Help Me Decide My Life!!!

[Plasma_Snake]

Guys I'm at a Crossroads sort of stage of my life and like honest opinion of some of you guys, especially the employed ones
Well this August will mark the beginning of Final year of my Engineering in I.T
I don't understand to proceed where, I mean I've joined NIIT's 3 year course GNIIT which will finish in 2010 and I've opted the Programming line there. I like Networking so I'm also doing CompTIA 1 year diploma from same institute. But in true depths of my heart I want to do Game Programming. Since I'm the only Son in my family I've to get a job that pays up good and fast. After seeing in TV that regular I.T professional life is stressful and hectic I want to stay away from it but for parents and money I can sacrifice that. All I want to know that is normal I.T field really so bad in terms of workload. Also so after laying out my options what you guys think should I do, be a stereotype I.T geek or follow my heart and be a Gamer to death. Being an I.T geek will make me feel like a Gay being married of to a woman(don't take it seriously just try to understand the expression).
I'm asking this here and now coz I feel now is the time that I've develop my skills to the max in either of the field depending upon the result. Help me out?

P.S- I belong to middle class family and my father is a farmer and since our joint family is going to be ripped soon we'll be getting lesser land holding and couple of lakhs as debt. What can I say my father is a very submissive guy who thinks that his family(brothers and sisters) is doing good for him even if they are ripping him off in broad daylight.

[Pathik]

Good luck with your life.
I am the last person you would like to get advice from.. I am pretty much clueless about my own.

[din]

@Rudick

Gimme few hrs, I will definitely post my suggestions.

[mastermunj]

i also belong to middle class family.. did Comp Engg and now at good post with pay..

softwares are high paying jobs... and later if u can save & do mba... nothing will stop u grow faster and higher..

plus, as ur hobby, u can start with personal network solutions and that u can merge in ur softwares... wholla!!

i can see u at MD's post of ur own company

no jokes dude... little brain and dedication in software can get u high on life...

software used to be hectic... but all IT companies have realized how important it is and offering good life to their employees..

my personal suggestion is that you should make career in software keeping ur networking and hardware likeness hobbies alive for future plans...

consider mba as good turn over in life ahead .. but not always necessary..

[lywyre]

Get a job first and fend off ur debts (that you inherit ) first. Would take you couple of years probably, and by then, you would be in a good position to choose what is better for you.

[Plasma_Snake]

Thanks guys for the help
@lywyre The situation in my family is that my old man earns a lot almost 30-40 lakhs a year but the trouble is that he's the youngest of his 3 brothers and his eldest one is dead. So now whatever he earns he gives 75% to his elder brother's widow, who BTW has a daughter working in TCS as Project Leader, another in Dell and another a MBBS MD and a son younger to me by an year doing Engg. in Comm., 20% debts and remaining 5% on us. My Tauji(that's what we call our uncle) is the chief of Co-Operative socities of Haryana and filthy rich(He has 7 cars including Endeavor,Accord,Laura,Octavia,City) whilst I just have a Maruti Esteem without even a AutoCop let alone the Music System. He too takes almost 10-15 lakh a year from us and claims stake at our prime land(its cost is almost 1 Crore per acre now and we have 20).
You don't wanna know how F'd up my life is. About the debt is that when we do get our share then it'll take at max 2-3 years to get over the debts on farming alone. So I'm more paranoid about which line to take up, Programming,Networking or study a couple of more years and go for Game Programming. Trouble with this field is that there's no guarantee of job in this field leave aside the fat pay package. I mean it has scope but where? In abroad too one can't say surely that you would be employed in the very first company you give interview for companies like EA,Ubisoft. My dream is to be in Rockstar and be a part of next GTA. I guess one can only dream about such stuff.

[din]

Regarding IT field, game programming etc.

The life - yes, not easy at least first few years. The basic reason is - most companies get their projects from abroad. For them the deadlines are very important. Like 3.05 PM means 3.05 PM. No compromise in that. Thats just an example. There are many other things too. So to manage all these, the companies are under pressure and they put the employees also under pressure. But once you get promotion, get experienced, it will change and you will get time to relax, and not too much pressure.

Regarding the family, well, I am not sure, but if you do something with full confidence and dedication, you will succeed in that for sure. The attitude and hard working will take you to your goal.

Good Luck.

[rhitwick]

Originally Posted by mastermunj

softwares are high paying jobs... and later if u can save & do mba... nothing will stop u grow faster and higher..

plus, as ur hobby, u can start with personal network solutions and that u can merge in ur softwares... wholla!!

consider mba as good turn over in life ahead .. but not always necessary..

I fully agree with it............if you need money as soon as u finish ur studies...opt this opt 4 dis........or if you can afford to study further.......go for MBA(if only money concerns)........

Game programing in India is not on that side that freshers would be given a chance to prove themselves.....
though EAGames has a developing center in Hyderabad but I think they recruit only experienced.

As mastermunj said.......get into S/W mess but continue ur hobbies............dats how we live buddy........our hobbies keep us alive.....

be in S/W field for at least 5 yrs and get to know d industry........current market trends......get ur hold on programming field with more new technologies.........then SWITCHING is always there...........may be Game will also come.............

[Plasma_Snake]

Thank you but things I dream of like owning a BMW M series can they be fulfilled in a regular I.T job? What's the scope of Game Development jobs in abroad?

[rhitwick]

BMW M series being in IT............I've seen people in my office riding Audi even Merc one or two but BMW not still now..........

Abroad.........c where ever u go.........just look for more than 2 options to choose cz u never know how they would turn out or which kind of responsibilities u'll be given to perform......

I'm not disheartening u but big names go through big ****ing processes........IF u can continue stayin at abroad till 6 months on ur own and promise urself dat u'll only work in gaming companies u'll definitely get something u like..............

Or at least try from now........go to their sites....everyone of them post some info about recruitments...get to know wat they want from you and post ur CVs accordingly........at least u can do dat..........

[Plasma_Snake]

Thank you rhitwick.

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

why did you join NIIT in the 1s place..that terrible GNIIT ?? Big Mistake !!

You said you were going to complete your engineering this year...

That's good new.
You should have gone for post graduation in your favorite subject. May be Game Programming or else some programming and software management then you would have certainly got much better job with better pay in the SAME IT industry.

You screwed up by joining NIIT. Congrats.

Don't dream of Game Programming without a Very good M.tech/MS !
Else join some small game company and struggle for 1st 5-10 years.

[Plasma_Snake]

@ a_k_s_h_a_y
I've a measely 55% marks in +2 so the promise of value addition and Placement partnership program and assistance made me a $ucka. They say that in GNIIT course after 2 years of study there will be 1 year of actual on-site job training like an Internship with stipend and everything. I thought that this might be the way to get placed coz with 55% in +2 and couple of supplys, no company is gonna take me in Campus Placement.

For Game Programming I was also considering joining institutes like DSK Institute in Pune or some course abroad, after my B.Tech.