How to Become a Video Game Developer

How to Become a Video Game Developer

The game industry is more popular than ever and there are millions of people who own consoles and video games of some kind. There are many different types of games available from puzzles, adventure, to sports games. Not very many people turn their passion for games into a career. With the steps below it is easier to understand what you need to go through in order to undertake this role. Game development is a long process in many cases and involves many different teams working on various assigned tasks. There is the team that creates the game design, and then there are the game testers at the end who test the game for any faults. The developer's role is important as they help to bring the game from the design phase to the post-production phase. You will good math skills and also a keen creative side to make a good video game developer.

Step 1: Play a lot of Video Games The first thing you need to do when learning how to become a video games developer is to actually play a lot of video games yourself. If you do this then you will have a better chance of being a developer. Most games developers are very serious about gaming and getting new ideas from games they have previously played. They love to try out the new releases and understand the latest game trends. It is a demanding job. However, one of the most important aspects of any good developer is to have a real creative side and passion for the games developed. It is all very well being technically good, but you also need to have great creative ideas to be successful.

Step 2: Get a Degree in Computer Science or Graphic Design It is unusual to be handed a job as a games developer without experience or some sort of qualification. There are numerous online courses you can do to get up to speed. However, one of the best ways in which you can break into this area is by getting a degree in computer science or graphic design. You should focus on 3D modeling. This is because so many games are now going that way in regards to their graphics. Gone are the days of the two dimensional platform games and characters of years ago. 3D Studio Max is one of the best you can learn and is used by multiple games companies around the world.

Step 3: Decide on an Area of ​​Expertise The next thing you should decide on is which specific area you want to concentrate on when becoming a games developer. You should ensure that you have a portfolio of work which includes links to online work produced by you. In addition, you should also work on developing some new ideas for games.

Step 4: Get an Internship at a Video Game Company Lastly, it is important that you try to search for job that will allow you to get in at the ground floor in the company and learn as you go along. It is a very competitive industry and it is important you get entry into a job to move up the ladder.

Penny Stocks How to Make Money

Penny Stocks How to Make Money

New investors often believe that the cheapest stocks-the ones with low share prices are the best bargains. In fact, they sometimes fall into the trap of believing that the shares with the lowest share prices have a great potential of raking in huge sums of money.

After all, you only need a stock which share price is $ 1 to earn you $ 1 to double your money, and a share price of $ 100 to earn you $ 100 to double your money. Even, though this math is absolutely correct, it is often misleading.

The secret to making good money in the stock exchange is to have patience. So, all investors need to do is figure out how penny stocks work and learn how to make money from them.

Definition of Penny Stocks

These are stocks that are worth less than a dollar for any share traded. Since they are so cheap, they are more appealing to many investors.

For example, if you have 1,000 dollars, you may end up buying many shares, and a small movement of say ten cents towards any direction will earn you a lot of money. For a new investor, this appears to be the easiest way of getting rich through investing.

Buy Penny Stocks, Sell at Higher Price

The first way you can make money with penny stocks is to sell them to others at an inflated price. First, you need to pump and dump. Perhaps the most famous means of making a lot of profit from a small cap is to buy the stocks when they are cheap.

Then, you convince as many people as possible that they are worth more than you bought it from, then sell these stocks at the inflated price. Unfortunately, this method is often unethical and potentially illegal in the place where you stay. It is also hard to make it work sometimes.

Hit the Jackpot!

Another to make money at this is by simply getting lucky. In fact, it is more ethical to purchase stocks from a valuable company then hold on to them for a while until their prices have increased tremendously until that point where you can register a profit. Unfortunately, it is often a daunting task to predict luck.

There is no precise formula in finding all of the cheap and good stocks to invest in. Similarly, not all cheap stocks are good and by no means are all good stocks cheap: a company that has gone through financial distress can easily go into liquidation, selling all of its assets to pay creditors, and pay you some percentage of what you had invested in the stocks.

Find a Turnaround Company

More often than not, a company may go through a series of a horrible bankruptcy, which can lead to a major restructuring, or resulting to another company buying it at a great value. Perhaps, the company may turn things around from huge amounts of debt or it has some capital equipment, inventory, patents, real estate, or other forms of assets that have huge sentimental value to the acquirer.

Therefore, if you become careful and conduct a thorough value analysis, you are likely to find a turnaround company that has the potential of being listed on a top exchange.

