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Coming out of college soon, I am working on my resume. I have for quite a few years, and continue to run, a gaming community, and through it have thousands of active players (about 2000 regulars who attend events weekly). All members within my community have passed 30 minute interviews just to be a part of it.

I have made a healthy profit from it, and have gained quite a bit of my programming experience through it. I think there is a positive - the employer would see my ability to create something successful, but it might make them blow me off as a "gamer". Beyond that, I'm not sure I want them reading through my forum posts, of which there are about 6,000 made by me on the website. I'm sure there could be some unprofessional ones in there!

Looking to work as a professional programmer in the US, is this something I should list on my resume? Is it more likely to hurt my chances? How could I spin this away from "games" to being considered real experience, especially in a company with older employees?

Edit: I am specifically asking about the pros and cons I listed above. Please do not downvote as duplicate simply for lack of reading.

WillSimon
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  • If you don't want your employer to see the posts you've made on the forum, don't mention the site. – Jones Jul 14 '17 at 18:30
  • It depends on what do you mean when you say "run", probably. How many of the skills you use there would be useful in the specific role you're looking to work? – Bernhard Barker Jul 14 '17 at 18:31
  • @dukeling Managing weekly meetings, managing a staff team of about 30 volunteers, negotiating sponsorships, things like that. – WillSimon Jul 14 '17 at 18:34
  • Not sure it's a duplicate - I am specifically asking about the implications regarding the specific pro and cons I listed. – WillSimon Jul 14 '17 at 18:35
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    https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/44639/how-to-include-activities-demonstrating-leadership-from-games-onto-a-resume – easymoden00b Jul 14 '17 at 18:35
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    I doubt most employers would write you off as a gamer for something like this and I sincerely doubt that anyone cares to sit there reading through 6000 forum posts. Then again, I don't see any reason to give them your username anyway. – pay Jul 14 '17 at 18:38
  • The dilemma would be that if I say "I own this community/site", and they go to it, it becomes obvious who owns it. – WillSimon Jul 14 '17 at 18:45
  • Lovely, marked as duplicate even though I have a cery specific question, and the other questions either A) Refer to an ingame responsibility, or B) Refer to being a guild leader. Neither of these questions acccurately reflect what I am asking. – WillSimon Jul 14 '17 at 18:59
  • @WillSimon Sorry can you please elaborate on what you mean by "run a gaming community"? I had interpreted this as a guild in some specific game with a php forum on the web. Also can you please elaborate on how you made a profit? Is it through memberships, actively sources advertising, etc? Depending on the shape of this thing it could easily qualify as self employment, which is definitely on topic here and distinct from the volunteer style questions linked. – Myles Jul 14 '17 at 19:39

2 Answers2

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Absolutely include the experience on your resume. You don't have to mention your username.

My experience making gaming websites helped me greatly to get a job, even for an insurance company.

Storm
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I would say include it for sure. You have experience in a field that very few other graduates have, and how you phrased it the 'gamer' stigma shouldn't even exist if you get called in for an interview and manage to explain your role.

Whether or not the employer would bite in terms of programming depends.

Your phrasing seems to imply that you don't do much coding for the site, as you say you:

Managing weekly meetings, managing a staff team of about 30 volunteers, negotiating sponsorships, things like that

This would be very nice for a job in business, but it wouldn't do much for a programming job. What it would do for that programming job is let them know that you have leadership experience with people on a global scale.

If, however, you made the website and run it - that would be great for a job resume. That would be leadership experience, and you have enough members (members willing to take an interview to get in) to imply your website is well built and that your users are very happy with your skills - meaning your potential employers would be as well.

Either way, definitely add that to your resume - just phrase it such that it doesn't make you look like someone claiming their video games grant them experience. Phrase it to accentuate your contributions to the site (Ex: developer and manager, or manager and spokesperson, etc)

EML
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