I have recently been thinking about my life after school. I am currently 13 and have a passion for games. I'm smart (I think). I'm top in my maths class, science class and IT class, and I am a musician for my county. I really want to become a programmer, but is it too hard/ambitious for me. I have tried Visual Basic but it looked sooo complicated I gave up. Here's my rough plan for the future.

GCSE:
Including
Maths
Further Maths
Triple Science
I.C.T
Music

AS Levels:
Music (Or further maths if there is that)
Physics
Maths
I.C.T

A Levels:
Physics
Maths
I.C.T

Uni:
Maths
Computer Science (preferably with a year in industry)

I was thinking I could go Lionhead for work experience and their graduate program thing.

But is programming for me? I've also heard that it really sucks. I am, to quote, in a kerfuffle!!!

Please can you give me all of your advice!!!

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Also, can I add that I don't know what programming specialty I want. I thought about AI or physics.

If game developing doesn't  work out, I want to keep career choices open. That's why I've looked at a traditional uni route rather than a game programming course.

I'm on holiday for the next week so your responses will have no reply but I'm looking forward to reading them

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I have a suggestion - get your hands dirty and start teaching yourself now

Just because you've had no formal training in a concept doesn't mean you can't either buy a book or start reading dummy guides online - there is a world of free stuff out there to help people get started.

Set a goal, making a simple text based game or similar and attempt to fulfill that goal.

If you enjoy the process, then programming is for you - if you don't enjoy it then it's not.

It shouldn't be a question you have to ask once you've tried.

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I have no idea what I am talking about

Elite3van:

I have recently been thinking about my life after school. I am currently 13 and have a passion for games. I'm smart (I think). I'm top in my maths class, science class and IT class, and I am a musician for my county. I really want to become a programmer, but is it too hard/ambitious for me. I have tried Visual Basic but it looked sooo complicated I gave up.

...
But is programming for me? I've also heard that it really sucks.

If you really want to learn about programming, I would start looking for online classes/tech yourself type stuff and go from there.  I would also start with something that isn't super UI oriented - learn to read in from stdio, run an algorithm and then print results via stdout.

If you want to be a talented programmer, you need to learn algorithms.  Most programmers aren't inventing new stuff - they're using classic algorithms and libraries and using them as building blocks to write custom applications.  You also need to read as much sample code as you can to expose yourself to what other people have learned.  Write down each variable on a piece of paper and keep track of how the values change as each statement runs.  If you don't understand what you're reading, ask questions and make yourself learn how it works.

I'd also try to take a class in school now (if available).  If you're serious about making a career of it, you need to get started.  If it's not for you, it's better to find out now.