Elysian Shadows

Hmm..

You look like your qualified for a job I've been hiring for...

Take Marcel to the vet and have him put down.

In return I shall give you one of our finest cigars and a free trial from our finest hooker...AKA eatcomics

In all seriousness resume is short and to the point =]

To all of the people arguing about lengths: I'm keeping it at two.

I have been very torn on the matter. The truth is that my 3.2 GPA and my performance in academia does not adequately reflect my qualifications. I have never been more than a slightly-above-average student. That last page is the "real" portion of my resume, my real experience, and my true qualifications. I'm not going to sell myself short just because I spent most of my college time working on my own projects.

If some place decides to shit-can my resume just because I felt like I had a bunch of other experience worth mentioning, so be it. I wouldn't want to work at a place like that anyway. I have earned the respect of my teachers and peers through my work OUTSIDE of the classroom, and goddamnit, I'm going to represent myself as such.

I'm getting a letter of recommendation from my previous employer and my senior design teacher (who is pretty well known among most local engineering companies).

dandymcgee wrote:That's awesome.

I can't emphasize enough how humbling it was to work with a group of super intelligent, super ambitious people with the same goals and dreams I have. I got to see how to turn "what you do in your free time" into a marketable business. I got to see how to present projects such as "video games" and "virtual simulations" to both academia and the corporate world. I was treated as an equal and was able to know anything I wanted to know about the company's financial status or current standings. A lot of the Engine/Toolkit content of the new site was influenced by DigiRad...

Combine that with the full support they have always given Marcel, me, and Tyler for the Elysian Shadows project... Free Macbooks... Free iPads. I'll never be able to repay that. I hope to introduce you guys to a bit of Digital Radiance and have them do some commentary for Adventures in Game Development Chapter 18...

GyroVorbis wrote:If some place decides to shit-can my resume just because I felt like I had a bunch of other experience worth mentioning, so be it. I wouldn't want to work at a place like that anyway. I have earned the respect of my teachers and peers through my work OUTSIDE of the classroom, and goddamnit, I'm going to represent myself as such.

Sounds like damn good reasoning to me. I'm generally annoyed by people telling me how they think my resume could be insignificantly better and how I should represent myself to the industry. What I've been doing has worked pretty damn well for me so far, why should I start changing the way I do it now? If a company really is that anal about having the education section before the work experience section, wrongly bolded text, or a missing bullet point, then I can't imagine trying to document my projects by their standards.

GyroVorbis wrote:I hope to introduce you guys to a bit of Digital Radiance and have them do some commentary for Adventures in Game Development Chapter 18...

It would be hella cool if you could arrange that.

You're doing it right, Falco. School performance does not matter (aside from actually getting the degree indicating you are a genuine graduate). During my interview at my current job, I was never once asked about my homework, grades, classes, etc. They were way more interested in my side businesses, personal projects, and jobs. Even though this job never touches 3D graphics, they were all over my code sample written in OpenGL. They loved what I had accomplished, and that sample was not for a specific game, job, or anything! You absolutely should boast about your various work including all things relating to Elysian Shadows.

The only point I was trying to make earlier was that you need to be more CONCISE. You don't want to write detailed logs of everything you did. Emphasize the important stuff; you'll get your chance to go into major detail in the interview!

Just wanted to say your resume is very nice, I'm quiet envious I need to pull together a proper portfolio.

If you're willing to move to the Seattle area, we've got a ton of positions opening up at MS. These would be .NET development positions, creating tools and technologies related to games testing (mostly Xbox but there's the occasional PC and Windows Phone stuff). This would be a huge growth opportunity and despite my dreams of running away to become an independent game developer, I'd be lying if I said I didn't value the experience I've had there.

While creating game test tools may sound kinda boring, it's not [always] as bad as it sounds. And the pay and benefits are above average for the games industry. There are a ton of benefits even beyond the usual; we get a free safaribooksonline.com subscription, free MSDN subscription, major MS software discounts (if you even need it after the MSDN subscription), bus pass, private wifi bus etc. We desperately need more people who actually get things done and cut through the corporate B.S.

You're Hired!

GyroVorbis wrote:

TheBuzzSaw wrote:(1) Reduce your resume to one page if you plan on submitting it places.

#1: eeeeehhhh....

I'm with Buzz on this one. My resume is one page.

