Quote: Original post by Daivuk

To be clear, almost all companies I got hired or just passed an interview never looked at my portfolio, even it was clearly stated in my resume.

Some do, some don't. But it is a useful addition which if someone sees and if it is a good portfolio it can work wonders.

Quote: Original post by Ravyne

Finally, a little mystery isn't a bad thing (so long as you've given enough highlights to make yourself look interesting), leave them wanting more. The purpose of a resume is not to get you a job, the purpose of a resume is to get you an interview, if you give your life story up front, they don't need to learn any more, and you won't get a chance to shine in person.

I think this is definitely an important note. I had that recommended to me the last time I went through a major resume re-architecture and it definitely made my resume look a lot more streamlined and interesting.

As it's been said prior important things are to keep it simple, leave the employer wanting more, and highlight what games you have worked on right up front.

Alright, so here is my new resume (as opposed to the old one).

I cut out a LOT of fat, now it's 1 page only, a lot more streamlined, and focused on my strongest points and the ones most relevant to my target position of Game Programmer.

However, I am unsure of some things:

1. I ran out of space so I couldn't include any of my jobs (directly related to computer programming) from before 2003. Is that a huge problem?

2. For my second job, i.e. the IT Analyst at the Center of Independent and Distance Learning, Frob advised me to write two short paragraphs (after the bulleted list) describing what my duties were, but I ran out of space so I couldn't include that either. Is it ok the way it is and if not, what can I remove to make space for it? Btw, Frob, yes, I did design the application in question.

3. For the games I worked on at the k20 Center I didn't specify what genre they belong to, i.e MMOG, SIMS-type, etc. Is that acceptable or should I find the space to include it somewhere in there?

4. Crack1234, does my portfolio stand out now?

I welcome any and all constructive criticism. Thanks.

PS: I replaced my address and phone # with dummy ones for the sake of privacy. I do include those when I actually send the resume for job postings.

My critique is this:

1 -- I'd move your education back up to just below your objective statement. I know everyone says that once you've got some professional work under your belt that your education takes less importance in your resume, but that doesn't mean that locating it under your professional experience isn't just plain awkward.

2 -- You've done a great job cutting down to the important stuff, but the way you've grouped things makes for some redundancy. I would recommend creating separate sections for skills (The languages, and knowlege proficiencies you have) and possibly for tools (the software applications you use) -- tools are far less important, IMO, unless they're niche tools for a niche position. If you use the industry standard, its not going to be a problem. There's certainly no reason to list multiple versions of the same thing -- like visual studio -- if anything, you should only mention the most recent version that you are comfortable with.

3 -- Despite the fact that you got it down to one page, you kind of have the opposite problem as you had before. Even though you found it difficult to get the information you have on there, you're resume is actually not very dense. Your resume has ~270 words, while mine has ~400 -- and its still a single page. There's a few reasons for this -- the things I mentioned above in #2, and also you use a lot of vertical whitespace to separate everything.


My resume is by no means perfect, in fact it still suffers a few of the more minor flaws that have been brought up in this thread (time for some minor tweaks) but it does show that you can get a lot more information onto one page. Some of the ways I've maximized the amount of content are: I made sure to find a use for every large expanse of horizontal space, I use font and styles to separate subsections, and I use a 10pt Times New Roman font (never go smaller than 10, some OCR hardware has trouble converting anything smaller.) 10pt looks just fine in print, 12pt looks a little large once printed -- that's another good tip, always look at your resume on paper.

Anyhow, my resume is here for you to take a look at.

Very much improved. I'm not inclined to instantly ignore it at anymore, and am actually drawn to look at the details.

I would cut the Tools and Languages sections under each heading, incorporating the languages and tools into the details, but this is a personal preference.

If you are looking for space, look at the lines that wrap around the page with just a few words on the second line. Prune them shorter or merge with other details.

Based on the very top "Titles" section, I am inclined to ask why you are leaving with two titles in development. That makes me slightly nervous about your ability to finish your projects.


It still looks generic and gives no insight to you as a person.

