Never land your dream job

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

In partnership with 

We all have that one industry we’ve idolized. For me, it was to be a bridge engineer. For others, it’s film, fashion, healthcare, literature, aerospace, or law. 

These industries have this magnetic appeal, promising excitement, creativity, or in some cases, the chance to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

However, many of these careers offer a harsh wake up once you’re actually in it. 

Wanna work on movies? Get ready for bad pay. Want to treat people? Get ready for long hours. And I could go on…

But one of these truly takes the cake for being the absolute worst industry that crushes anyone’s hopes and dreams. 

One that’s bigger than music and film combined. 

And yet, people flock to it like moths to a flame.

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Game over for your dreams

Gaming industry has no shortage of people desperate to work in it. Passionate gamers, developers, and creative minds see it as their dream job, and companies know it. 

Which means they can get away with, well… a lot.

Let’s start with the pay. It’s bad. And not just in small indie studios. 

Even at big companies like Activision Blizzard, workers have reported skipping meals to make rent. One employee actually wrote they used the company’s free coffee as an appetite suppressant as a part of their money-saving measures.

QA testers, those who test games to identify bugs and systemic glitches before they get released, are notoriously underpaid–often paid minimum wage.

The CEO, Bobby Kotick ​​(a known sexual-harassment enabler, btw), eats well though. He took home $154 million in 2020 alone.

Then there’s the hours. Especially during crunch periods—which are those weeks or even months (sometimes years) before a game is released when developers and testers work extremely long hours to meet the deadline. Often unpaid.

And it’s not rare, pretty much every big gaming company does it. Take Rockstar Games, for example. During the development of Red Dead Redemption 2, employees reported working up to 100 hours a week. That’s 14 hours a day, seven days a week.

The mental and physical toll crunch periods have on workers are massive. 

A former artist at Activision even reported that one of his coworkers suffered a heart attack at his desk during a particularly brutal crunch period. A former BioWare developer said that during the making of Anthem he would frequently find a private room in the office, shut the door, and just cry.

And you might wonder: If it’s unpaid, why do they even do it? Surely it’s optional, right? 

Technically, yes—but in reality, not so much. Companies love to call crunch “voluntary,” but when skipping it puts your job on the line, is it really? (I would call that manipulation.)

But okay, so the pay sucks, and the hours are brutal. At least the job has to be stable, right? Wrong again.

Press start to find a new job

Since 2023 alone, over 20,000 workers in the gaming industry have been laid off. 

We’re talking about some of the biggest names in the business, like Epic Games, EA, or Ubisoft. Microsoft cut 10,000 jobs in 2023—the same year their profits went up by 20%. Activision Blizzard fired 800 people in 2019, right after announcing “record-setting” revenue.

And here’s the weird part: it’s not like the industry is crashing. Far from it. The gaming market is projected to hit $321 billion by 2026. (If you’re confused, I’m right there with ya.)

So why all the layoffs? 

Well, it’s mostly about keeping shareholders happy. The mere announcement of mass layoffs can cause a significant jump in a company’s share prices— which creates a perverse incentive to fire as many people as possible. (Though this isn’t a problem unique to the gaming industry.)

PS: The 20,000 people laid off since 2023 is likely a huge underestimate. Gaming companies love to hire temporary contractors, often with the promise of future work and benefits that never materialize. When the project ends, they simply don’t renew the contracts.

Technically, it’s not a layoff, so it doesn’t show up in the stats. Convenient, right?

Some achievements should be left un-unlocked

The gaming industry proves two things: 

1. Even the coolest, most exciting jobs/industries can be absolute nightmares.

2. Passion alone doesn’t pay the bills—or protect your sanity.

There’s something I have to admit—I never fantasized about working in HR (tech). In fact, I used to think HR was where ambition went to die. (I don’t anymore, obviously)

My dream was to be a bridge engineer, building towering structures that would stand for centuries (or, you know, at least long enough to look impressive). 

But, as you can see, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Here I am, years later, and you know what? I’m actually pretty damn happy.

Meanwhile, I know people who landed in their exciting “dream” jobs and industries—and yet, they’re some of the least content people I know.

So, maybe it’s not such a tragedy if you don’t land your dream job. (What’s the saying? Never meet your heroes?)

Sometimes, the jobs we never fantasized about turn out to be the ones that let us live the life we actually want. 

And if you want great working conditions and a solid paycheck? Aim for a job nobody else wants to do. 😄 (Or maybe just steer clear of gaming)

Handpicked remote job of the month: Engineering Manager at GitLab

$132k-$282k annual US base range

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• 🏡 All remote, asynchronous work environment

• ⏰ Flexible Paid Time Off

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• 📚 Growth and development budget

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Parental leave

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• 🌟 Professional Growth

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Random piece of career advice

Getting career advice from experts is great, but sometimes you can’t help but wonder if it’s all just buzzwords and polished phrases. It’s refreshing to hear what actually worked for real people.

Reddit and other public forums can be valuable sources of first-hand experience in all things resume. Plus, many posts are submitted by actual hiring managers.

We've painstakingly sifted through countless subreddits, all dedicated to resume writing and career tips, to save you the trouble.

Now, we present to you the crème-de-la-crème of Reddit resume advice:

1. Use a single column layout to pass the ATS. This reduces the risk of your resume being incorrectly processed or rejected

2. Don't forget to name your resume file appropriately. A good file name for your resume could look like this: "PeterStones_Resume_ProductManager.pdf".

3. Keep your job descriptions short with bullet points and action verbs. Under each work experience entry, list 4-5 bullet points underlining your most notable responsibilities and achievements. And open the said bullet points with action verbs.

4. Use numbers to quantify your achievements. This allows recruiters to better gauge your abilities; and adds more weight to your words. 

5. Less is more for both word count & job applications per day. Recruiters prefer resumes that are focused, relevant, and straight-to-the-point.

Today’s newsletter is special. Why? 

Well we’ve had a bit of a mishap with our intern who was supposed to set the Black Friday discount. Accidentally, she’s set it a bit too high, but there’s nothing we can do about it now…

So I might as well share it with you instead of the usual discount. 

Here’s the deal: 64% OFF Kickresume Premium with the code blackfriday64 🎉 (valid until November 28th)

Catch you later! 

Peter