This PORTFOLIO Got Me HIRED in the GAME INDUSTRY

This portfolio got me hired in the game industry as an engine programmer working on Sea of Thieves without having any prior game industry experience.
👉🏼 Join our GAME JAM, $1000 prize pool and over 300 Game Developers: / discord
👉🏼 Subscribe for more game industry videos: bit.ly/3GRLH9K
🔥 These are my favourite game dev resources
👉🏼 My favourite Game Engine Book - amzn.to/3QdnrV3
👉🏼 My favourite Physics Game Engine Book - amzn.to/3b1Ec5v
👉🏼 Every Game Dev needs to have this book nearby - amzn.to/3b1Eklv
👉🏼 Every Game Designer should read this book - amzn.to/3aL84Th
👉🏼 Every Game Designer should have this book nearby - amzn.to/3xsDplg
👉🏼 Check out @The Cherno 's game engine series: bit.ly/3zD4LrI
👉🏼 My Game Dev CV: bit.ly/3xhLbyk
👉🏼 My Game Dev Portfolio: bit.ly/3QmFVCC
✈︎ The longer description
In this video, I go through the game dev portfolio that got me hired in the game industry as an engine programmer. I go through all the projects which I included in my game dev portfolio which helped me get a job in the games industry without having any prior game industry experience. For the most part, this portfolio shows my versatility in working with different programming languages as well as different coding paradigms. Getting a job in the game industry may seem overwhelmingly difficult if you're just starting out on your journey, however this game dev portfolio example and game dev cv example shows that with organized dedication, anything is possible.
My job on Sea of Thieves involved being an engine programmer, which meant I worked on low-level unreal engine code and tool development, I also worked on profiling, optimizations and pipeline tool development.
If you have any questions related to this portfolio that got me hired in the games industry, write them in the comments below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
💢 WATCH OUR OTHER VIDEOS:
🎬 My 1 Year Game Dev Journey - From School to Sea of Thieves ~ • My 1 Year Game Dev Jou...
🎬 This is Why GAMES are BORING ~ • What Makes Games FUN (...
#gameindustryportfolio #gameindustrycv #gamedevportfolio

[@MyGameDevPal]

👉🏼 If you found the video helpful, please give it a LIKE, so it SPREADS TO MORE PEOPLE! 👉🏼 Join the GAME JAM, $1000 prize pool, and a strong project to add to your portfolio (as it'll have relevant learning outcomes!): discord.gg/ujBKV6T7Gk 👉🏼 Subscribe to be notified when we (me and a few other AAA devs ) release our complete guide to becoming a game developer!

[@WRMHOLEMUSIC]

I highly respect people like you who share their way to success! Oh and I can't wait to see what videos you'll make in the future! :) Great job as always!

[@MyGameDevPal]

I really appreciate that 🙏 Hoping my info may be useful for others at the start of their journeys :) p.s you make fantastic music!

[@WRMHOLEMUSIC]

@@MyGameDevPal Thank you so much! :)

[@SolarSoftMedia]

I've been working towards success for 15 consecutive years. 16 hours per day. 7 days per week. (Haven't found success yet). But, you would watch me share my story? lol

[@NewMateo]

Dude wtf you wrote a language in HASKELL!? Of course you got hired at a AAA within a year. Thats next level.

[@MyGameDevPal]

Yeah.... That was probably one of the hardest & most rewarding projects i've completed in my life...

[@NewMateo]

@@MyGameDevPal Ill bet - that's downright impressive. Haskell is such a nice language but its mind bending when you dabble in purely functional languages (compared to object orientated etc.) Great work!

[@Solizeus]

Be insane get insane rewards kind of thing

[@pyrytheburger3869]

I kind of wanted to be a professional game developer before, but after this i rather stay as a hobbyist

[@philharland9591]

The only difference betweeen being a "professional" and a "hobbyist" is you get paid for it imo, plus less BS / crunch as a hobbyist! :o)

[@ponpko4998]

Dont give up! Keep making games!!

[@EdWard-cv5gc]

As someone who is interested in working as an engine developer, I’m really enjoying your video and I am looking forward to the next videos! By the way, it would be really nice to know about your experience with speed reading. I find myself wanting to learn all kinds of things and there is just not enough time

[@ethanwasme4307]

Nail the foundations imo, makes a lot of the learning resources null and skippable

[@ericphelps8116]

Thank you for giving me the motivation to get back into learning programming again. I had pretty well given up on it over the past year.