You really need to give it some personal flavor, it now looks like a list of facts. I would also add some additional lead-ins to what you did. Mention some concrete facts or details that humanize you. Did you get any specific accolades? ("Nominated as Coder of the Month 6 times.") Did your feature get specific critical review? ("GameSpot called this feature a source of unexpected quirky delight.")




So in summary:

I like it. I am drawn to actually consider you. This was not the case with the first one.

I don't love it. It needs to present you as a human being, not as an interchangeable cog.
Some companies are looking for interchangeable cogs, so that may be a bad approach for you.

One final critique I have is the objective statement. Its a little weak as-is. The summary/objective statement is kind of your one-line pitch. As long as you don't go overboard, this is a great place to add a little personality.

You might say something like "Game developer with X years experience seeking to march towards world domination as part of a world-class studio." -- This has a lot more flair, and is flattering (calling your target a world-class studio) without painting you as a flatterer. It also says you are confident in your skills.

Remember that those reviewing your resume, aside from possibly some HR drones, and certainly those who will be interviewing you are gamers and game developers -- you can get away with a lot of gamer-speak -- "... looking to join up with a team that will frag the competition." Be creative.

Again, just don't be excessive, keep it to where it belongs, and avoid the l337-speak.

Quote: Original post by Ravyne
You might say something like "Game developer with X years experience seeking to march towards world domination as part of a world-class studio." -- This has a lot more flair, and is flattering (calling your target a world-class studio) without painting you as a flatterer. It also says you are confident in your skills.

I would be very careful here and err on the way to being a bit conservative instead as the first point is you need to get through the HR. HR are not technical people and they don't understand the requirements that well(some do, many don't), so they are more interested in presentation and some fancy keywords. Most technical people in the position of hiring understand this completely.

Well your portfolio doesn't stand out in the resume as such even now but the remedy to it is simply mention it in a cover letter.

I disagree with frob on your resume looking good but that's my opinion. In my opinion now your resume looks cluttered. It looks like you have tried to force yourself to put everything in one page by reducing to give spaces etc between each line. Also it is important to mention tools and languages you know but only once is good enough. This is important if you want to reduce your chances of an HR missing the resume.

The final test of course is to actually send out the resume and see if it gets results. If it does, its good, else its not.

Hmm, sounds like I am getting different advices about the Tools/Languages/Skills section. Some people suggest getting rid of it (which is what I did in the new resume) and incorporating those details in my job duties descriptions, while others favor a separate section. I think I'll leave it as it is, i.e. not separate section, and apply for some jobs and see what kind of feedback I get.

I'll incorporate the changes you guys recommended and post back here for a review.

Thank you all.

PS: Frob, that second game is pretty much done, we've stopped active development on it and just fix bugs whenever they crop up. I am just hesitant to call it Done done just yet.

Hi there,

as a fellow game developer who has also recently gone through the whole job-hunting phase, I also have a few friendly comments to make on your resume.


1) Don't be afraid of formatting and making your resume more presentable. Yes, you're not applying for a designer's position, but the preconception that programmers can't and shouldn't be expected to present things nicely (the old "programmer art" joke) is very archaic and irrelevant today. Personally, the first time I opened your resumes(especially the first version) they both appeared to me slightly as "blocks of text", that would greatly benefit from e.g. some underlining for the section titles ( Objective, Work Experience etc.), more white space between sections, greater contrast between font sizes, and...


2) more distinct/clear separation of logical entities. Once again, how you present things is directly related to how you code and think, and from your resume one may guess that e.g. as a coder you like grouping things together in Manager-like classes, because you're not really sure where to put them. If I'm correct it's unfortunate because it's obvious, and if I'm wrong it's even worse because your resume paints an image that isn't representative of you.

For instance, going back to the first version, I don't think having the "Technical Proficiencies" section was a mistake, it was just over-cluttered and uninteresting to look at - I think it should return, and should only have listed *your main qualities*, in clear indented sub-sections (two or more make it easier on the eye, e.g. "Programming" + "Other skills" ).

List one language/app per line/bullet point, and optionally have in parenthesis your skill level (professional, advanced, basic etc.). Be comfortable with spacing and formatting - this could easily take up half a page and yet be concise, clear and also visually pleasing. Basically, make sure you can clearly identify the separate sections when squinting, because the recruiter will most likely look at it in a similar way (I'm telling you, they always squint!).

