My name is Arseney and I’ve been working professionally in Unity for the past 5 years.
I live in Israel, where I am in relatively high demand. Companies see my CV and contact me almost 100% of the time.
I can afford to demand a relatively high salary, bargain and feel like many companies would really need someone with my experience and set of skills.
I would like to relocate to either the US or Europe, but for some reason, none of the companies I’ve sent my CV to, would even contact me to schedule an interview.
If there is someone here working in a gaming company (or other tech company that uses Unity) and could give me a concrete answer as to why I am so unemployable, I would very much appreciate it.
I’m assuming it’s either the fact I would have to relocate (In which case, maybe I should first relocate and then start looking again, which is risky), the fact I don’t have a college degree (which is a problem, since I don’t think I want to spend 3-4 years learning things most of which I know), or the fact that compared to Israel, my experience is impressive, but in the “real world” it’s really not.
I certainly can’t speak for game dev hiring, although I’ve hired and reviewed resumes in other industries in the US.
The relocation would be a big deal, I would imagine that many hiring managers would assume you were looking for remote work. Sponsoring relocation and visas are expensive and complex, I would not expect many/any small shops to be willing to think about it. From my experience, most work based visas happen through specialized firms who are experienced dealing with these issues and usually subcontract out workers.
Perhaps this has been changing and my info is out of date, or perhaps the game industry is different - someone more experienced with the particularly would have to correct me.
The education section on the resume is also a little weird. Personally I would remove that section.
Not too long ago I had somebody with a lot of experience hiring critique my resume- I recommend it if you know somebody similar.
Most of his critiques had a lot to do with how I thought a resume was just an informational document of my work history. It’s actually more of a marketing flyer. Instead of talking about what kinds of things you did, talk about what you brought to the table.
“I had to manage several projects” doesn’t actually make the reader go “This guy can manage people!” Instead, you could say something about how/why those projects benefited from having you at the helm. Results are more powerful.
I’d break up the freelancing section to show that you did stuff, rather than just saying “I did a bunch of stuff for 3 years, It involved this and this and this”.
Brag. You’re selling yourself as the answer to somebody’s problems, so sound like you are a man who has the answers. Don’t lie of course, but you can say things like- “After my time here, I consider myself to be an expert at X. I took the lead on a project involving Y and the end result exceeded our expectations. I’m grateful that I got to work with a very skilled team on a project, and thanks to what I learned from that experience, I’ve become competent in Z.”
Use action language like “took the lead.”, “Solved problems”, “Launched the product”. You’re a super hero, you do things and you feel good about them, and you want to do more things and feel good about those too.
Its okay to leave stuff out- ideally, somebody can get all the info they need in under 5 minutes. The point is to get called into an interview where you can get more in depth, but it’s important that they know that there is more depth to be had. It’s not a bad thing to leave them asking questions, as long as the question isn’t “why would I hire this person?”
Like @frosted it’s hard to say really “why” because different sectors and different companies want to see different things. The companies I’ve worked at (non game dev) wouldn’t even take your resume seriously because it is so thin. These folks want to see a rich history with plenty of details. And this is why my current resume has 5 pages listing job history and detailing what I actually did. All depends on how detail oriented / thorough they are on resumes for the screening process I’d guess.
Again I don’t know about the game dev industry but seems like hiring managers would want to see some meat. Some details.
From what you are saying, I understand that the “one page resume” rule is false. (I’ve read about it from several sources). I will try to expand my resume, like you’ve said, and add more detail as to why I am the right man for the job.
Regarding not having a degree, I know that here in Israel it’s not a problem (90% of the time), but I would really love to hear how it is in your countries.
Not having a degree is not a problem, unless it is.
A degree is really a testimony of your knowledge and preparedness from an institution made up of people whose job it is to know if you measure up to a certain level or not.
It’s kind of like if you could walk into an interview and have a group of industry veterans go in front of you and give their vote of confidence in you. That’s pretty valuable, but it’s not irreplaceable.
Just like you might not use everything you learned in high school, not every job will actually use all the stuff you learn in college- but if you have a degree, they have to pay you like they do.
All you have to do is demonstrate that you:
) Know ~75% of what they need you to know. (Everybody has to learn something on the job, even if you don’t fit all of the requirements, you might be a better fit, or come at a better price than someone who checks all the boxes.)
