Choosing a degree concentration

[xcallmejudasx]

I'm closing in on the time where if I wanted a concentration with my degree I would have to declare it soon, however I can't decide which one I want. My 2 options are Security and Gaming.

Security is a VERY fascinating topic for me and will be very mentally stimulating, however, after reading up on it some it seems extremely math heavy(number theory, discrete math, patterns, etc) and math isn't one of my better subjects. Security seems a more secure(pun intended) option as far as job stability goes but it also seems more stressful knowing that one mistake I make can cost the company millions in trade secrets, lawsuits for leaked employee information, etc.

Gaming may not be as complicated but sounds like a blast. I'm a male 18-24 age bracket who programs and enjoys video games. It just makes sense. I know that the military uses "gaming software" for simulation training and such but if I was to get into this field I would want to develop video games no simulation training software. This isn't as math heavy(still requires some semi complex calculus, statistics, etc) but there's also alot of graphics required(I can't draw to save my life).

I'm curious for feedback from people who've worked in these fields and any advice anyone can give.

[Eranga]

I vote for the first option. Lots of reasons on that.

Security is the key on all applications, actually it must. I think you have more value on this. Authentications and stuff make a real difference in all the way. As you said, knowledge of mathematical concepts/algorithms is must. Cryptography helpful in great way as well.

Even for small applications, security make a big difference. We have to think about it seriously. Just think about the privacy policies we have to follows in software developments. A small issue enough for us to close-up whole process.

[CJSLMAN]

Judas... both sound great... security will always be needed (it started when Julius Ceaser started shifting things around :-). Gamming will also always be popular, but don't fool yourself... there's plenty of math in gamming: for a simple pong game you need to know angles, velocity, vectors, etc. IMHO, I would go with security (I love cryptography).

Lots of luck,
CJSL

[xcallmejudasx]

I've strongly been leaning towards security back when I thought it was just cryptography. I'm still heavily anchored towards it but I feel since I only passed discrete math and number theory due to my prof being VERY generous(I never made higher then a 30% on a test and passed the class with an 87) I feel like by going down that route I'll be guaranteed a job but I might not be competent enough to be good at it.

Is alot of current day security just knowing AES, DES, RSA, etc and how/when to implement it or is it actually devising ciphers(?) and encryption algorithms for each program?

[Mr.Beans]

If you are going to get a degree for game development you will probably end up doing 3d game development. While the graphics end of it might require some rudimentary math, the physics and other aspects of the game will be very graphics entensive. With game development there will also be a large emphasis on optimization. There are also things such as AI, and networking which are encorporated within modern games.

However, you also must remember that with game development you will probably be limited to using c, c++, and windows for high-end commercial games.

[xcallmejudasx]

I wonder if my university would allow me a double concentration and I just end up staying an extra year to get the classes. That way I could do secure gaming or have the option to fall back to the other field if I don't really like the one I'm in.

Networking doesn't really interest me(did that with A+ cert) however AI, Cryptography, Neural Networks. I think I need to co-op at a game design studio to get a good idea of what's really involved. I'm still not even sure if it will just be using computer programs to draw and animate or if that's the artists job and I'll just be writing code for how those objects interact with the environment, player stats, attack probability, etc(all the backend stuff)

Who knows perhaps I can just flip a coin and choose. It's only 40k a year in student loans if I don't like it lol.

[neosnokia]

Hey, i have a degree in computer networking, and the security modules within are geared around asymmetric (rsa) and symmetric encryption, DES, AES etc. As i have only done one module in it, i can not talk about dedicated security topics, however you do need to know a bit of maths to get by, however most of the calculations were allowed (with us) to be done on a calculator.

[OrangeDog]

There's much more to security than just maths. And there's a huge ton of maths involved in computer graphics.

Security Engineering - A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems if you want a look at all security has to offer (entire first edition is free online)

[DavidBainbridge]

I would agree with orangedog I have just finished a computer science degree I did a lot of gaming and 3d programming and there was an oppressive amount of maths....

[Eranga]

And at the present AI involves a lot as well.

[DavidBainbridge]

Its almost as if computer science is a subset of maths!

Actually my maths is pretty poor I just had to study very hard to get by. Luckily I now do a job where very little is required (other than set theory which is easy).

[Eranga]

Involve of set theory is more less in game programming I guess. Because we can build any logic using set theory. Prepositions can be useful.