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Creating a Resume & Professional Identity
Game Design Studio II
Professor Jim Whitehead
January 11, 2011
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Goal/Reading of a Resume
• Goal of resume► Get you an interview
• How a recruiter looks at your resume► Very fast read, usually a minute or less
• Has specific information they are seeking: major, skills, desired position
► Keyword driven► Looking for a good “match” for existing position► May perform a deeper read after initial triage► Recruiters typically have large numbers of resumes they
need to get through quickly, to find those worth further time/effort
Creating a technical resume: information• The most important pieces of information to convey are (in
this order):► Contact information
• Mail address, email, phone number, website• May want to create professional sounding email name
– [email protected] vs. [email protected]• Gmail preferred to Yahoo, Hotmail
► College degree• Major, graduation date, GPA (in/out of major)• Avoid: high school degree. Just isn’t relevant.
► Directly relevant work experience• Must involve game design, programming, web design, use of
computers, etc.• Relevant internships are a big plus here• Quick test: in a 30 minute interview, would you want to spend any time
discussing a specific job? – If it was delivering pizza over the summer, the answer is probably
no!
Creating a technical resume: information• Projects
► Provide a 3-5 sentence description of every demoable game project you have worked on.
► Provide name of game, genre• Color screenshot would be a plus
► Describe:• 1-2 sentence overview of the game.• Give platform, computer language, 2d or 3d. • List major technologies used (game engine, 2D or 3D art creation
tools)• Describe technically challenging aspects. Did you use Quadtrees for
collision? Write some custom shaders? Create a level design tool? Network multiplayer interaction? Advanced AI, especially using something more than A*.
• Describe your role on the project.• If possible, give a URL to project website• Win any awards? Post to known online sites?• How many people worked on the project? Teamwork skills are highly
prized by employers.
Creating a technical resume: information• Technical skills
► Programming languages. If you know them, list in this order: C++, C, C#, Lua, (engine-specific scripting), Python, PERL, PHP, Java
• Unless you are applying for a social networking game company, in which case Java should be 2nd or 3rd
• Many in the games industry do not like Java
► Tools: Visual Studio, Eclipse, Subversion, Softimage, 3DS Max, Emacs, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender, Game Maker, shader authoring tools, 3D game engines, etc.
• List applications like Office, Powerpoint, etc. last, as you are expected to know these (would be embarrassing if you didn’t)
Creating a technical resume: information• If, and only if, you have space:
► Classes• List only directly relevant classes• Also include significant technical writing classes (good writing is
also highly prized by employers)► Outside activities
• These will usually be conversation starters– Clubs, volunteer experience, church activities
• Make sure to create space to list really major accomplishments– Examples: Eagle Scout, major student government position, very competitive scholarship (e.g., Regents scholarship)
► If you have any publications, list those in a Publications section
• A couple of blog posts don’t count…
Formatting
• Serif vs sans-serif► Use sans-serif font for name, headings► Use serif font (times) for main body text
• Graphic design► Make sure columns line up
Mary T. Slug
Education
Experience
Projects
Technical Skills
BS Computer Science: Computer Game Design, expected June 2009.
505 West Cliff DriveSanta Cruz, CA [email protected]
Formatting
• One side of one sheet of paper► No exceptions► Extremely arrogant for entry level to go over one side
• Font size► Nothing smaller than 10point► Main body text 11 or 12point
• Spelling and grammar► Must be perfect.► You can lose an interview with a single misspelled word► Have several other people review
User testing
• Give your resume to a friend► Give them exactly one minute to read
• Afterwards, ask them for the top 2-3 things they remember
► If these are not the key points you want to convey, make edits!
Crafting a professional identity
• Creating a resume involves creating an identity for yourself as a working professional
► This is one of the reasons creating a resume is hard► You may not think of yourself this way (yet)
• Join professionally-oriented social networking sites► Linked-In► Many UCSC professors already on LinkedIn, have
extensive networks
• Create business cards► Many sites allow you to create professional looking
business cards with low print runs
Crafting a professional identity
• Create a web site that holds your portfolio► A personal URL, website, email is relatively inexpensive► GoDaddy.com, etc. for hosting, ~$75/year► Put up information about your games, resume, photos of
you at work
Interview
• What will you wear?► Should make sure you have clothes that allow you to be
“professional casual”• Key challenge: being professional casual, but with a sense of
personal style► Suit & tie no longer necessary, especially in creative
fields such as games
• How will you talk about your games?► Book with screen shots of your games
• Print screenshots via photo printing service• Good failsafe if your technology isn’t working
► Movie of a game play session• Play back on cell phone, PSP, other portable movie player
