<p>Welcome!</p>
<p>Others have shared the exact same concerns and questions over the last few months. I highly recommend reading these threads to get more info:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1499194-computer-science-games-major.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1499194-computer-science-games-major.html</a> and
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1509529-going-into-gaming-industry-worth-cs-games-degree.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1509529-going-into-gaming-industry-worth-cs-games-degree.html</a></p>
<p>Your dad is correct. It’s possible to get an internship after freshmen year, but maybe more difficult without having done the 4 basic CS classes. If you don’t get a CS internship after freshmen year, that’s ok. After sophomore year is when opportunities really start opening up.</p>
<p>There’s some truth, but I think it has to do more on a person-by-person basis. Please excuse the simplification but some people are great computer scientists (theory), software engineers (application), and programmers (implementation). They can go wherever they like. Some people in games are just really good programmers and might not have the strong theory background Google wants. Some Googlers might excel there but might not be able to get a job at Zynga making games because they have no game programming experience. If you’re strong in all 3 facets then you’ll be fine, but that’s a few years off.</p>
<p>From my knowledge, going from games to a more vanilla CS job is easier done than going the other way. Getting into games (and being good) can require different programming knowledge, 2d & 3d math, design & playability skills, and soft skills that a good deal of regular CS people are not strong in or have had little exposure to.</p>