[@Floky]

Finally got around watching all your stuff! And I have to say, very relaxing and informational videos! Had a very good time 👍

[@marcomd7204]

I just wanted to tell you that you're a great inspiration man. Love your work and dedication!

[@runesskater6102]

Thanks for sharing this with us mate , this is highly inspiring for me as an aspiring game developer

[@hackerculture7391]

THIS IS INCREDIBLE. Please show us your speed reading techniques for programming books / docs.

[@user-hp7qq6xo1g]

yes please

[@aldwynbarry1996]

Thank you for your honest helpful insights on what it really takes to become a game programmer at a AAA studio. Having a degree in computer science is always an advantage. However, I like your organization skillsets.

[@AllDayBikes]

One that that probably helped without realizing it, you're organized. Both online, and in code it seems.

[@mr.bun-bunny8830]

Great!! Now I have to revise my entire resume and do some projects before I apply to Rockstar Games. To be shortlisted, I need to be at least 50% as efficient as you. Thanks for such a great video.

[@voidzz7969]

I love this channel so much. Thank you for the insight!!!

[@MyGameDevPal]

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!

[@AstonJay]

All I can stare at this whole time is the absolute beautiful water simulation of the ocean! 😍 The colors and movements are as close to realistic as I've seen till date. Not sure if you designed the system it runs on, but well done to the creator of that.

[@Nebulaoblivion]

Right?! So beautiful!

[@jakobfalk5045]

Its a game called “sea of thieves” amazing game and i think its first released in 2019

[@admiredgsu1217]

its sea of thieves, if you watch the interview of the ceo of rare he says "The water took for ever to finish, literally, forever"

[@TheAccountExecutive]

Very inspirational. Thank you for sharing and good luck on your journey!

[@MyGameDevPal]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@coldsynergy5767]

Thank you for giving new programmers a insight of getting a job!!!

[@akirawashere]

I would love to hear about your speed reading techniques! The speed that I read technical books has become a bottleneck for learning, so it’d be great to hear about your experience.

[@critio8824]

2

[@whannabi]

@@critio8824 4

[@epiksmokey]

Your video helped me a lot to reorganize myself and try to enter the development area.

[@victorbarros7409]

Thanks so much for sharing. Now I feel more confident about how I am managing to get there

[@ayushsidam289]

Thanks for sharing this invaluable information with us. U got a subscriber 😀👍

[@JaimieX]

Thank you so much for this video! It helps a lot!

[@MyGameDevPal]

Glad it helped!

[@jacob26referibles]

Would definitely love a video demonstrating your speed reading techniques!

[@Magnamura]

A really detailed and informative Video. Kudos to the subtle LOTR Background Music ;)

[@MyGameDevPal]

Thank you very much! Finally somebody noticed ;)

[@varunverma95]

This was so awesome to listen to. U r really talented and an amazing person. But I have a few questions - does geographic location affects recruitment (i personally felt so) and secondly can you share some sort of breakdown of the interview that landed you this job at Xbox Game Studios ? I really wanna enter the industry and I'm developing my own game as well but as of now getting a job is a bit difficult. I get rejections whenever I apply to big companies. Any tips ?

[@macgrimrune6052]

Hell yeah, thanks for sharing your story, Ori!

[@MyGameDevPal]

My pleasure bro, thank you for your continued support since day 1!

[@leohadjinicolaou4184]

Great vid bro, would definitely be interested in the speed reading as a little slide quest ;)

[@MyGameDevPal]

Ask, and you shall receive!

[@lukeolesinski7439]

@@MyGameDevPal Do you think it will be finished soon?

[@Acquahsecsi]

This channel is gonna be big in no time !

[@MyGameDevPal]

I appreciate the kind words my friend 🙏

[@6IGNITION9]

Would love to hear your advice for not just reading faster but also properly absorbing and retaining the material.

