Last week I wrote a blog post about crafting the project section of your resume. After sharing it, I stumbled upon an excellent example of a project that I would recommend putting on a resume. It checks most of the boxes I’ve outlined in my post. It’s the kind of project that gets recruiters intrigued while providing a wealth of material to discuss during technical interviews.
The project in question? A browser-based multiplayer tank game.
Browser-Based Multiplayer Tank Game: TankOps
TankOps is a turn-based web browser game where players command tanks, taking turns to battle one another strategically. Beyond being a fun game to play, this project has all the hallmarks of what makes an exceptional resume entry.
Developed by kodestan, the game’s entire infrastructure is available online. You can check it out here: tankops.xyz or review the source code here.
What makes TankOps a good resume project?
TankOps is a great example because it demonstrates more than just coding knowledge. It shows a complete engineering effort from concept to deployment. Remember, that it’s not just about the code. If you’re building the Projects section of your resume, this is exactly the type of entry you should aim for.
Relevance: uses in-demand tech stack
Technologies used in this project are highly relevant in today’s job market:
- Backend: Go.
- Frontend: TypeScript, HTML, and CSS.
Go is widely used for backend services while TypeScript is second most popular front-end development language on the web. Both are great to have on a resume.
The source code is hosted on GitHub which is widely used by tech companies and demonstrates basic understanding of git which is a bonus. Having the project live and playable only adds more credibility: employers can see the final product in action and explore the codebase with ease.
Complexity: demonstrates advanced skills
Games are notoriously difficult to build, requiring both creative thinking and strong technical skills. TankOps showcases:
- Game logic: Managing turn-based mechanics and player interaction.
- Backend services: Handling player sessions and game state.
- Frontend UX: A clean, interactive interface for players to enjoy.
- Networking: Multiplayer capability, which adds complexity to both frontend and backend.
These components give the project significant weight. When recruiters or hiring managers see this level of effort, it’s a clear indicator of strong problem-solving ability, software architecture knowledge, and technical depth.
Presentation: yet another essential skill
One of the best parts about TankOps is how it’s presented. It isn’t just a GitHub repo with a README; kodestan went the extra mile to create a complete experience:
- Playable Demo: You can visit the website and immediately start playing.
- Video Walkthrough: There’s a YouTube video where the developer walks through the game’s features, explaining the design and coding process.
This presentation is critical. A well-organized project shows attention to detail. Something employers value. It also makes it easy for recruiters to understand what the project is about without getting lost in the technical details. Meanwhile interviewers will have plenty of technical topics to dive into during the interview.
Impact: shows initiative and self-motivation
Building something from scratch, deploying it, and maintaining it demonstrates a high level of independence and drive. It also demonstrates an ability to complete a full project from start to finish.
What I would improve
This project can stand on its own without much further development, but I am still going to offer my unsolicited feedback on what can be improved further:
Documentation starting with the readme. When you enter the GitHub repo for this project, it doesn’t stand out. The readme is just okay and the about section is missing all together. At the very minimum it could use a contribution guidelines section. There are unanswered issues and open pull requests. Are they not welcomed by the author? It’s unclear.
License: the lack of license information doesn’t help. Can others fork and adopt this project? It’s unclear.
Testing: GitHub actions to test, package, and release artifacts would be cool.
If I was wearing my interviewer hat 🎓, I would want to know why kodestan chose to skip these parts.
Dear YouTube comment section: you are not cooked
You’re not cooked. Use TankOps as an inspiration. There is nothing wrong with building a more simple project that’s in your wheel house. Start by completing a small project end-to-end and crafting a great presentation with good visuals and documentation. Overtime you can add more impressive features to your project.
The video is a speed run of the TankOps project. It doesn’t talk about the background of kodestan. At some point all of the skills demonstrated in the video had to be learned one-by-one. It was definitely not done overnight. The commit history begins on July 06, 2024 and the video was released on September 18, 2024. If I had to guess, the idea and prep work begun long before the first commit.
You got this. Start small!
Sources & inspiration
- Guido, Jansen. (October 3, 2017). Flames in the fireplace. https://unsplash.com/photos/yellow-fire-digital-wallpaper-Nz-zAt4qiuU
- kodestian. (September 18, 2024). I made a multiplayer game from scratch because no one is hiring junior devs. https://youtu.be/LBbVEqTPlzI?si=Gl7EUCVtEHeOO5Zv
