Hi there! I'm about to graduate with a BS in aerospace engineering this semester. For a while now, I've really liked video games and have attempted to program one of my own (although I've been strapped for time and have been unable to finish it). Anyway, I was thinking of diverging from the NASA path and getting into game development instead, possibly working on physics engines or something to that effect. I'm not an expert programmer at the moment, but I do have C/C++/MATLAB/Python experience under my belt out of sheer necessity and I'm getting better. So what I'm wondering is, what kind of credentials/education do companies expect? Do I need to go back to school? How much of an expert do I need to be in a given language? Can someone share any tidbits of advice or direction with me? I just want to know if there is a place for someone like me in the games industry. I am also a freelance artist, considering the possibility of just doing character design. My concern, however, is that this may be more competitive of an area. I could be wrong though, so please offer me insights. Thanks for reading :)

Learn C++. You don't have to be an expert, but you'd be expected to know about virtual dispatching, object lifetimes and so on.

{Yes, it's not an ideal language. But games development still happens in C++.}

If you can demonstrate that you can program, and have the sales pitch that you aren't scared of maths (a lot of developers are), then you'd have a decent pitch at entry level development.

It's useful to have a specific compsci background, but it's not essential -- if you can read aerospace, then you can read technical stuff and understand it, and that's a pretty valuable asset.

madp, read these:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson41.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson15.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson53.htm
http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/