[@ennizodev]

Thanks, really give me a lot of motivation ^^

[@yuriflagrare]

After watching this I am strongly questioning if will ever be good enough to get a job on game dev, even though I am a software engineer. Awesome effort btw

[@philharland9591]

Start your own studio, and just write stuff part time... don't forget even big studios (and Epic) started off as a single person! :o)

[@connectiongamestudio]

For the grading system you applied to your skills on your portfolio website. How did you decide on the values? Like did you pick something you knew you were confident at, and pick something you weren't really confident at, and set those extreme values and then just kinda guess where everything else fell in-between? Also! How did you build your actual portfolio website?

[@darksidedani]

So basically if you want to get into game dev and get hired. You got 0 chance unless you planned it out since you were like 13 🤣

[@ma22a98]

Awesome vid bro, so inspiring!

[@MyGameDevPal]

Glad you enjoyed it! Couldn't have gotten to where I am without you

[@OmegaFalcon]

So what you're saying is, I'm fucked

[@vinlypine9198]

That's was my takeaway as well, like how tf is anyone supposed to compete with this? I hope this isn't a regular occurrence in AAA studios.

[@rxge1]

He got an engine programmer position, you could probably land a programmer position with much less of a portfolio

[@vinlypine9198]

@@rxge1 Care to expand on that? I'm not sure I follow. Like I get that a good portfolio will get you a job way easier than any certificate or college can but when people see this it's more discouraging than anything. A vast majority of people struggle with the basics of programming and give up during that time. Seeing that this is what the competition could be on why they didn't get "that job" after their supposedly great interview/interviews could be even more detrimental. I know it's not good to compare yourself to others but that's unfortunately what someone that's looking for an employee does.

[@rxge1]

@@vinlypine9198 engine programmers are almost like head of the team and they are supposed to be the best of the best of their teams, as they give the solutions for problems and make the game work the way it does, and then there's the game programmers who write the solutions the engine programmer gave or fix minor problems in the code

[@konstantynopolitanczykysyk4212]

hey just wanted to ask if you used any paid online courses while you were learning? or mainly youtube college and books?

[@MyGameDevPal]

Hey, I only read books, then watched Cherno and Brackeys free content on yt. I linked all my favourite books in the description of the video :)

[@regal5044]

Yeah, tell more about speed reading, it's very interesting. Signed up for this)

[@loctite417]

This is great info! Subbed. How is your work as game engine dev? Also how important is algorithm for getting hired? Would you say that it is more important than portfolio?

[@lumizera1700]

As a Web (node/react) senior dev, i want to get into game development, already learned a little of unity but i may try to turn over to the game dev job, but in Brazil we dont have many companies that make games

[@donnyjoe7653]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@yalilkhefif-smith6216]

Thank you for the video ! I am currently looking for an intership and your video truly helps ! I was wondering, do you have an artstation? so that I can maybe ask you more questions ?

[@MyGameDevPal]

We have a discord with a channel dedicated to asking me questions, the link is in the description!

[@astonmargolis-dias7089]

siiiick. thank you this is an awesome structure.

[@DesiBrit]

I am 25, and have insomnia, I have recently embraced my insomnia and invest every time I have in Animation, this was enlightening, I will get into Physics engine development, you sir are an inspiration :D , I am 25 but its never too late I just found my passion :D

[@anubhavnegi4230]

your projects are really cool!

[@ashwanishahrawat4607]

Didn't knew having soft side for Robotics was common. feeling better now as I hope I'll get to talk to someone with open heart one day.

[@eryklvl]

Im actually going to be taking a game dev course in a year .dont know what sector yet though.this year im building an art portfolio so probably in the art field somewhe but ye anyways this video was really helpful man thanks a lot+ Its probably soooo cool working on a game like sea of thieves,are you still working on sea of thieves?

[@pixies64]

This just make's me realise how much my uni have fucked me over. I got a first but seeing this portfolio I don't stand a chance of getting a job in the industry guess I'll just do indie in my free time I guess

[@birkmortensen9841]

Dont give up mate, you can do it i belive in you. Plus if you start working as indie in your free time, you can use those as a portifolio as well. This was just his school projects. It dosent mean that it needs to be school projects.

[@TwitchCronos100]

You don't need a big portfolio to land a programming job bro. You're taking 1 random guy hired at a AAA studio level and saying its impossible to get a job overall lol. Your mindset is probably what is holding you back, not the companies hiring. A lot of companies hiring dog shit devs too.

