From Resume to Interview: How to Land a UX Role in Video Games

First published as an Acagamic Tip Tuesday on acagamic.com. Edited for this archive.

Your resume

If you are a UX professional applying for jobs in the video game industry, your resume needs to make your skills, experience, and results obvious. Tailor it to each position, and put the details hiring managers care about first.

UX design is about making complex information simple, so your resume should prove you can do exactly that. Point to specific projects or case studies where your design improved player engagement, and say how. Put your best work in a curated portfolio.

Use clear headings and bullet points so the important facts stand out at a glance. List any relevant certifications or courses in UX design or game development. Six quick tips:

1. Keep it to one page. Hiring managers skim. A concise resume gets read.
2. Tailor it. Match your skills and experience to the job description, the company, and the kinds of games it makes.
3. Write for applicant tracking systems. Many studios screen resumes with software. Submit a Word or PDF file, include keywords from the job ad, and skip unusual fonts, colours, images, and tables, which the software may fail to parse.
4. State your focus. Open with a sentence about the area of game design or research you care about. For example: “I design game mechanics that work for players with diverse needs, because accessibility makes games better for everyone.” Or, if you have virtual reality experience: “I combine technology and art to build new kinds of play in virtual reality.”
5. Order it well. Put professional experience first, then personal and student projects, then skills and tools. List only the tools relevant to the job. A programming role calls for C++, C#, or Python. Version control, such as Git, is expected in most technical jobs.
6. Mention the games you play. Studios want people who love games. Name your favourite genres and games, and say which mechanics fascinate you and why. That shows how you think.

Your portfolio and website

If you have no professional experience yet, create exercises that show your skills, such as redesigning a game system or running a heuristic evaluation. Be honest about the limits of your work, and explain your thinking and design decisions. Once you have a few strong pieces, build a portfolio and website. Keep both well organized and easy to navigate, show a range of projects, and state your background, skills, and experience clearly. Update them as you finish new work.

Researchers can also start a blog or newsletter to share their thinking about game design and research and to connect with the community.

Your interview

1. Research the company. Play its games, learn its design philosophy, and know what sets its culture apart.
2. Ask questions. Bring thoughtful questions about work-life balance, mentorship and skill development, and the studio’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
3. Explain your thinking in design tests. Show your technical skill, and walk the interviewers through your reasoning, your trade-offs, and how you would adapt to different scenarios.

Your network

Take part in the UX community on platforms such as LinkedIn, Discord, and Slack. Join discussions, share your perspective, and learn from experienced practitioners. Find mentors who will give you honest feedback on your work. Attend conferences, workshops, and webinars, where you can meet other professionals and keep up with the field. Relationships built there often lead to job opportunities.

Your principles

As your career grows, hold on to ethical standards and put players first. Design for accessibility and inclusion, so your work serves people of all abilities and backgrounds. Your goal as a UX professional is to improve people’s lives through design. Keep that goal in front of you, and it will strengthen both your work and your reputation.