Cover letters are like an application for a college. You list who you are, why you are going to specifically that place (down to a specific person you hope to work with or a specific project), emphasize the important bits with out going into too much detail, and be cheesy a bit saying you forward to meeting them/working with them. That is a general default cover letter! (If you can make someone laugh, you've already done a good job!) For the resume, you're not going to like this, but most of the time people aren't going to spend a lot of time reading your resume. They simply want to know why they should consider you at all and then put you through the first interview phase to know if they should drop you. As a result you want everything to be easily consumable! Personally I would move the skills to the top of the resume and then list your games and then list your education and I would debatably drop the service industry work. The key thing is to tailor your resume to be game oriented. Leave out specifics as those will be in person interview conversations and ultimately don't really matter. (basically i don't care if you created a new zip algorithm that is 10x faster than zip, I want to know why you had to make it and how you came up with the solution, what problems you had to solve, what road blocks got in the way, etc) If you feel your resume will be too small or not long enough, then that just comes down to wordplay! EX: DUNGEON ESCAPE Fight off monsters to find the key and escape the dungeon. This tiny game has way more systems to manage than anything else i've made. [Could be updated to read] DUNGEON ESCAPE (date range showing the start/end of the project) (maybe list the platforms?) - architected robust systems to support a wide range of gameplay features - designed user friendly interfaces - managed the project, break down task, delegation of work, estimated time lines - released game on multiple platforms with a primary focus on Desktops This isn't exactly what I would put, but it's an example how wordplay can grow/shrink a resume!

About the picture: In the US you are required to have no picture. As a hiring manager I was not allowed to consider any submissions that had an image. In Germany, a picture is a requirement (at least it was several years ago). So, it really depends on where you apply.

@Unity3dCollege

Жыл бұрын

Very interesting, just learned something new, thanks! :)

@disobedientdolphin

Жыл бұрын

That's true, but in fact in Germany hiring managers aren't even allowed to make a decision upon a photo since 2006. Of course nobody will stop them if they do but at least you can see a slow change in the right direction. Some companies would even tell you explicitly to not add a photo to your application. I think the less contact you have with customers (like most programming jobs) the less required is a photo.

@GorblinRat

Жыл бұрын

@@disobedientdolphin what's wrong with photos tho?

@reksraven6909

Жыл бұрын

@@GorblinRat The issue with photos is that humans have biases so even if they try to be fair, it is not possible, so they might pick somebody based on their looks or might not pick somebody because they try to counteract thos biases. The more you remove personal info the easier it is to judge your application based on your resume and not because of your looks or ethnicity .

@kristianthaler6525

Жыл бұрын

I never knew that, I lived in Germany for a while so that's why I added it.

Awesome just the stuff i was waiting for from you! thanks dude!

I 100% just needed this about 1 hour after it was posted. Great wizardry and good tips.

Thank you 4 ur opennes:) love yaaaa

this is great, i am gonna rework my resume following the points outlined here. great stuff

Really reads like someone taking a scattershot approach. Might be enough to get a response, but could definitely be improved on. If it was me, I'd tailor it to the position I was interested in, and remove or reframe cruft, as I think you mentioned. In the past, people who submitted a link to a portfolio with art/code/whatever samples were often given extra consideration since you could potentially get a sense of their work.

My best advice is to customize every cover letter & resume for each job you apply for. Read the job spec and highlight some of what they're looking for in your application. It can be very tedious, especially when applying for multiple jobs but recruiters will apreciate not having to read another generic application for the 50th time that day.

@kalobrien486

Жыл бұрын

Great hack aswell is to use keywords they used in the add. Majority of recruiters use tools to auto decline applicants that dont reach criteria set by the software they use.

super helpful, thanks a lot!

The spelling mistakes in the cover letter would be a red flag for me (at least in case the applicant is a native English speaker).