That said, you have to be careful when investing in penny stocks. Even though, the stock may have a great price and appears to have a great potential of doubling or tripling your investment, you have to be calm and careful. Do your own research. This way, you will ensure that you earn some good money after sticking to value investing.

Debt Consolidating Companies - Could Customers Be Misled

Debt Consolidating Companies - Could Customers Be Misled

Debt consolidation loans are one of the best solutions for managing financial obligations. When helping to get ahead of poor credit, substantive obligations or defaults leading adverse financial circumstances, debt consolidation certainly requires the guidance and service of a debt expert. Experts of the reputed credit-counseling companies consist of a team of approved and trained counselors that are outstanding in debt counseling and budgeting. In addition, several of the non-profit companies that specialize in this area will also offer education and guidance absolutely free of cost.

While credit restoration and debt management tips may help clients in debt consolidation, you need to exercise proper care to select a good company to help you achieve your goals. The reasons why are obvious. Some agencies that advertise debt counseling services may charge high fees or even suggest you to make a donation which would make your current situation still worse. With untold reasons and even without going over your current finances some agencies can rush you into the understanding that debt consolidation plan is your only choice. The Federal Trade Commission has sued numerous debt counseling companies that project a false non profit status to deceive customers regarding the nature, fees and benefits of the services they offer. It is certainly not good to see your credit management plan with an agency that shuts down without any prior notice. However, a thorough investigation of a range of providers can help you contact the qualified one that provides effective debt counseling and debt relief services.

Numerous consumer credit counseling companies do offer debt management strategy. Through a debt management plan, these financial specialists can rely on their experience to effectively handle your loans, unsecured debts and bills, with the most desirable repayment schedule worked in agreement with you and your creditors. In addition, when you work through debt consolidation plan, the consumer credit counseling organizations usually will also qualify your creditors to minimize your interest rate or remove a percentage of your debts. The Federal Trade Commission has uncounted countless examples where some credit counseling organizations have duped their customers. It is highly advisable that you check your bills when a credit management plan is handled by an agency. It is also important to contact your creditors to make sure that allowing the debt organization to handle your credit management plan is acceptable to them. In the next step, you must ensure that the debt consolidation strategy is in the hands of a concerned company with regular and timely payments. If you happen to learn of a situation where a creditor is not paid on schedule, or if you are finding it hard to make a certain payment, you should immediately call the agency and advise them of such.

While credit consolidation plan is an effective way of handling your current debt situation, it is certainly important to understand that a debt consolidation plan puts you in a responsible position. Although the creditors would have excused some bad accounts in the past; they may not do so once you are working a debt consolidation strategy. Once you are under your debt management plan, it is not that easy to get your accounts re-aged. Therefore, late payments will unduly be shown on your credit report and worsen your situation. In choosing the appropriate company offering a credit consolidation plan, always check for the one which specializes in a range of plans like savings and credit management workshops and budget advice, including being supported with a team of trained and certified counsel.

Fun Ways to Earn Money - Video Game Tester

Fun Ways to Earn Money - Video Game Tester

There are many ways to make money now days. Most of them involve having a degree or some sort of higher education. This can be very stressful and expensive. There are some alternatives that a lot of people overlook when searching for a job.

Being a video game tester can prove to be very exciting and fun! Being able to choose when you want to work and for how long is very nice. Not to mention the money is pretty good as well. But the very best part about it, is that you do not need to be very experienced in testing or have any degree. Just the determination of wanting to make the gaming community better easily land you a job.

Being a video game tester involves recording glitches or bugs in new video games of whom you choose to go through. Most of the games you will receive are over six months away from reaching retail shelves! Then again some may never reach the shelves depending on the games performance.

Whatever type of game you get if it is a first person shooter or maybe a real time strategy game, you will be expected to go through every level and run into most walls to make sure everything is working properly. If there is a problem you must record everything you see on your screen and how it happens.

After doing this for a few hours some people get carried away and just start playing the game as they usually would. This is very common and there is no problem with doing so. However you must stay in all the guidelines your company has assigned you to get paid.

Your rate of pay is by the hour, and knowing how some people spend 15 hours a day playing their favorite game, it may not even seem like working. It is also a great choice for those who want to have a part time job and have some cash flow on the side.

How to Make an International Money Transfer - Send Money Safe And Fast

How to Make an International Money Transfer - Send Money Safe And Fast

International money transfer is something millions of people do around the world each day. From the global company who pays international bills in Dubai to the Family who wants to buy a house in Spain to the migrant worker who sends money home to his loved ones transferring funds is a regular task for most people.

