Task 24: Personal review of the second year: Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

Education, It seems like you can’t really get anywhere these days without one. University’s provide the opportunity to gain a higher form of education from the one that is required of you by law.  The word university is derived from the latin ‘universitas magistrorum et scholarium’, which basically means ‘community of teachers and scholars’.

In Europe the first university is considered to have been 1088 in Bologna Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation

So what did I want and expect from university?

Simply, the two things I think I expected from university was to learn new basic skills necessary for my future career and the formation of important skills and how to apply them to achieve the desired results of work. I had no experience in the ‘game art’ field before, had a passion for video games and art  so felt it was something I could get into and enjoy, without getting bored of it, because who wants a boring career?

What I wanted from university spread further than what I expected of the university. I wanted the obvious like a degree and a job but for me, coming to university wasn’t just academic, it was about proving that I can manage on my own in all areas of life beyond the lectures and workloads, building upon organisation, financial management and coping with a higher level of independents. A lot of these skills, including academic ones, have been learnt and improved by trial and error, exploring and researching into things off my own back. University never promised you anything, just allows you the opportunity to better yourself.  I am familiar with art related courses so I expected the level and quantity of work we have been set in the past two years.  I also expected it to be much more hands on all year round than just revising a little bit at the end of the year and handing in an essay.

I can definitely say that because of university I am more of a driven person now and less lazy. Through doing projects I am still learning organizational skills and time management, which I hope to have mastered before the third year FMP. I have worked outside of university aswell which has made me more self-disciplined and confident when interacting with people.

So fingers crossed, by the end of the three years at university, If I’ve put the effort in and taken on board the guidance and knowledge given to me by my lecturers then theres nothing to say I shouldn’t be worthy of a degree and hopefully a job in the games industry.