I've completely redone my resume and was hoping for more feedback:
Resume PDF

I also added another project to my portfolio:
Raid Invite Organizer

I would love feedback on both projects and my overall personal website:
http://www.matthewenthoven.com




I love brutal feedback - the harsher the better. The real world is going to throw my resume in the garbage if there's a single error or headscratch. Anything you can say to prevent that from happening is much appreciated.

Quote: * Maya (an application), MS Office (multiple applications), and OpenGL (programming API) aren't programming languages. Why are you listing them under programming languages known?

You're right, I should reword that. I previously had it listed as "computer skills."

Quote: * The amount of languages listed under language known - Seriously, you have multiple years of experience with each of those languages?

Yes. Cocoa/Objective C was the only real "stretch" there - I've removed it.
- I was involved in web software with BigMachines and used &#106avascript, Html, Java, PHP, XML, XSLT, HTML, and MySQL on a daily basis.
- During school, I use C, C++, OpenGL, C#, and Scheme on a daily basis.
- ACM Club meets to practice programming competitions using Java, C++, and C3.
- When I'm not in class, I'm probably doing something in Lua/XML, OpenGL, or Maya to improve my portfolio and projects.

Quote: * Why is your non-game development related work section larger than your game development experience?

I'm a graduating senior at Northwestern University. My non-game development section demonstrates my impacts to the company that I worked for. While the skills might not all be directly transferable, the impacts and work ethics are "good signs."

Employers commented on this at the career fairs I went to - they don't expect new graduates from elite universities to have been involved in the games industry before. It's not realistic to think that every applicant has already had a job at a games company. My game development work is a key element of my resume, but it's not necessarily the "entire story" and is certainly not the only thing that HR will look at.

Quote: * The game development section should be a much larger portion of your resume. See how your non-game development related work experience is bolded, but your game development stuff isn't? That doesn't make any sense.

I should probably play around more with bolding. However, I do like the clean look of my resume. Bolding risks deteriorating that.

Quote: * Unless you're applying to a position at a company that anything to do with planes, why are you filling up space by breaking down your pilot training?

It's a great conversation starter in interviews. Most HR people think "oh, that's cool." It lets people know I'm human with real hobbies - not just a closet gamer.

Every resume out of business school has an "additional information" section with things like "professional skydiver" or "4th grade soccer coach."

Do you think anyone is going to look at "Pilot" and think "wow what an idiot, I can't believe he put that on his resume" and have THAT be the reason that they throw it away? I don't think so.

Objective is unfocused. What do you want? Designer? Programmer? Manager? You can even cut the big heading and just say something simple like "Game Programmer".

Education does not list transferable skills. Read previous posts and FAQ for details, but in a nutshell, listing details of your projects is good, listing "Data structures" or "intro to theory" is bad. Every student takes a data structures classes and the like. Most students just zone out and listen to the professor. Did you do anything noteworthy? If so, list it. If not, I don't care about it.

You finish in 8 months. You're on the early side of sending out applications (good) but because it is early, don't expect much from employers for another few months.

Lists of skills and programs are useless to employers. Self-assessments are also meaningless. Some of your items are useless (programmers don't need to list familiarity with office programs). Either state what you did with it in projects or don't state it at all. This is in FAQs and other critiques.

Game experience is a good start, but not enough. Expand it. It is very dry reading right now, and does not drive me to your site. Make it so compelling that I must look at your site after reading the list. Repeat the URL in it. Also state the tools and technologies used for each item; it goes along with showing me transferable skills.

The job title "Product Manager" seems very suspicious after two summer internships. I suspect either the company is so tiny that job titles are meaningless, or the project was tiny enough that it doesn't really apply. I would keep all three as "professional services intern". It is a mark in your favor that they brought you back each year. Rather than saying you used some languages, specify the languages you used in each segment. Also state how many people were involved in each. "Product Management" over two other interns is different than the same title over 15 FTE employees.

The ACM and programming team are much nicer this time.

The pilot not as glaring to me this time, and looks like a simple conversation handle rather than a selling point. Much improved if you decide to keep it. I'd prefer you use things that actually promote your career-related skills rather than conversation handles to use during the interview, but it is your choice. It may help make you more memorable in their hiring discussions ("Oh, you mean the pilot") but it can also potentially work against you.



It would survive a brutal first-pass culling from me. If you make me interested enough to look at your web sites I would put it over into a pile of 'must consider' applicants.

The first thing that strikes me on your resume and site is that they are far too wordy. I apologize, (you did request posters to be harsh) but it's like reading a book on either. An HR representative is not interested in spending 15 minutes on your resume. They want to zip through it and throw it into the No or Maybe pile. So be very concise and to the point. Honestly, I got bored half-way through and didn't finish reading your resume.

The related courses are good. They reflect formal training even though your degree is not necessarily a game degree.

Your GPA isn't outstanding so there's no reason to advertise unless they ask, which most don't. I would say 3.5 or more is enough to brag about.

Bold your computer skills and bring them to the front, they're buried right now. You might want to give them their own section, especially since your experience in those programs will easily be half the reason you get hired.

Again, be more concise in your bullets. There is no reason for you to have more than five bullets on a single topic or for a bullet to be more than one line (maybe two) long. Also, always start a bullet with an action word. I.E. don't say, "I did a bunch of awesome stuff" rather say, "Completed awesome stuff." Additionally, try your best to throw in the popular buzz-words for your action-words. Look through several job descriptions for jobs you might be interested in for what those might be. You will notice a pattern of key words repeating through the descriptions.

The objective is unnecessary, but up to you. Some people like it, some don't. If you need the room don't be afraid to cut it.

The order seems good. Keep either education or key skills at the top.

Move your name and contact to the right. We naturally look to the right first (think of flipping a book).

That's all I have for now. I'll look through your stuff again if you update any of it. Hope this was helpful for you.