But this very task can also be daunting and if not done smartly can be costly. Most people are not aware of the hidden fees that come with international transfers. When you use a Bank, a Foreign exchange broker or a money transfer company to send money abroad there are usually two costs involved. the most obvious is the cost of the service to transfer your funds and then there is the not so obvious cost to convert your money from one currency to another.

These service providers never convert your money based on the inter-bank exchange rate and make a profit by exchanging your currency at a lesser rate. the profit they make from the difference is usually known as the 'Spread'. This is a common practice and a vital revenue stream for providers. However be careful because they are not always so upfront with this cost and frankly you could be incurring high costs without you knowing. Below are a list of way you can make a safe international money transfer.

Banks are the most common way of sending money

They are large regulated financial institutions and are effective in transferring large funds due to their appropriate security. large corporations, small businesses and even individuals use banks to make international transfers every singe day and are the still the most common method of money transfer. However banks are increasingly coming under scrutiny due to their hidden transfer fees and there are cheaper methods of performing this task especially if the amount you are sending is not extremely large. Banks typically charge individuals any where from £ 20 to £ 50 per transfer and costs usually increase as the amount of transfer does. To transfer money through a bank just visit a local branch and ask a customer service advisor. Advise do your homework first! Not all banks charge the same amount.

Foreign Exchange Brokers

Foreign exchange brokers act as a middle man between the customer and the banks, they usually have relationships with a list of banks and attempt to provide the most competitive rates to trade one currency for another. The primarily deal in currency exchange but are able to transfer funds for a fee. However it can take several days to open an account and the process is rather slow. Foreign exchange services are beneficial when purchasing property abroad or for small businesses making international payments. when making international transfers over this amount they offer competitive exchange rates over $ 5000 and usually do not charge for transfer services over this amount.

Money Transfer Providers

Although money transfer providers have the sane dual costs as banks and foreign exchange firms they are much cheaper when making international transfers in amount under $ 5000.

They commonly use bank to bank transfer although some provide extra methods of receiving including cash pick up branches. Providers such as these have been around for a long time.

Online Money Transfer Providers

but thanks to the internet online money transfer providers allowing users to make international transfers at next to nothing costs and still managing to make a profit.

They have different ways of doing this. Some providers have a mid market rate which they use to decrease costs for users. Others match those wanting to exchange the same sets of currency which also helps in limiting costs related to currency conversion. In addition to this transfer charges are as little as $ 1 and some wave the fee alike.

Lastly they are usually regulated by financial authorities of their country of origin and have secure methods sending and receiving using the latest in financial technology. Some take two to three days to receive funds but the number of providers promising same day transfer are increasing. Lastly sending money online has revolutionized the money transfer market as customers are finding the while process of sending through a computer or mobile phone easy and fast compared to the hassles of visiting a local branch.

Compare the Money Transfer Market Before Sending Money

Because of the internet the number of providers are increasing each year and providers are competitive to attract customers. When you Google about international money transfer today or anything to do with sending money the search engine gives you millions of pages listing provider after provider promoting the same thing, low costs to transfer funds.

But as seen in this article not all providers are the same and it's best to shop around a little. Not all providers send to every country, have same day transfer policies and obviously are not offering the same price for a particular transfer.

Therefore comparing the money transfer market is a smart thing to do and luckily these days comparison has come to this market, Money transfer comparison sites offer you a list of providers and list based on low exchange costs ad transfer costs and provide more information about sending money online.

But beware not all comparison sites are the same either and quotes are usually approximate and not exact. of the few that currently sendthatcash.com is the easiest to understand giving users a quick way to compare many many companies offering different rates. It's completely free to use and is straight to the point. they have an informative results page and vet all the companies they list to make sure they are secure.

Do Active Fund Managers Add Value?

Do Active Fund Managers Add Value?

Active fund managers have been around for years, with financial advisors frequently recommending them to less savvy clients. However, in recent years passive funds have been developed, and a wide swath of research by finance professors claims that active fund managers, as a group, do not beat the market.

This article will list a few arguments for and against active fund managers, along with describing a few finds from modern investment research.
Arguments In Support of Active Fund Managers

- According to Investment Week, recent M & G analysis shows that the top 10 active funds in the IMA UK All Companies hugely outperformed the FTSE All-share index, returning 117.7% on average compared with just 26.9% from the index.

