Hey all, I was recently directed to these forums and have since read a plethora of FAQ's and articles which have lead me to the conclusion that I really do need to move out west. Before I decide to move and as I continue my search for a job I'd really appreciate any and all comments or critiques on my portfolio site and resume.

Before you check those out I'll give you a little background on me. I graduated last year from Ohio University where I got a degree in video game development, during that time I was able to take CS and math courses to give me a good foundation in programming. I've made the decision that programming games is what I definitely want to do and have been working a lot with C# and more recently C++ again on small personal game projects. Since graduation I've also finished up an iOS and Android game made in Unity with a small team I put together.

portfolio

resume

That make's a lot of sense, thanks for the reply. Would you suggest I pick and pull certain scripts from each project and host them on gitHub to highlight different areas or put entire projects that show multiple scripts that work together but may contain some single function scripts.

Ripping apart your resume as I read it:

Technical skills. Why do people think this is a good idea? CUT! Prove you have the skills by listing them in the projects you have done. Saying you are "advanced" at a skill means little. Some people think "advanced" means they can do a bit more than hello world, other people feel "advanced" means language lawyer.

Co-Founded LLC, managed a development cycle, etc. If that is the case, why are you looking for a programming job? Possible reframe: Organized and lead the development team of {NUMBER} developers over a year-long development cycle. Other code-specific things you did follow, including links. My BS filter sees this as mostly bogus or extremely inflated. Also, you need to include a time frame.

Art director. Really? WTF? Art Director? For an entry-level programmer? Art director is usually a term reserved for people with 10+ years of experience, the art director usually works closely with the development director and manages all things artistic. My BS filter went nuts with this one. Somebody may have graced you with that as a title, but I seriously doubt it was your job description. Also, where are the dates?

BS in COMMUNICATIONS?! Yet still applying for a programming position. At least you have some sort of specialization in computer science, but I don't see any evidence for it.

After the first reading I would not be bothered to look at your web site.

I'd scrap this entirely and rewrite it. Give me a reason to look at your web site, give me a reason to call you in for an interview.

First line: Objective: Seeking work as a game programmer (or technical artist, I honestly cannot tell) You may not think it as important, but HR needs it to file the paper in the correct bin.

Next education: list your school since you only completed it six months ago. Your bullet points should be projects you completed that showcase skills you can use in the industry. Specifically state languages used on those projects.

Since Pangaea Arctica was a school project, include it here. Your web site has a better description than your resume. Copy/paste it over then touch it up a little bit.

Third: HOBBY PROJECTS. They are not regular full-time paid employment, don't make it look that way.

Legend of Goric. Mark it as a Hobby project, but keep it up top. Again, your web site description is better than your resume description. Don't display it as founding a company; keep it as leading a team of developers. Include dates. As mentioned in the first read-through, you should explicitly state how many people you lead, and what tools and languages you used. Use all but the first paragraph from your website instead of what you currently have on the resume. Include a link.

Dragon's Flight. Copy/paste most of the description from your website into your resume. Include link.

The Island. Copy/paste from your site. Include link.

Next: Work History. Finally a paid job (apparently, but maybe not.)

PORTS Future. Include dates. Include tools used. If that really was your job title (Art Director) I'd leave that job title off completely. Completely replace your resume's description with the one on your website.

Overall I like your web site much more than your resume. Your website isn't too bad and it gets the message across that you want to be a programmer.

Looking at your web site, the work page is good, the prototypes section is good, but your "code samples" page is garbage. It shows you had seven total contributions on three different days. From an employer view that is pretty bad; I want to see somebody who submits code every day. I don't see any code of significance in the few I looked at. Poor commenting, little real content, magic numbers, and so on. Is that really all you've got?

Thank you frob, I think your criticism and advice is exactly what I needed. I've been showing my resume and portfolio to non-programmers and it's seemed to hurt me more than help. I'll go ahead and clarify a few things on my resume in hopes that you or someone can offer more advice:

Reign Legend of Godric is what I consider to be my first real game. I put the team together with two other friends and 3 other students back when we were still in school. When the project started out I was doing mostly producer type task (assigning people work, getting the team together, discussing design ideas, ect.). About half way through the project one of the two programmers on the team flaked out and I decided to fill their role. I became the second programmer on the project and at the same time lead the team through development. This is when I decided that I wanted to pursue programming full time for game development. Because it was such a small team I did everything from 3D art to programming the tutorials. It's obvious from your response that I really need to frame my experience on this project to be more programmer-centric.

PORTS was basically a team of students lead by a few professors who worked on the administrative side of things. I was paid for this and originally started out doing 3D models. When we got more funding the decision was made to increase the team size and I moved into the 'art director' role. With the bigger team size i was more involved with meetings and people that were hired by the US DOE. So on this project I did absolutely 0 programming, so my big question is: is it worth it to keep on my resume / portfolio to show that I can hold a job and work well with others? or should I scrap it?

I think a major step I need to take is to start hosting my current and future hobby projects on git to show more code samples and give a better impression to potential employers about my coding ability. Thanks again for taking the time to rip me apart.