Mike Prestia, a software engineer at Electronic Arts (EA) and Pine View alumnus, visited on Dec. 5 to talk about his experience programming and his work in the video game industry. Prestia started programming when he took AP Computer Science with Chap Percival, and has gone on to work at one of the largest video game companies in the world.
He spoke to students about programming and encouraged them to learn programming if they had any inclination to do so. “The games industry is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours, but it’s super super fun,” Prestia said.
Prestia showed some of the games he made during his time in college and explained how college helped prepare him for the challenges of the video game industry. He also involved students in a writing a simple program with him.
Last year, Prestia also visited Pine View. He plans on coming back next year.