CL and Resume Review

Games Career Development Business

Started by otrebor45 September 17, 2015 09:13 PM

2 comments, last by otrebor45 8 years, 6 months ago

otrebor45

185

Author

September 17, 2015 09:13 PM

Hello,

I'm a recent graduate looking for a job position in game industry, I need help on my resume and CL.

I have worked in a number of projects, one was a small scale MMORPG to research about player behavior and movement partners.

In the project I worked on the Graphical User Interface also got exposed to work with Client/server architecture, the client was in Unity3D and the server in Java using smartfoxserver.

Here is the link to some of the posters of the project I worked. http://www.otrebor45.com/ (NOTE: working on a new site)

Here is my current Resume I have: (Feel free to say it ALL, It will help allot)

Name XXX

XXXXXX

XXXXXX

Email: XXXX@XXXXX.com

Cell: (XXX) XXX-XXXX

Technical Skills

· Languages: C++ (4 years), C# (4 years), Java (4 years), C (2 years), Python (2 years), HTML/PHP/JavaScript

· Development Tools: Visual Studio 2012, VS2012 and Unity Profilers, Xamarin/Monodevelop, Xcode, Tortoise (SVN, GIT, HG), Eclipse IDE

· Physics Programming: 2D physics engine, SAT Collision Detection, QuadTree and Octree collision detection, 3D math, Matrixes

· AI Programming: Behavior Tree, State machine, A*, Funnel, Q-Learning

· Misc.: Unity3D (4 years), XNA/Monogame (2 years), NGUI, SmartFoxServer 2X, Pygame, Farseer Physics Engine, Engine Programing

Education

· Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

The University of Texas XXX

Graduated: August 2015 GPA: 3.0

Experience

Undergraduate Research Assistant

The University of Texas XXX, XXX, XX June 2012-May 2015

· Planned and manage multiple projects in game research.

· Design and implemented Graphical User Interfaces for multiple games.

· Created tools and frameworks.

· Implemented a behavior tree system, programed AI in 2D and 3D environments.

· Play test and debug code, give weekly reports.

Projects

Agency (Summer 2014-Spring 2015) (Team of 5)(Unity)

A 2d stealth game to teach programming concepts and improve problem-solving skills.

· AI design and implementation of the agents.

· Created an automatic navigation mesh generator using clipper and poly2tri libraries.

· Implemented path finding in the navigation mesh using A* and funnel algorithm.

Adaptive Learning Agents (Fall 2014-Spring 2015) (Senior Project)(Unity)

A top-down 2D survival/adventure game to be used as learning environment for dynamic behavior tree learning.

· Designed and implemented multiple systems and data representation.

· Designed basic AI actions.

· Combine machine learning and behavior tree to dynamically learn new AI behaviors.

· Winner of the annual Computer Science Student Research Day competition.

Stranded (6 weeks GameDev class Project) (Team of 3)(Python/PyGame)

A top-down 2D action/adventure game

· Implemented a 2D physics engine using SAT Collision detection.

· Created an entity-component-system to be used by the team.

· Implemented levels loading from files with automatic NavMesh and collider generation.

Here is my Cover Letter:

Dear Hiring Manager:

I am writing this letter in regards to my interest in applying for XXXXX.

I have 3 years experience working as Research Assistant and Software Development. I first joined the team as a volunteer member. As a volunteer I perform some debugging and test play, within a month I became an official member of the Game Research Team.

In my instance working as Research Assistant, I worked on a number of projects and learned numerous development tools. The first project I worked was in the implementation of a MMORPG game using unity3D, I got in charge of the graphical user interface and some networking programing. During my time working I got in charge of a mayor project, where I had to design and implement multiple system and frameworks and work with other members to meet deadlines.

Please feel free to contact me anytime via email at xxxxxx@mail.com or via my cell phone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Thanks you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

xxx xxx

When working as research assistant to got to a number of publications: I don't know if is relevant for applying for A software Engineering position, most of the publication are player behaviors and AI related.

Extra information:

This is the job position I am looking:

Requirements

Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering
0-2 years relevant experience
Verifiable proficiency with C#, Object Oriented Design and Design Patterns
Mobile device or Embedded development experience
Architectural experience (client/server preferred)
Knowledge of Linux and Windows platforms
Good communication skills
Ability to contribute to and work within schedules that are assigned

Preferences

Experience with mobile middleware, especially Unity3D
Real-time and Multi-threaded environments
3D and mathematical background
Prior shipped game titles
Ability to work with a diverse and experienced team of developers in a creative and fast-paced environment

Dave Weinstein

1,313

September 21, 2015 07:01 PM

That cover letter is generic. The cover letter needs to be absolutely tailored to the job, and highlight your experience and how it maps to exactly what they are looking for.

frob

46,221

September 22, 2015 02:47 PM

Technical Skills
· Languages: C++ (4 years), C# (4 years), Java (4 years), C (2 years), Python (2 years), HTML/PHP/JavaScript
· Development Tools: Visual Studio 2012, VS2012 and Unity Profilers, Xamarin/Monodevelop, Xcode, Tortoise (SVN, GIT, HG), Eclipse IDE
· Physics Programming: 2D physics engine, SAT Collision Detection, QuadTree and Octree collision detection, 3D math, Matrixes
· AI Programming: Behavior Tree, State machine, A*, Funnel, Q-Learning
· Misc.: Unity3D (4 years), XNA/Monogame (2 years), NGUI, SmartFoxServer 2X, Pygame, Farseer Physics Engine, Engine Programing

Common mistake. CUT THE WHOLE THING. While including the buzzwords is important, the problem is that this section gives no context. What did you do with "2D physics engine"? What did you build with NGUI? What did you do with PyGame?

Instead put the buzzwords in with the project you used them on. That gives you more showing and less telling on your individual projects.

You would work those in to the other projects as details, like so.

· Planned and manage multiple projects in game research. Directed the work of 3 other students and implemented about 2/3 of the code, managed our Subversion (SVN) database for the group.
· Design and implemented Graphical User Interfaces for multiple games. UI relied heavily on XNA/Monogame graphics overlays.
· Created tools and frameworks in C# and Java. Framework included a 3D math library, matrix and vector manipulation, and spatial trees for quadtrees, octrees, and bsp trees.
· Implemented a behavior tree system, programed AI in 2D and 3D environments. Behavior trees relied on nested state machines and Q-Learning AI, written C#.
· Play test and debug code, give weekly reports.

Include more detail on your projects, so I can tell more what you did and less what the team of 5 did. Keep including your skills inside the actual project details.

Have you ever had any other jobs? As an entry level worker, any job history -- even a job of flipping burgers or vacuuming hallways -- shows that you can hold a job and follow instructions. If you have held any other jobs you should include them. As you gain professional work experience those early non-professional jobs will roll off the bottom of the list, but for now they should be included.

I first joined the team as a volunteer member. As a volunteer I perform...

I'd cut that part.

Use the letter to express why you want to work with them. You are using it to explain your past. Try instead to use it to express your future with them. Why will you be a good fit for them? What do you hope to offer them? What will help your combined future be awesome?