@monkey7218

Жыл бұрын

Why? Are they applying for a job where 100% accurate spelling is required? Being a bad speller has nothing to do with intelligence, competence, or basically anything else other than your ability to spell... it doesn't affect reading ability or comprehension. There might be the rare occasion where bad spelling confuses someone else who is reading it, but plenty of people with great spelling are awful communicators. Seems like it would be a shame to pass by the perfect candidate because they made some spelling mistakes.

@VanLouProductions

Жыл бұрын

@@monkey7218 The reason why spelling mistakes in an application are considered red flags (at least in Germany; not sure how rigid other countries are) is that their presence means the letter was likely not proofread (by someone who knows the language well). Which in turn can be interpreted as anything in the range from "sloppy", "bad work ethics" to downright "lazy". Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but it's up to the person who's applying to make sure their resume is best as it can be. And if it seems you didn't make an effort to accomplish that, you're probably not actually interested in the position in question.

I think that actually having all of the Art & Animation Skills and Software listed in the resume is a great insight into their skillset. I would actually keep those skills in there but also suggest that they look into (or mention on their cover letter) becoming or are eager to learn about being a junior technical artist. They already have animation skills and knowledge, and are eager to learn and apply programming too. As you mentioned about the "Regenerating shield", it's possible they could have created interesting effects and animations using those skills (Again, a working link to their games would be a bonus here . 🤣). So their potential pathway could start as a Junior Dev, learn more programming and design specific skills, and then learn to apply their animation and visual design skills with it.

I just watched Interstellar again the other day, so here's my Interstellar-inspired feedback on the attached letter: "TARS, what's 'Dry Humor' level set to?" "100%" "Go ahead and bring that down to 50." It leans so hard in that direction that some people are going to love it, and some are going to hate it. I'd personally bring that down so both groups of your potential audience can appreciate it equally. If you already know the individual receiving your resume through networking, a referral, etc. and know they'd appreciate it then go for it.

Can you maybe do a video of Good Resume/Portfolio Examples for Game Programmer? Please

Interesting

Jason, VERY HELPFUL video! Genuine question: with some luck, would those qualifications outlined in the resume be enough to land a Jr Game Dev position? I think little 2D shooter and RPG games are very feasible for self-taught devs to make on their own time. I have been studying Web Dev in my spare time for 2 years now and am stuck in the "Am I ready to do some personal programming projects or should I keep doing online courses/tutorials" phase. Would you recommend focusing on finding ANY Jr Dev position as a stepping stone to getting into Game Dev, or solely focusing on Game Dev positions? Huge Thanks to you again for your recent videos with info on getting into the industry.

@DaNiCaRaCoW

Жыл бұрын

Hi. From my point of view, doing personal programming projects is the best (or only) way to actually learn. You don't have to "take a step" from one phase to the other. Doing courses is okey, but you should do them with an objective already in your mind.

Thank you for that interesting video. Could you provide us with your expertise on a CV / CL for a Jr Game DESIGNER job? Thanks.

is the gamedev course pre recorded? it seems very interesting but i am not able to commit to instructor lead courses. You said there are limited seats, so it sounds instructor lead.

The CV seems really light on content and elaborations, is that a good thing? In mine I explain things in more detail, keeping to the 2 page limit.

from point of view of a team leader: - in an AAA, I would require more professional CV - in an smaller team: CV is less important, I would just expect some details of the games he made: did he do the visuals, the logic, UI, or all? any multiplayer, networking experience but those could be clarified in a conversation, job interview, IF the CV makes me curious enough.

Hard to judge the cover letter since I don't know how serious of an attempt it was, but it's way too joke-y if it's for a real position. Did you get a Quest Pro, Jason? Any thoughts?

@Unity3dCollege

Жыл бұрын

I tried ordering it but my order kept failing (it'd say it was good then a few hrs later I'd get an error) Got sick w/ the flu and forgot to try again, definitely want to grab one and review it asap!

Honestly the only reason I watched this video is just because of the cover photo of you as the “tunnel bear” bear (that VPN software ads)…still good video as all of your videos, just zero relevancy to me:)

Can you give an example of what you'd categorize as a really great resume? A resume that'll most likely land you an interview for a junior position. And, is there more to the hiring process than just having the right skills for the position? I've seen quite a few jobs that I am a great fit for, but I either never heard back after applying or was rejected straightaway.

