New Media: Make your gaming hobby your career, with a boost from EMA

If you’re passionate about your Nintendo Wii, or live fornights in with your XBox or PS3, then why not think about turning your hobbyinto your career? There are thousands of career opportunities in the computerand gaming industries that are only a course away. You could end up puttingyour natural skills and interests to work with the assistance of an EducationMaintenance Allowance, providing young people (aged 16 to 18) with up to £30 aweek direct into your bank account to assist with your studies, with thepossibility of qualifying for bonuses for meeting agreed targets.

With the next generation of gaming consoles drawing evercloser, the gaming industries depend on forward-thinking programmers,designers, environment mappers, composers, animators, artists and even gamestesters. The gaming industries are now serious international business, so whynot consider such BTEC National Certificates as IT Practitioners or MusicTechnology, or AS Levels in Information & Communication Technology orComputer Studies. You may even be eligible for financial support from the EMA.

If you are in need of further recommendation, look nofurther than gaming mad Sam Lemmon. After a year studying AS Levels at SixthForm College, Sam discovered the BTEC National Certificate for IT Practitionersthat would equip him to then go on and study a BSc in Computer Gamesprogramming at University. Sam says: “I’ve always been really into computersand gaming, spending most of my teens saving up my pocket money to buy thenewest software. I hadn’t even considered that I might be able to have a careerin what I was passionate about. Now I’m going to University and looking forwardto getting started with my career as a Computer Gaming Programmer!”

For information on the EMA, visit: www.direct.gov.uk/ema

For courses in your area: www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19

Ryan Daff