[@vishwahsiva8738]

Dude you studied at Newcastle university !! ,i have already enrolled and going to do Ms in computer Game Engineering in Newcastle from comeing September

[@dankingswell7082]

I'd love to see the speed reading techniques! :D

[@zameerahmed1775]

I liked Ur statement .... "Never ever assume Ur are perfect, ". Ur indeed humble .... U will keep winning. Good luck .. God bless you

[@mrrussellsmusicaladventure5476]

Your voice is so soothing ☺

[@zojirushi1]

Can you make the video on how you absorb computer science and coding books so quickly?

[@doom498]

Can you make a video about speed reading? You have an excellent background

[@MyGameDevPal]

It'll come, i'm currently practicing improving my writing and storytelling skills, it'll come when I'm satisfied with my abilities, hopefully by September! (just in time for school to re-start)

[@bledix3091]

So you actually gotta be a genius to work on the industry, that so cool! Congrats. I'm fucked tho, there it goes 4 years of my life studying game dev :^)

[@birkmortensen9841]

Dont give up. Keep working on it. And as far as i understood it you dont need to be a genius to work in the game industry. I hope you can make it, if you havnt given up yet.

[@birkmortensen9841]

@Mike Brave (Vlog) Yeah i understand how it can be people feel they need to be a genius for this industry but. Fun fact you dont. Remember this guy got a job in 12 month and worked on Sea of Thieves, thats how far he got in the beggining. But remember this some has it easier with things and some have a harder time with things. It can take years for someone to get into the job they want. But the way to make sure that never happens is to give up. So dont give up on your selves. Plus if its because he made that programming langauge yeah it is impressive that he did that. But its not a something everyone has to do because than whats special about that. Every one can make games if they really want to, just work on it. good luck. I hope you make it.

[@ToniVucic]

He was aiming for engine development, which is more math and physics heavy than creating game content such as scripting things for example.

[@xxxbbilyxx]

Thank you for this - I am an artist and a writer who played around with unity as a kid(13 years ago or so) and have decided to go into Game Dev course in uni... watching this made me question everything as programming and code is not my strength, but I learn quickly on the go, can manage well and I’m skilled at gathering info. Now I have a little bit of hope ;;

[@blairfernandes6881]

Don't know about Haskell but this video just got me to question my life decisions!!

[@avivshvitzky2459]

הסיפור שלך מדהים. אני מאוד שמח בשבילך שאתה נהנה ממשרת תכנות כשכיר, זה לא מובן מאליו בכלל חחח

[@anishdeshpande2363]

How do you get through reading programing books in days rather than months?

[@dudenarima2528]

Looking forward to the video about STEM books

[@Ratstail91]

portfolio that won't get you hired - game on the switch, long extensive track record of games including tabletop games, a complete programming language, multiple game engines... I'm not doing well.

[@NotBlazerMC]

I think I am not giving up now...

[@MyGameDevPal]

You got this 💪🏼

[@NotBlazerMC]

Thanks@@MyGameDevPal ! Also that was a "Fast" Reply xD

[@WhoLeb7]

A video about speed reading. Let’s gooo

[@naxxtor]

Tl:DW: step 1: be an absolute machine at building cool stuff. Step 2: write it down. 😅

[@efwefwef6975]

I would love to learn more about speed reading and how to learn faster.

[@AryanSingh-us5ej]

As a aspiring Game Dev, I also want to work for a good company, can you please tell me how much time do i need to give myself to become a successfull game dev?

[@MyGameDevPal]

I believe anybody, if they dedicate themselves to their passion, will thrive, regardless of how long it takes. If you love it, and you really want to do it, organize yourself and get it done, learning is a life-long lesson. Start in small chunks of time, maybe two pomodoro's a day, see if you like it, and then increase gradually :)

[@foqsi_]

I wish I could go to a school in another country. I feel like I haven't learned very much over the past two years of a programming degree path in the USA.

[@LakayFTW]

Do you have any advice for developers who can't stick to an project or lose interest fast in what they're currently working at? Not only on private project but also job related which can be really bad.

[@MyGameDevPal]

Hmm, this sounds like it's a passion issue, I recommend detoxing from dopamine and doing some non-stage hypnosis (listen to andrew huberman talking about this in his daily routine podcast episode), in order to get some clarity on your passion. It's a serious issue, and there isn't a simple answer, but taking the steps to find clarity in your life is step 1 and takes the highest priority. Passion has to come first to maintain interest.