I conduct interviews from time to time and I'm always impressed with a single-page, concise resume. When reviewing a prospective employee's resume, I focus on their objective, education, awards, and noteworthy feats. Once I see a rundown of their technical knowledge, I don't really need to hear their day-to-day duties for every single job. I'm looking for consise, memorable achievements - where the person was faced with adversity, they acted with courage, and they overcame the odds to become a hero for their employeer.

(just by my .02)

trufun202 wrote:

GyroVorbis wrote:

TheBuzzSaw wrote:(1) Reduce your resume to one page if you plan on submitting it places.

#1: eeeeehhhh....

I'm with Buzz on this one. My resume is one page.

I conduct interviews from time to time and I'm always impressed with a single-page, concise resume. When reviewing a prospective employee's resume, I focus on their objective, education, awards, and noteworthy feats. Once I see a rundown of their technical knowledge, I don't really need to hear their day-to-day duties for every single job. I'm looking for consise, memorable achievements - where the person was faced with adversity, they acted with courage, and they overcame the odds to become a hero for their employeer.

(just by my .02)

What if your achievements are more than one page

My dad said that they had this guy send in a Cover letter talking about all the leadership skills he has obtained in his military back ground playing Call of Duty.

avansc wrote: My dad said that they had this guy send in a Cover letter talking about all the leadership skills he has obtained in his military back ground playing Call of Duty.

LOL, that's fucking priceless. Please tell me he got the job, i'd hire him just for that...

MrDeathNote wrote:

avansc wrote: My dad said that they had this guy send in a Cover letter talking about all the leadership skills he has obtained in his military back ground playing Call of Duty.

LOL, that's fucking priceless. Please tell me he got the job, i'd hire him just for that...

No, they figured he was just doing that to keep cashing in on unemployment.

avansc wrote:

trufun202 wrote:

GyroVorbis wrote:

TheBuzzSaw wrote:(1) Reduce your resume to one page if you plan on submitting it places.

#1: eeeeehhhh....

I'm with Buzz on this one. My resume is one page.

I conduct interviews from time to time and I'm always impressed with a single-page, concise resume. When reviewing a prospective employee's resume, I focus on their objective, education, awards, and noteworthy feats. Once I see a rundown of their technical knowledge, I don't really need to hear their day-to-day duties for every single job. I'm looking for consise, memorable achievements - where the person was faced with adversity, they acted with courage, and they overcame the odds to become a hero for their employeer.

(just by my .02)

What if your achievements are more than one page

That's why I said "concise." If you've got a number of achievements, pick the top 2 or 3.

how do you fit the following on 1 page

contact details (minimum - name,age, phone, email)
skills matrix / accreditations (or whatever else)
employment history (last few jobs)
education (at least the name and details of your tertiary or highest level of education)
references (2-3 references with name position company and contact details)

it would have to be very concise

k1net1k wrote:how do you fit the following on 1 page

contact details (minimum - name,age, phone, email)
skills matrix / accreditations (or whatever else)
employment history (last few jobs)
education (at least the name and details of your tertiary or highest level of education)
references (2-3 references with name position company and contact details)

it would have to be very concise

references go on page 2

k1net1k wrote:how do you fit the following on 1 page

contact details (minimum - name,age, phone, email)
skills matrix / accreditations (or whatever else)
employment history (last few jobs)
education (at least the name and details of your tertiary or highest level of education)
references (2-3 references with name position company and contact details)

it would have to be very concise

Your contact details can be very nicely compacted near the top.

Skills matrix? You mean an actual full blown grid? Easy! Drop it. Use a concise list instead.

Employment history should definitely be one of the more prominently featured sections. Past work trumps all.

Education should take up very little space too. You don't need your last three schools. A clear indication of where you stand academically is all you need.

I never put references on my resume anymore. At least in my experience, if employer's want references, they'll ask. At most, I put "references available upon request" on my resume.



You have to remember that there are still interviews. The resume is simply a first evaluation to make sure you are a proper fit for the position. You can go into gruesome details during the actual interview. Trust me, I've seen fantastic resumes that fit nicely onto one page. If you're trying to fill two pages this early in the game, you definitely have excess fluff that only you perceive as necessary. If you're asking "how can all this fit", you have a distorted view of what information is actually relevant.