This also automatically removes the need to have the Tools+Languages sections under each job, and gives you more space to write a couple more lines about your responsibilities there.


3) Related to the above, I think 1 page here is limiting you significantly. I strongly disagree that more experience should == more pages; if separating things more clearly means adding one more page, do it! A short resume is not always the easier (or more pleasant) one to read, and clean and slick is always preferred to condensed, even if it means flipping through one more page.



As a side-note, it's always nice to include a "cover letter" with your resume(basically your email if you apply over the internets). There you can also *mention* the reasons you chose X company, what you think you can contribute to their creative vision, what you hope to learn while being there, what you'd ideally like to work on (network, graphics, gameplay, low-level hardware specific optimizations?), what your main field of experience is, and finally gracefully provide them with a link to your portfolio.

This presents a small snapshot of your personality even before your resume is glanced upon, and the right keywords at the right time can make a huge difference - I once got called for a programming interview because I had the expression "convey powerful emotions" in my cover letter, because I knew the said company was developing a story-driven game. So do your research, and make sure to slightly change your formula for each company and make it appear more "personal" - copy pasting generic text becomes quickly apparent to even the inexperienced recruiter.

Generally, think of your resume as the one shot you have at capturing your potential employers *interest*. Personality and presentation play a huge role in this - arguably as large as any work experience you can list.


Good luck! :)

Quote: Original post by zanmato
... I think it should return ... one language/app per line/bullet point, ... I think 1 page here is limiting you significantly. I strongly disagree that more experience should == more pages; if separating things more clearly means adding one more page, do it! A short resume is not always the easier (or more pleasant) one to read, and clean and slick is always preferred to condensed, even if it means flipping through one more page.

If he were in Europe and was sending a CV, then I would agree.

However, he is in the United States, so I strongly disagree.

Most European nations prefer a longer, more detailed CV. In that situation the suggestions you provide would be appropriate. In the US, a good rule of thumb is one page for every 10-15 years of relevant experience.

Quote: Original post by zanmato
and optionally have in parenthesis your skill level (professional, advanced, basic etc.)

Don't do that!

I have reviewed many applicants who put that on their documents. Please trust me, it is a mistake.

It is far better to enumerate your skills in terms of projects, tasks, and commendations. Consider these three lines:
* C++ (advanced)
* Developed {title} in C++ and custom scripting languages
* Recognized by my peers and boss as the team's C++ lanugage guru

The first one is a meaningless self-assessment, the second gives an approximate competency level, and the third reveals your talents relative to peers.

Many people will claim to have advanced knowledge but are average. Others are hesitant (or modest) and say they are above average, but are actually extremely skilled. I want to know concrete examples of your skills, not a self-assesment.

Quote: Original post by zanmato
As a side-note, it's always nice to include a "cover letter" with your resume(basically your email if you apply over the internets).

Your email IS the cover letter.

The purpose of a cover letter back in snail-mail days was so that you didn't just send a resume with no other documents, as many people did. The cover letter was to actually tell them you were interested in the job, why you picked them, and so on.

I agree with the contents you suggested, but you don't need the email + cover letter + resume.

Quote: Original post by zanmato
Generally, think of your resume as the one shot you have at capturing your potential employers *interest*. Personality and presentation play a huge role in this - arguably as large as any work experience you can list.

I can tell you have only been on the candidate's side of the hiring process.

We are already interested in finding the best match. Seeing something different when looking through a stack of resumes will almost always annoy rather than captivate.

They are a tool to help us EXCLUDE candidates.

The first pass through the stack, we throw out everyone who is obviously a bad fit. If we want somebody who shipped 2-3 titles for a mid-level engineer, we will throw out those with less work experience, and we will throw out those with much more experience. (Observe that we don't INCLUDE those within the range, but EXCLUDE those who are a bad fit.)

If the stack is still too big, we will continue to EXCLUDE those who are too far from our target employee.

When the pile gets small enough we will call those who remain in for an interview.


The goal is to stay in the pool as long as possible. As such, you should tailor the document to fit what you expect the employer to be looking for. Only then can we start asking the two big questions of "will you fit in?" and "will you do the job well?".