I've always found weird how people talk about Hard Skills in videos: People like you say to focus only on the most relevant skills for the job, but the job offers ask for A TON of skills. Tbh I don't know what's going on.

An interesting question to me would have been if you would consider a person like this (basically the only directly relevant education being self-taught for 2 years while having a main job) for a junior developer position. Building 3 somewhat presentable games while learning isn't a small feat, but is that actually enough for the industry?

I'd be more careful with the grammar in the cover letter. Stuff like "peaking your interest", the word is "pique" not peak, using the wrong your/you're, etc.

"pique" not peak. "you're" not your. As far as the cover letter is concerned, I get that the game dev world is supposed to be fun and all, but I would think a less jovial and properly proofread introduction would be more appropriate.

1. Honestly? The thing that bugs me the most in there are the skills...way to weirdly written and all the way down. So I would put them all the way to the top where "Work History" is. Why not just add a field like for "Games made" and list them like: C# Programmning Language - intermediate Unity Game Engine - intermediate Git/Plastic - intermediate To me, that looks way more readable and presentable since it shows what you think you are best at from the top to the bottom. 2. Work history, if you have any, would be my second field. If you don't have anything, I'd remove it completely since you have 0 skills in the field you are appying to. Why would I care if you worked as a dishwasher and got promoted to a chef? I understand it means you are ambitious and hard working but it is very weird to put it for the job you are applying to. 3. Games made would be my third field, even thought it looks very interesting... it is very bad. You just wrote one liners what, in my eyes, would immediatelly be the least amount of code necesarry for the certain thing to work. My sudjestion? Put a video on youtube what you made is the bare minimum of what I would show. GAMEPLAY, show damn GAMEPLAY! It doesn't matter if you are applying for a unity dev and not an artist put sound, effects, characters, etc. to show that you really are trying hard (instead of your work history). Now, that was the bare minium, I would make git account and make my game there where I would show that I know Git (branching, merging, etc.) as well as Readme file that would show the core mechanics of the game. Now, if you want to go all out, I'd even write the documentation for it on the git website where I would explain how the system works (I did that as well for a single game). 4. The least important one and it should be on the very bottom... Education. Only, some, big companies care about it. Literally, mostly, useless unless you want to show that you managed things in team, like (worked hard on team projects where I was the lead and we had to create...blaa, blaa). Those are my sudgestions. Good luck

Jason, I'm the greatest video gamer of all time, and have never even gotten an entry level position due to Big Tech discrimination against Christians and the news never clarifying the false police report of 48 felonies all of which I was not guilty of after being beaten up by police right after graduating Carnegie Mellon. Clarification: As an Eagle Scout, I love police before, and after. police brutality happens, we should still support police, but I never got a job EVER. So my resume is super hyper, hyperbole to show how screwed up our system is that "Even false accusations of the innocent can destroy your entire career. No lie, all of this resume is true, it will blow your mind. Resume in link after, since AlgoreRythms love to blot out comments with links.

@GoodNewsJim

Жыл бұрын

Seriously, pan my resume if you want Jason. I literally never got a good job in software engineering despite coding since 3 years old in 1981! I'm literally the most experienced game developer on the planet with 150,000 hours coding/design/gaming, #1 world in lots of the most skillful games! Graduated as one of the smartest to attend Carnegie Mellon which is a #1 world school for CompSci. You'd think I could get a jrposition, an intern, something. I once offered Blizzard to pay them 1000$ to be an intern! I'm making that MMO solo right now. I'll piece mail the link if my resume didn't come out in full link.

yeah listing "self-education" is pretty stupid. your portfolio should just prove that. if i saw that and was hiring i would instantly not want to hire you because it's just inherently ambiguous, and therefore deceptive. also no offense but no one cares you worked in restaurants for 10 years. if anything that's a bad thing. overall this is not a good resume and I really don't think this would get you hired anywhere even semi-professionally