Hi I''ve been programming games just to have fun for quite some time. This year, I decided to take what''s usually the "next step" in a game development career and started producing games taking in consideration a commercial release. Since I had some success (at least from my point of view), I am now considering what should I do next... and one of the possibilities is joining an already established software house. As a resume is considerably important when getting a job (or at least a job interview ), I''ve been taking some time to think about what should I place there. I already have some things planned but, since I want this to be perfect (well, almost ), I thought I''d ask people the following question: what do companies look for when hiring a game developer? Notice that I mention "game developer" instead of just programmer... although I can assume a standard programming job, I have some experience in game designing, software engineering and team management (acquired mainly in my own games and in University projects) which might enable me to perform other tasks. I''m also posting here what I''ve come up with until now. Any comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance. Pedro Amaro (http://pedroamaro.pt.vu) Primary programming skills: · Java (J2SE and J2ME) · C/C++ Other programming skills: · SQL · HTML · Pascal Software engineering skills: · UML · RUP Education: · Graduated from High School (Science Area) with a 15/20 average · Currently studying Computer Engineering at Universidade de Coimbra (www.uc.pt) Commercially released videogames: · Contamination · J2ME version published by Airborne Entertainment (www.airborne-e.com) · J2SE version available as freeware at www.contamination.pt.vu · Colourama · J2ME version published by Cellmania (www.cellmania.com) · J2SE version available as freeware at www.colourama.pt.vu · Colourama LE · J2ME version published by Cellmania (www.cellmania.com) Additional elements: · Language skills: Portuguese, English, Spanish and German · Driver''s License since March 2001 · News Writer at Universidade de Coimbra''s Computer Engineering Department''s newspaper (in charge of the Software section)

Any thoughts are welcome... I want to make a resume containing only important information, so knowing what are the areas that people usually seek for will allow me to place such info (if I have that knowledge, of course) and it''ll also enable me to remove all the unimportant stuff I have there.

Some studies point out that resumes usually have a 12 seconds long attention at a first phase, so making it short and containing only relevant information is terribly important (I''m trying to make a single page resume for this effect).

Pedro

Are you aiming this at game companies in the US? If so, I''d strike the high school part and the drivers license part -- both are assumed. And you''re not too likely to land a job (other than an internship) until you graduate from university unless you have some serious games you can show.

How you construct a resume like this really depends on what you''re looking for: are you looking for a job with a larger, more established game development house in the US, game developers elsewhere, smaller ''garage'' shops, or what? The more established the company you''re aiming at, the more defined the job positions will be (that is, you''d be funneled into ''programmer'' jobs). This is less true at small companies of course. And I can''t really speak to the situation in non-US game dev companies.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the reply .

I''m placing the high school bit because I still don''t have a University degree... this way, companies get some info regarding my average (my University average so far is pretty much the same). Regarding the driver''s license issue, I place it because some companies (at least in Europe) provide cars for the employees and it''s useful to know for how long the employee has the license (for insurance purposes). Although it''d be almost impossible to get a car on an entrance level, I''m assuming that this type of information might be useful for future reference (I may be wrong, though).

I''m not thinking about aiming at a large software house (at least for now ). I''m also not sure if there would be the possibility of working from home (which would allow me to work for a company worldwide). I''m thinking that a small software house would be perfect for me right now... I have had some successful experiences both in working alone and in managing a small team, so I''d like to try to boost my skills a bit further. Performing various tasks seems to be the best way to progress (once again, I may be wrong).

Pedro