) Are a good fit for their team (Schedule, personality, values- all this stuff is important to people.)
) Are worth investing in (Hiring anybody is a large up-front investment/risk. They want to know that you’re going to pay off down the road. Maybe they want somebody they can grow into a more senior position in 3 years, but if you plan on starting your own company in 4 years, that might not be worth the investment for them.)
You can make up for the lack of a degree or supplement your degree in a lot of ways:
The best way is with working experience and endorsements.
You can show a dedication to your own education by listing the free online courses you’ve taken, or the books you’ve read. (College is expensive, and time consuming. People can understand why you don’t have a degree. But it’s important to show that those things won’t stop you from pursuing what you really want.)
You can show productivity/creativity by showing off personal projects you’ve done in your spare time.
You can show competency by linking to public repositories where they can review examples of your work.
You can mention your involvement in online communities and show that you have a history of providing consulting advice, reviewing/providing feedback on other people’s work.
Make sure not to just write more, write stuff that matters. After reading the page I felt like I know basically nothing about you or your skills. I’ve worked freelance my whole life, so take this with a fist full of salt, but when I consulted on other people’s applications I usually recommend to put in plenty of things they want from the job, that also make them look good. The idea is to establish a situation where you aren’t begging for a job, and rather you are looking for a company that meets your strict criteria for where you’d be willing to work. And make sure that the qualities you demonstrate through the things you want out of the job align with the qualities they are looking for in you, to get a mutually beneficial partnership going. I theorize that this kind of approach sounds less like you’re bullshitting about what you can do, because it’s no longer as much “part of a sales pitch”.
Also do proper research on the company and demonstrate that by highlighting what you like about them and why you’d think they’re an excellent fit for what you’re looking for. Never give them the feeling of being only your second choice.
Israel has a ton more job availability than western nations do, due the fact that there’s not many people competing for jobs in the tech sector there vs for example, America, so you will be competing against a lot more people than your native country.
That’s overall though, so I would just back up what LaneFox said, and try agencies…
In the UK employers tend to be specific what they want and hire a very specific skill set, such as a programmer specialising in networking for example. Your resume seems very generalist and doesn’t contain much.
There’s thousands of graduates with degrees being turned down in my country because they don’t have proper experience. Pretty much anyone can get a degree. I won’t say it’s worthless as it shows determination to at least learn something. But degrees in the tech sector? nah. Unless it’s hardcore maths, then it’s a big yes.
What do you specialise in? Have a strong core specialisation and branch out wide to other areas.
The usual format for a CV is 2 pages, with a lot more information that yours contains. I also suggest having 2 CVs rather than the developer / game designer. Have 1 CV for developer roles that says developer, the other for game designer roles that says game designer. Tailor everything to the role.
Game dev roles often get a lot of applications (for example, the last time I had a designer interview, apparently they had already had over 500 applications for that 1 role, with 80+ more arriving each day, but I was only the 4th person they considered for interview), so they will first be checked by HR rather than someone technical. The job posting will have required skills listed. The HR check will look for a set of keywords based on that (e.g. C#, Unity). Any that don’t have those will be rejected. So have all you skills listed in an easily digestible form, cross checked against the job advert.
One thing to always remember. The purpose of a CV is to get you an interview, not to get a job. The interview is where you get the job.
Your values can be put on display in the things that you’re seeking from the job. “I want to bring fantastic worlds to life” is different than “I have a passion for designing unique virtual experiences.”, is not the same as “I believe well implemented mechanics are the backbone of a good game.”
Your personality will come through your writing, and your communications. Your cover letter will give a better example of your personality than your resume.
Your schedule is likely something that will be saved for the interview, unless you have unique needs.
Indeed. Everywhere I have worked, when we seek staff, it is specific roles with specific skills (unicorns aside). “Unity Developer” isn’t really specific or a real role. Everyone is a Unity developer. Another thing that we always look at is what you have done. We’ll look for a list of shipped titles and and what your role was on those. A lot of resumes start with that. If you are going to list several years of freelance, you should list projects you did there. As others have mentioned, if you are looking for relocation, it is expensive to relocate a developer, and they are going to be highly specialized/skilled. I would work on strengthening your portfolio.
The Wix ad on top of the page and also the wix favicon make the website seem amateur imo. Otherwise I think your portfolio is good, it has tons of stuff which is fantastic.
