#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto
You want to know something funny? I’m basically tricking the Honors Program at my school. And they totally know it and are okay with it so much so that they’re letting me get away with it.
So as a senior I have to do an independent study project that has something to do with my major, then do a presentation and write a paper on it. So you know what I proposed? Here, I’ll put the academic pitch for you:
I propose a study wherein I document and study the ability of students to practically apply the knowledge that they receive while in a university. Their goal will be to achieve professional and legitimate status as a professionally recognized media outlet in the videogame community.
What that meant was that I proposed making my senior project about my blog/website/Youtube/Facebook for The Game Creators Vault. I told the head of the Honors Department that I was just going to write a paper about the extracurricular I was doing for my own personal gain, and she was like, “Yeah, as long as you make it academic.”
In my head, I was like, “I’m not going to do any more work than I want to, or than I am already doing because screw work, that’s why.” I made my proposal, found a professor to be my mentor, and have since then, been ahead of my entire class in the Honors department because I figured out that school work doesn’t necessarily have to be as complicated as we make it.
I mean, I have friends who are bio-medical majors and teaching majors and those are really ones where you do need to do a research project that is heavily academic. But since I’m a communications major, the all-encompassing major of majors, and that gives me a lot of freedom because anything and everything is communication.
But the funniest part of this whole project is that I get to do stupid stuff like this and get a grade for it later:
I mean that’s just not fair. I’m getting a grade for playing videogames and writing reports on them and talking to industry professionals and doing what I love. OH WAIT. That’s why you GO to college. To get rewarded for learning and putting into practice the things you learn for what you want to do.
I feel like a lot of students are worried about how they’ll get a job outside of school, as opposed to looking for the job now or a way to apply their knowledge practically to be more attractive to an employer. We’ve been given this idea that if we have a degree and we do some clubs in college or university, then we’re appealing to someone who will hire us. The cold hard truth is that is TOTALLY not true.
The reality is that the most appealing people to a professional company is someone who knows what they’re doing even in school and shows it by doing it even without the degree. I’m not saying you need to start up some sort of black market medical practice if you’re a med student to demonstrate that you know how to perform surgery to prospective hospitals. What I am saying is that if you can demonstrate your skills and knowledge during the process of getting your degree and stick with it, it shows you have four plus years of experience and a degree when you come to an employer. Who are they more willing or likely to hire? Someone who knows their stuff? Or someone with a degree and says “Hire me please!”
Looking for internships is the key, honestly. Making connections while working in a professional environment shows that you’re a professional and may even get you a job straight away where you’re interning. But say you’re in a position where internships and other methods aren’t exactly viable to you.
Maybe then you can make a job. I mean, that’s what I did with the Vault. Mark told me that he was looking for a writer two years ago. And two years later we have a Youtube channel, a Facebook, a blog, and over 1,000 fans and followers! If things take off, I might be able to do that for a living and already be an Editor-in-Chief by the time I’m 23. How cool would it be if you could make your job? I mean, Jen did it! Look at her!
Don’t think so “inside the box,” especially these days when the job world is so crazy and fluctuates all the time. Try and be creative and sooner or later, you’ll realize that there’s a lot more you can do for yourself and your professional career than just sit around and study and watch Hulu.
Learn what you need and get your degree, but make the most of the time you have at school and utilize the resources it gives you to get a head-start. You don’t need a degree to be awesome. Look at all the famous people who dropped out of school and became historical figures: Ben Franklin, Einstein, Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, hell Walt Disney dropped out of school at 15!
I know it sounds really weird coming from a guy who hasn’t graduated yet and who is really young, at least think about what I said. Practical knowledge and experience matter more than a degree. Who knows more? The man who works with trees all day and cuts them down and shapes them into furniture? Or the guy who has only read about doing it?
Don’t waste your time in school, but definitely don’t think that you can’t do what you love without a degree. I’m already doing it, and you should be too.
#nerdsunite
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