Hello everyone! This is my first post, I discovered this board long time ago but I never registered myself :)
Some things have changed for me and I believed it was time to sign in and join the community! I just hope this is the right section to post my topic eheh.

First of all prepare yourself for a wall of text xD I have a lot to talk about but I will try to be short (edit: I failed! lol), I don't want you to get bored eheh.
Also sorry for my english but I'm italian and english is not my main language!

I must start talking a bit about myself, to expalin better my situation :)
I'm close to be 28 (YEA everyone keep telling me that I'm OLD!), I always loved videogames, I spent a great part of my life with games eheh and I always dreamed about becoming a developer but I never took it too seriously for severl reasons (mainly because in my country everyone is used to consider games something only for kids and... well i think you got the point).
After high school I had to face a lot of personal problems, I lost a lot of years because of those problems but I also invested some time looking for "the right path".
I never considered the idea of programming and become a programmer, even if i was pretty good at math, I only had a very short experience in a University here in Italy but it was very BAD and it totally cancelled the word "programming" from my mind.
Two years ago, I was taking a Master in computer graphic (Maya) and I had to take a little course of programming too. Well, this experience totally changed my mind and I discovered the fantastic world of programming.
After this master I did a couple of C++ courses to face some more programming and to really understand if this could be "the right path" to follow.
Well I really enjoyed programming, even if it was just basic programming, I decided to go on an stick with it.

Now, everyone keep telling me the damn same words "YOU ARE TOO OLD", "you have no chance because you are too old and because you started programming at the age of 26 and not at the age of 8/10", thats FRUSTRATING.
So here it comes my first questions, am I really too old? Should I abandon the idea of programming?
If the answer is "YES, you are too old!", you can stop read my wall of text :)
If the anwer is "NO, maybe you have a chance", well I hope you will not mind to spent some more time reading the rest of my post :)

I'm not a good self student, I mean, I can get good results with self study but I really prefer (need) to have a guide, to join a school and follow a program.
What I want to do now is to join a university, maybe a game programming course. Italy does not have game programming courses, also I don't like italian universities AND, last but not least, I now have the opportunity to invest a lot of money in my education so my plan is to leave the country and join a good univeristy (it can be everyshere in world lol I only care about the quality of the education.. and it should ofcouse be in english xD because it the only language I know other than italian)
I really spent a LOT of time doing loads of reseaches, about schools, about courses, about where togo, what to do, etc etc and i can easy say that there are too many places to study eheh.
But the problem is simple: "how to know if a school is REALLY good or not?"
There are some reviews but many times these reviews are to different and I end up more confused (exemple: "this school socks!" - "this school sucks!" O_o).
Well my researches leaded me to Full Sail university.
I know you are familiar with this name, because I found some topics about this univeristy on this board too eheh:P
I choose this school mainly because of the accellerated program and the possibility to join it every month.
I'm OLD, remember? So a 2 years degrees will help me in "save" some time, also its almost december and I will not be able to join a classic univerity this year and this could make me lose another year. But these are just personal ideas.
So, after this endless wall of text I'm finally close to my questions!
What do you think? Could Full Sail be a good choice? Will I be able to get a good education in Full Sail? Is this school really good? (there are lot of bad reviws :S) Do you think there are some better choices? What should I do?
I know that some of you prefer a classic 4 year compure science degree but maybe 4 years are too much for me.
If you have any hint, suggestion or idea to share I will really appreciate it :)
Believe me, internet if FULL of informations but Is it is alos a big mess and it is really hard to handle everything alone :)

I really hope you could understand my english and, if there is something not clear, please let me know and I will try to explain myself in a better way :)
Thank you!

[Edited by - Namyr on November 23, 2010 4:40:17 AM]

Ciao,

I cannot give you any advice on the right path to follow study-wise, but I do have one important thing to say:

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR PROGRAMMING

Even if you decide for whatever reason not to persue a programming career, you can still keep hobbying and enjoying!

- So, are you too old to do programming? No.

- Are you too old to have a professional career in programming? Maybe, but who can tell? There's only one way to find out... TRY!

Buonanotte :)


P.S. Your English is excellent for a non-native speaker.

Quote: Original post by Liguria
Ciao,

I cannot give you any advice on the right path to follow study-wise, but I do have one important thing to say:

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR PROGRAMMING

Even if you decide for whatever reason not to persue a programming career, you can still keep hobbying and enjoying!

- So, are you too old to do programming? No.

- Are you too old to have a professional career in programming? Maybe, but who can tell? There's only one way to find out... TRY!

Buonanotte :)


P.S. Your English is excellent for a non-native speaker.

Thank you, that was encouraging!

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Moved to Breaking In.
Nam, you should "View Forum FAQ" - see tiny link above.
And you should try to shorten your posts, break them into paragraphs with spaces in between -- user friendliness for your readers.

Thank you for the suggestions:)
I generally don't like huge posts but I had a lot to talk about, I'm sorry about that.
I'm taking a look to your website and there is a planty of usefull things but, what do you personally think about age?

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper

Quote: Original post by Namyr
what do you personally think about age?

I think it's inevitable, and I think what I wrote in FAQ 71.

That FAQ 71 was what I needed to read :)
I will stick to programming and see what will happen in the future.

Anyway, if there are any Full Sail students who want to talk with me in private, I will appreciate it.
Thanks!