- In emerging markets, the majority of the risk comes from geopolitical risk. Active fund managers will be able to use their skills to move assets away from troubled countries.

- Small and Medium cap companies, as well as those from emerging market economies, receive less attention from analysts. It is there before possible for skilled professionals to identify and profit from inefficiencies in these markets.

Arguments Against The Use of Active Fund Managers

- While some active fund managers have historically beaten the market, this is due to luck. As a group, empirical evidence shows that active fund managers underperform tracker funds, mainly due to the high fees that they charge. Just because a manager has outperformed the market in the past, does not mean that they will outperform the market in the future.

- The fees from active fund managers are too high, and seriously hinder their changes of outperforming the market. Investors are there before better off using tracker funds.

- A lot of the reported outperformance certain active investment styles can be attributed to passive factors that can easily be reproduced in a low cost, transparent and efficient fashion. The book "Active Beta Indications" provides a good discussion on this subject.
Other points of interest

The study - "Does Active Management Add Value The Brazilian Mutual Fund Market" - concludes that active management adds value for investors in stocks and hedge funds, but fails to do so in fixed income mutual funds. Brazil is categorized as an emerging market, so this finding goes in line with the argument that active management is more suitable for emerging markets, as well as small and medium cap companies.

Along a similar line of argument, some analysts have stated that well covered markets such as the US and UK large cap markets will be efficient due to the number of people trading them, but that opportunities could have been found in less covered areas. According to this line of thought, investors who wish to invest in large cap shares should invest in trackers, while those who wish to invest in smaller companies should choose actively managed funds.

Some large firms such as Merril Lynch and Goldman Sachs have conducted research to passively replicating the returns of active hedge funds. These use methods such as "factor-based replication" and "payoff distribution replication", and can involve regressing hedge fund returns against factors such as the VIX volatility index and interest rate differentials.

There Is No Firm Answer

The debate between Active and Passive fund management is still alive and strong. Two of the largest unanswered questions in this debate are:

- Do different markets have different levels of efficiency? The early arguments in favor of passive funds that asserted fund managers fail to beat the market. But more recently, proponents of active management have stated that it is developed markets that are efficient, and that those with skill can still beat undeveloped markets.

- Can the returns from active funds be passively replicated? The studies from Merril Lynch and Goldman Sachs are publicly available for those who wish to peruse them, and in the coming years there will undoubtedly be new investable funds based on these criteria.

In my personal experience, the equity indices are developed markets certainly contain areas of inefficiency, as I have managed to earn a living through speculating on the largest European equity index futures. However, what I do involves trading exceptionally short time frames, is non scalable, and therefore can not be applied to the mass market. From this I believe that there could be small areas of inefficiency in any market.

Conclusion

There is no firm answer as to whether or not active managers outperform the market. There are papers that claim to show empirical evidence both for and against them. And even papers based on empirical evidence can be questioned, as statistics can be fiddled to support the author's objectives.

An example of statistical curve fitting is the M & G analysis mentioned above. Based on a large sample of fund managers, we would expect them to roughly track the market (minus their fees). After 10 years, roughly half would beat the market, and roughly half would underperform. The number of fund managers that we'd expect to outperform the market would be a function of volatility, which would depend on the tracking error that active fund managers are permitted in their mandates.

Daily Affirmations - Use Them to Create More Money!

Daily Affirmations - Use Them to Create More Money!

Did you know that you can increase your cash flow by implementing daily affirmations into your life? Money is a necessary function of our lives today, but it seems like most people do not have enough to fulfill their desires. Using positive statements about money can improve your money energy, which will in turn create more money in your life.

Whatever you focus on comes to you more abundantly-- thoughts create reality. Using daily affirmations can help your thoughts be more positive so that your life becomes more positive. If you are constantly focused on how poor you are and what bills you have, you will see more and more bills show up in your life. On the other hand, if you focus on the income that you have and the things that you are grateful for, more abundance of wealth will be created in your life.

Repeating positive affirmations to yourself each day is a perfect way to focus on the income that you have and the income that you desire. But, you must really feel what you are saying. Instead of the mindless repetition, you should think about how it feels to have what you desire. It is also important that you have the statements phrased correctly so that you are creating the right thing.

Even if you do not believe that daily affirmations will make a difference in your life, give it a try. Start with something small, and when you see that your thoughts do indeed become a reality your possibilities will be endless and you will be able to have more of what you want.