It's hard to understate how much game programming helped in my career. All at once it helped me grok not just patterns, but also Calculus ("wait... isn't this for loop very much like an integral? is that what they actually were all along?!"), Algebra, OOP, Discrete Math and even got me out of a rut after a very boring and stale couple of years.
I very much recommend working on graphics and games to every programmer and CS major who hasn't already!
I very much recommend working on graphics and games to every programmer and CS major who hasn't already!