[Gllug] open source centric ICT in Schools from Sept 2012 ?

[Nix]

On 11 Jan 2012, John Hearns said:

> Karanbir,
> there was a very perceptive article in the Guardian yesterday on the
> same subject.
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/09/computer-science-courses-digital-skills

A particularly stunning bit:

> There is particular criticism of specialised video games and effects
> courses. In 2009, just 12% of graduates from video games courses found
> jobs in the sector within six months of graduating. Employers in the
> games industry say graduates of these courses lack expertise with the
> relevant gaming platforms, have poor technical skills in areas such as
> maths and programming, and lack management skills.

I might venture to ask WTF is the point of a video games and effects
course that doesn't teach maths or programming?! More than almost any
other part of programming except perhaps simulation design, games
development is maths made solid. Hell, games *are* simulations:
real-time responsive simulations. (It's brutally hard to do well.
I didn't go into games development because I knew I wasn't good enough
at the maths.)

What are they teaching on those courses? How to *play* computer games?

Hm:

> "We spent two years looking for a tech director, looking in the UK,
> Europe, in the States. The US has got a much bigger English-speaking
> pool of talent. We're doing a lot of this work for 12 months longer
> than we have to."

My workplace has been looking for people in the team I'm part of since
the day I joined. We've had no geographic restrictions at all, but have
found nobody yet (probably because everyone with the sort of combined
kernel / compiler / debugger experience needed has gone to work for
RH! ;) heck, half the team are ex-RH in the first place).

There may be high unemployment, but not of high-end geeks. And, to be
honest, kernel / compiler / debugger geeks are *not* as rare as the
sorts of physics-plus-modern-computing people you need for a lot of
games development.

(Even ignoring the problem of finding people whose CVs are truthful and
who have the right *fire*, rather than jobsworths in it for the money.)

 -- N., not working purely because too tired, but can't sleep because
        too hyper, argh...
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