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[Hudo]

If you plan to study computer science and/or mathematics for it, it would be a waste. You'll get shitty pay while working really long hours in the game industry and almost all FAANG/Big-ass software companies. Go into research or do (business) application development (you'll get plenty of interesting problems there as well). Again, don't go into FAANG and FAANG-like companies, they are garbage. Stay away from web-dev jobs, if you can, unless they specifically say that you'll only have to deal with backend stuff or if you are really interested in web-dev, then go for it, I guess. Try to get into mid-size companies or work for companies that don't specialize in software. E.g. banks, car manufacturers, etc. You'll have a better work-life balance (minus the occasional crunch).
If you really want to get into game dev, try to enter it from the side. Do your normal job and develop a game on the side. Go full indie if that game is successful and can support you financially.

 

[MetalFreak]

Well to be a game dev it is useful to go though a good Computer Science education which is essential for any dev job.
If game dev eventually doesn't work for him or her, changing to a different development field shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Ovek]

As someone who has worked in the education sector for a long time, never dismiss a 16-year-old's dream—especially if it leads them toward a solid further education that can be applied in other areas.

Let them explore and discover for themselves whether they make it that far and realise that games development may be low-paid and challenging. The important thing is they’ll have the education and skills to transition into other, better-paying industries if they choose.

 

[SHA]

I have to have connections with these people regardless of how much they achieved and changed us through the years but I trust connections more cause it's about my Son/Daughter.

 

[spons]

Anything related to computer science is soul crushing. I would absolutely advice against it.

 

[viveks86]

The meat and bones (programming) of it, yes. You're under estimating what AI can do.

It's being used in my code already. It's a tool to build stuff faster. The moment you try anything remotely complex, the whole house of cards comes falling down. We will get to AGI fast. But people can hold on to most tech jobs for another 2 decades at least.

 

[sendit]

It's being used in my code already. It's a tool to build stuff faster. The moment you try anything remotely complex, the whole house of cards comes falling down. We will get to AGI fast. But people can hold on to most tech jobs for another 2 decades at least.

Your prompt is likely not sufficient for the LLM (not enough information/data sources) to do anything complex for your usecase. For example, I don't expect the current gen AI that I use professionally to know an entire dependency tree that a function would rely on simply due to the fact that it just doesn't know (lack of integration across all systems).

The excuse of "not being able to do anything complex" is going to get tired fast. The need for people knowing how to program/code is going to be abstracted away.

 

[Team Andromeda]

It just be nice to see any 16-year-old wanting to work. In the UK most seem to want to be on sick.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Support.
It’s always better for someone to do what they love then anything else.

 

[viveks86]

The excuse of "not being able to do anything complex" is going to get tired fast. The need for people knowing how to program/code is going to be abstracted away.

Just like assembly level coding got abstracted away. Like you said, the prompt is insufficient. And it will always be insufficient if everything needs to be described in natural language. Prompts will eventually become complex enough to facilitate integrations, data sources, history, reasoning methodology etc. that it will give rise to a new coding paradigm (or programming language) with AI under the hood. And somebody will need to understand and implement the new coding paradigms. Call them "prompting engineers" instead of "coders", if you want, but the core reasoning, problem solving skill sets and the capacity to understand a "non-natural" language aren't going away soon. Projects will just become more efficient and far more advanced as a result. I believe in AI, but I just don't think people need to start predicting doom for the software industry anytime soon. It will just adapt and expand further.

If we hit singularity in the next 20- 30 years, then that would be a different conversation. At that point, it's not just software development that we should be worried about but something far more existential.

 

[Rodolink]

i actually went this path, the hard way, so i would advise myself to study a proper career first (art or engineering) but with game dev as focus.
When i studied game dev it was a crappy school were i spent 4 years studying on my own mostly and in the end not being prepared for anything not even a diploma to get a normal job.
I ended up actually working at a games company designing several games though. but after the company went bankrupt i had study a second bachelor now in a proper school to get a real diploma and get a real job that paid the bills.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

At 16, I'd foster their desire to get into game development. But I wouldn't want them to go to college for it. If they were passionate enough they would have the drive to learn all that they could for relatively cheap. Getting into tens of thousands in debt is dumb when you can get a vast education for free from YouTube and online course sites like Coursera.

And at 16 you have thousands if not tens of thousands of hours to pursue game development as a hobby before needing to make money.

There are so many disciplines in game development that they'll find what they do and do not like about it. Maybe in pursuit of learning they realize it's not for them, or they realize what they really love is sound design, or environment art or 3D modeling.

It's better to follow your dreams and fail then to live a life of "what if".

 

[mitch1971]

First I want a DNA test.

 

[viveks86]

First I want a DNA test.

Giggity

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Sure why the fuck not. Have them get started now. Encourage them to focus probably on computer science/engineering foundation for post primary education. Regardless if they pursue it after college graduation they will have a good foundation in logic that is applicable to anything else in life. It’s a win win.