't want to go to the big states like Cali/NY).

 

Also, the school is accredited. That link up top must be old. They submitted for accreditation back in '09 or '10.

 

Why wait to go to school? Start building up your Unity portfolio now. Keep yourself educated as you go along and before you know it you might even be in a full time job as a Unity developer.

 

I've decided that I will be going to university instead as it will save me moving out of the U.K.

@Meltdown Couldn't agree more, I've been trying to self-teach myself for years and will continue to do so.

Thanks again for everyone's advice.

 

Don't fall for this. Simply submitting doesn't mean anything. And there are organizations that give accreditation but don't have any weight behind them. They have to be accreddited by a reliable source.

That's why someone above said not to go to any school that says their credits don't transfer.

 

DIGIPEN all the way my friend. One of the most acclaimed gaming institutes. Any art school will have a game design program as well.

Best of luck,

SubZeroGaming

 

Hello Hembree112 I want to know how is Dave school going for you and would you recommend it. My daughter is thinking about going?