[@LakayFTW]

@@MyGameDevPal Thanks, I am going to give that Podcast a listen.

[@philharland9591]

Been there (many times), you need to try to find something you are REALLY interested in, not just something that you "think" may be successful / popular, and break the process down into bite sized, tiny chunks, day by day by day... at some point you'll look back and go "wow, did I really do all that by myself?". It's always overwhelming if you try to do everything at once. So don't! :o)

[@LakayFTW]

@@philharland9591 Well since my initial comment is a year old i can tell you that i managed to "find my groove". At the moment I have 2 projects that i work on in my free time. The bigger project is broken down in little chunks with priorities and managed over trello and the other one is ja little fun project which i am doing to learn a new framework. I am doing little break periods now and then to gather more ideas. Since both projects are things i am really interested in and wanting to see them completed makes it really easy to work on them. It really helps to have something you can see grow and even share with friends even if its still in development stage. And since i am deeply interested into Homelab stuff i can combine these two projects with it, which makes it even more interesting. Anyway, thanks again for the advice and I hope everyone who reads all of this converstion can overcome their "problem" too.

[@branidev]

You are really smart, you should hire them :D have a great weekend

[@dylansuaris]

Love the LOTR BG Music ahaha

[@aaronwoodhead8771]

how do i even get a job in this section when this is my competition lol

[@Adlevio]

center the anchor on the slope!

[@3xtremeg4merbr98]

I'd love a video about speed reading

[@freddya6377]

Is that the lord of the rings music in the background? haha

[@morkaili]

Well tbh as a progger you have it fairly easy, as so many companies are hiring, even started job teaching, than just hiring finished ones. The most easy it is to get a job, when knowing how to code in assembler. As an artist the opposite is the case... 😅

[@zubairalam2795]

just amazing

[@gabrielloranger161]

could you tell us how you learned how to speed read? and actually understand what you're reading

[@rakimishmc]

Holy shit this was an instant depression injection. I can't even speak English fluently, I'm still confused about Unity's variable naming convention and I'm older than this guy. Pillow here I go.

[@soy_much_fun84]

I'm just wondering why the Lord of the Rings theme is playing in the background

[@Ziscuit]

why wouldn't they hire you? you are a genius!

[@philharland9591]

Wow, I wish my CV was as good, still trying to get hired, but writing my own indie games anyway! :o)

[@MyGameDevPal]

You can do it! Focus on getting better every day :)

[@vinlypine9198]

Props to you but like..... in other words people that didn't come shooting out of the womb with an IQ matching Einstein will have a hard time getting a Game dev job should give up? Or did I miss something. I just started learning C# at 28 should I just give up now? lol

[@TwitchCronos100]

You are aware that most people are just average right? 90% of people won't do as much as this guy did to get hired and they still got jobs.

[@vinlypine9198]

@@TwitchCronos100 No I'm not aware of that hence why I asked the question.

[@MyGameDevPal]

Hey Vinly, My goal with this video was to share a real use case for the online community, as I noticed these were lacking. And to show that with passion and dedication, you can achieve your goals. Yes, I agree, my portfolio was strong, I mean, I dedicated over four years of my life to building it up! Let's clear the air: - Some of my colleagues, and classmates didn't have half the portfolio I did, and nevertheless acquired jobs in the industry (AAA Game Studios). - I know of this, as I helped a handful of friends "beautify" their portfolios before they applied for the jobs, as well as having gone through people's applications whilst on the job. - A lot of what matters in getting a job (anywhere), is being someone that gels with the interview team, as well as a critical thinker whom performs near or above what the interview teams are expecting. I believe anybody, if they dedicate themselves to their passion, will thrive, regardless of how long it takes. If you love it, and you really want to do it, organize yourself and get it done. Sending only good vibes ~ Ori

[@vinlypine9198]

@@MyGameDevPal Thanks for the reply my dude this definitely cleared up some things!

[@itsjoaofrf]

Never quantify "your skills"

[@ajinkyax]

did the Comp Sci and Game Development engineering helped?

