From a diploma project to a game of your own: the story of Artem Sinitsyn from Kyrgyzstan

Unity developer Artem Sinitsyn shared in an interview how unsuccessful job interviews and working in a call center became part of his journey into the gaming industry.

Artem Sinitsyn, city — Bishkek, senior Unity developer, LinkedIn

About Me

I have been working as a game Unity developer for seven years. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Informatics. My path began even at university — as my thesis project, I created my own game using Unity. During its development, I realized that I wanted to work in the gaming industry.

Today, I work as a lead developer at a small startup called Pickapp — a studio specializing in mobile game development. At the same time, I am also developing my own game for Steam.

Aside from programming, I engage in drawing, design, and modeling — these are mostly soft skills, but they have proven useful in my work.

About My First IT Job

I started my career at the age of 23 at Avatarico, a company that developed VR/AR games. I held the position of Junior Unity Developer. There, I implemented new AR technologies into games (which were relatively new at the time) and, of course, worked on game logic. I also did some work supporting VR projects.

Despite my junior position, I was already partially leading the AR aspect of the project. At that time, my colleagues were not involved in this area, so I was a pioneer in this field within the company.

I joined this company quite easily. I sent my resume to various companies through aggregators like HeadHunter. They were the first to respond, invited me for an interview, and after passing it, sent me my first offer. I decided not to delay and accepted it immediately.

The interview consisted of two stages.

The first stage was a test assignment. I needed to implement the movement of an object along a curve through a specified point. This was a mathematical task, which was quite logical given my specialization. I spent slightly less than a week studying materials and searching for a solution. In the end, everything worked out, and the assignment was accepted.

The second stage was a real test: an in-person interview lasting half an hour, during which they assessed my knowledge of programming and mathematics. Honestly, I don’t remember if I prepared specifically — I mostly just reviewed topics I was familiar with.

The interview itself started immediately with mathematics. I will never forget the first question — they asked me to explain how linear interpolation works and to write down the formula. I was grateful for the test assignment because this topic was covered there, and I was able to answer right away. At that moment, I began to feel more confident.

Next came questions of varying difficulty, mostly related to programming and my experience. There were some basic questions about language knowledge, as well as tricky ones. Where I didn’t know the answer, a short dialogue would begin, focusing more on thinking processes than on rote knowledge.

They also asked about my pet projects — at that time, I had two or three apps on the Play Market. They were interested specifically in the fact of completion — from idea to product.
The last question was: “What is your favorite game?” I answered — Inside. It so happened that this was also the interviewer’s favorite game. We joked that I was hired solely because of this.

If we talk about how education and personal qualities influenced my employment, we had a strong C++ program in our second year. Before that, I didn’t understand how programming worked at all.

In my third year, I started making my own game in Unity, but this time using a different language — C#. Although it is similar to C++, we didn’t have a course for it, so I had to learn much on my own. It was for this game that I defended my thesis with the highest grade.

But the truth is that even after graduation, the knowledge we were given was just a drop in the ocean. And if we talk about a language that wasn’t even in the curriculum — even more so.
Education mostly put me “on the tracks,” but I had to drive myself.

As for personal qualities — perseverance and the desire to get into a game studio helped. I was looking for my first job for over a year.

About Difficulties

After university, I started sending my resume to many companies. After going through, probably, no fewer than 15 interviews, I received rejections everywhere. This was quite understandable — at that time, I knew very little and was a self-taught person in game development.

I wasn’t living in a dream world or thinking that I would be hired on the first try — especially when I myself realized that I had failed the interview. What upset me more was that the more interviews I went through, the more I realized how little I knew. This pit of ignorance was becoming wider and wider. It wasn’t just about what I knew or didn’t know — I didn’t understand what exactly I needed to know. There wasn’t enough information, and there was no clarity on what to focus on: what was considered essential and what was less important. Also, my money was running out, so I had to take a job at a regular call center. I worked two days and spent two days on programming.

I continued going to interviews, but I started using them to my advantage: I wrote down all the questions in a notebook and additionally asked interviewers what I should study. I compiled a whole list. Answers appeared to the question: “What to do next?” I took a break from interviews, continued working, and studied on weekends. The more I learned, the more new questions arose and the more foundation there was for further study. A year later — the first interview and offer. That’s when I truly understood that everything had been worth it.

There were many difficulties at my first job. I was the only one responsible for learning AR features. No one knew how it worked, and there was no one to ask. I had to sit, study, and think on my own. I was nervous — this was literally my first task at the new job, and I was already thinking about quitting. But by the end of that year, I had significantly improved my self-learning skills and managed to figure everything out on my own. There were overtime hours — both in the office and at home. Deadlines are deadlines. There were many unclear and complex tasks. In short, my first job was like basic training for a young soldier. But perhaps this was even good — it toughened me up for future achievements.

Today, the difficulties for newcomers are competition and the inflation of IT specialists. A junior in the industry is almost already a middle-level developer. Very few people are willing to hire individuals who still need training. Employers need results, and preferably good ones — they pay for them.

There were many courses after which entire crowds of newcomers with only two months of training tried to find work. I am skeptical about courses. But I think it all depends on the person: if they are truly passionate about the field, it can be a push, but it is certainly not “all-inclusive” where you are hired immediately.

On the other hand — at the moment, there are many more learning materials available. Perhaps some people rush into getting hired, and they simply need more time to improve their skills.

3 Tips That Will Help You Find a Job in IT

1. Never give up.

2. Be confident during interviews.

3. Understand that you cannot know everything.

Interviewers often ask questions “with a margin,” above your current level. The main thing is not to stay silent. Try to think out loud, share your thoughts — because that is exactly what they are looking for.