I put down on my resume: "Recreational translation of video games, music videos, songs and television shows". And under technical skills I have: "Programming experience: basic Java programming, 65816 programming for Super Nintendo".

Honestly? I think it helped. It was brought up during my interview, and they seemed impressed by it.

If you wanted to talk about hacking, say it in a way that isn't illegal-sounding. "Recreational reverse-engineering of games for (x platform)".

~DS

The current job market is so competitive that you're less likely to get a job if you don't have something unique on your resume. Employers look through resumes and toss them if they don't see an intensive extra curricular activity.

If it looks like there is a gap in your free time anywhere they may assume you're a bum. If you spend much time hacking you probably have to bring it up and it's not necessarily a bad mark either because the skills you learn through hacking can be applied to many other areas.

Cartographer, for example, could probably be applied to database management.

A good employer is looking for someone who has the type of analytical mind that is required for hacking. They know as you do the job you will be analyzing the process. They don't want you to just analyze it and do it a better way but they will expect to see suggestions from you on how to improve it so they can alter it and have everyone increase efficiency and quality.

Reverse-engineering is exactly the term I use when I describe romhacking to people who wouldn't understand what romhacking is   And reverse-engineering is pretty much what it comes down to:  unpacking something to find out how to mess with it, getting something how we'd like it, or just to see what's in there

'romhacking' itself isn't very helpful as a term alone, but explaining all the different things which we do within that single term, that's the part you want to shine on.

I've mentioned "hobbyist translation" in resumes before, referencing my comic trans group...came up in the interview and she thought it was kind of interesting.  Didn't get the job though.

I imagine if you are the "boss" of a group it would be a more useful conversation to have with a possible employer, as you're basically going "I manage dudes working on stuff in my free time".

For now I've gone with this:


Sounds almost sophisticated. :p

I was thinking the same thing. Mentioning specific company names without any professional connection to said companies may look a little odd. Perhaps simply putting "eight and 16 bit video game systems" or something along those lines would be better?

Although you should remember that I have no idea what I'm talking about

I basically put this in my CV, choosing not to name names or go into too much detail but rather paint in broad strokes.

geishaboy and Jorpho are right, you shouldn't invoke the names of companies and their products because it will play up the 'unauthorised' angle. It'll be a red flag if your CV is only read by HR suits. The actual value or significance of what you propose won't be obscured if you avoid naming names, since the consoles will probably mean nothing to them except for the fact that you're clearly doing something strange. Additionally, if it's a company where they pass CVs on to the people you'll be working with for their opinion, those people would probably know what you're talking about even if you're vague about it and they'd probably think it's cool, so I don't think you'd be losing much.

Are you applying for a job in the games industry? If not, you might even wish to consider talking about working on "software" instead of "video games".