[@MyGameDevPal]

I've personally found the experience great, I met a lot of great people and learned a lot about myself and the world around me. With that being said, the game dev masters was super useful wrt making the right connections within the games industry. If somebody wants to be a programmer in the industry, and they're based in the UK (or even Europe), I recommend they go there :)

[@ajinkyax]

@@MyGameDevPal Thanks for cool sumup.

[@sebastianwardana1527]

a computer science assignment and a game? i just never seem to see the next natural progression... in any case... i hope you got a warm spot.

[@Dragoncro0wn]

What does "I would adhere to the coding standards of the framework I was using"? Isn't this basically "I just wrote clean and udnerstandable code"? or am I misunderstanding. Because I don't see how this skill is a rare skill, its the first thing we get taught as we start programming.

[@MyGameDevPal]

Large frameworks come shipped with their own coding standards, for example Unreal Engine has a page stating explicitly what the correct way to write code for the engine is, I always followed those to a T.

[@valen5188]

1:40 when the teacher says its above and beyond whats required then gives you a 94% LMAO. what did you get marked off on?

[@MyGameDevPal]

trust.... he wasn't a very good gamer, so he died a lot, I lost marks for the "difficulty" curve. In hindsight I could have theoretically done some dynamic difficulty adjustments for when stuff like that happened, but it wasn't within the scope of the coursework, so I'm not sure why I lost the marks for it.

[@critio8824]

4:54 yeah interested in that

[@Souless-Monster]

SPEED READING GUIDE PLEASE!

[@olivierbloemendal4309]

my man scored 90%'s straight no wonder he got a jump

[@cory99998]

What do you mean by follow coding standards exactly? How do you know what the standards are? I've been making games for most of my life so I have my own standards that I've cultivated over many years / games, but I actually have no idea how that compares to whats being done in the industry. I would assume I'm not far off but I really just don't know.

[@MyGameDevPal]

Large frameworks usually come shipped with their own coding standards, for example Unreal Engine has a page stating explicitly what the correct way to write code for the engine is, I always followed those to a T.

[@cory99998]

@@MyGameDevPal Oh, very interesting. I've just recently gotten into unreal and will check that out.

[@efwefwef6975]

What type of bachelors and masters degrees did you get? Never mind. The video explains this at 6:02

[@rasithasenevirathne1604]

Hey I found who to trash about hit-reg.

[@harrybouch7907]

Damn, okay! So I have no chance then basically 😅

[@deltapi8859]

This is an impressive CV. But it's the usual suspect. C++, Vulkan and quite a bunch of Engines and Tech Frameworks

[@MipmapGames]

what a beast!

[@reygrau5075]

Great video! May I know how old are you?:)

[@MyGameDevPal]

I'm 26 now, I was 23 (I think) at the time of this portfolio

[@zoravibes]

Step one: Be a genius... 😜

[@YmanYoutube]

God damn, how could they not hire you lol.

[@sebastianwardana1527]

oh boy... the great abusus!

[@Angstjaeger]

How old are you? can a 30s Front End Developer can make to the industry ?

[@MyGameDevPal]

I'm 26 now, I got my job at 23, I think. I believe anybody, if they dedicate themselves to their passion, will thrive, regardless of how long it takes. If you love it, and you really want to do it, organize yourself and get it done!

[@hippityhoppity657]

Yes being humble is a virtue, but putting arbitrary percentages is kinda cringe. Some hiring managers, who usually have no experience in programming and such, will see those numbers and go "I only want 100%!". The numbers both mean nothing and can hurt you. Just name the skills you know, without the percentages. This message is less intended for you, as a person who already has experience in the industry, but more for newbies, so that they can make their portfolios/resumes better. Other critique(s): - In your resume you listed your education above your projects, which might look really nice if you went to a prestigious university, but usually you want to put it below your projects and work experience, as that's what shows your capability in the industry way more. I like that you put your projects' button before your education button in your portfolio though. As a heads up for the new people, you don't have to learn how to make a website. You can use a website builder like Webflow, then pay a small fee to get rid of the ads, and preferably pay for a short, professional domain for it (from namecheap for ex.). Concentrate more on building your projects. It's also preferable if you build separate websites for each project so that it's easier for HR to try them out, make them look professional-like. HR people aren't that capable / don't want to bother on trying to understand how Github works to get your project to run. Employers also usually like to see a Linkedin account. Good luck, person reading this.