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My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

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Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#181
post #43

Very striking for me is listing of height, health and birth date. I would never put these on a CV. All irrelevant.

At one time it wasn't illegal to discriminate based on health/disability, so it made sense to advertise yourself as healthy, as you'd take less sick days, etc.

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#182

Looks like a simpler time. You just say what you did. No need to BS it up to sound like you are gods gift to programming. And once you get the job probably no logging every second of your time.

For what it's worth, my resume to this day is still this style. I'm around 40, been in various forms of IT since end of high school. My resume has never been more than a bullet point list of my skills, and my experience. I've gotten almost every job I've applied for based on that + the interview. The few I haven't gotten, weren't because of the resume (I've always asked why, so I could improve).

If you get every job you ask for maybe you are aiming too low.

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#183
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really have no idea what you're talking about. I absolutely hated paper. The inconvenience of wanting to add some content higher up the page and having to redo the whole page to achieve that was infuriating to me. I for one am quite pleased that I no longer have as many violent urges when I'm composing text.

True. However the inflexibility of the physical media (pen/typewriter+paper) forced people to think and plan before they acted. These days, not so much, and I can see the difference in approach when my kids are writing essays - back in the day we were taught to come up with a little plan, toc, etc before getting down to the details. Now my kids just spit it out without structure, then add bits an pieces here and ther…

This is like complaining about interactive terminals because programmers no longer have to think so hard about their code before writing it out to punch cards....

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#184
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but higher signal to noise ratio back then and programming and computer science were not as much a commodity degree. Now there are so many people on the internet and playing chameleon ;) You had to seek out jobs in newspaper listings in local or national newspapers (international too). I would get people applying for jobs back in early 90s who thought that having a modem at home and having read one programming bo…

I do wonder if they higher fast and fire even faster approach isn't ultimately better for everyone than the silly whiteboard interviews many companies do nowadays. At least there was an exact match between the skills because of which you have the job and the skills you need on the job.

> I do wonder if they higher fast and fire even faster approach isn't ultimately better for everyone

I think so and I wish it was the case. It was always frustrating, when I worked at large companies where poor performance wasn't an easily fireable offense, that it led to quality performance not being an easily laudable trait. I've also found in states and companies that are willing to fire bad developers (as opposed to, say, stringing them and the sub par side of the industry along), the cream has an easier time reaching the top. Sadly, due to sympathy for the employee and hate for the employer, many places make it harder for your signal flourish simply because of the protection of the noise.

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#185
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but higher signal to noise ratio back then and programming and computer science were not as much a commodity degree. Now there are so many people on the internet and playing chameleon ;) You had to seek out jobs in newspaper listings in local or national newspapers (international too). I would get people applying for jobs back in early 90s who thought that having a modem at home and having read one programming bo…

I do wonder if they higher fast and fire even faster approach isn't ultimately better for everyone than the silly whiteboard interviews many companies do nowadays. At least there was an exact match between the skills because of which you have the job and the skills you need on the job.

Hiring and firing come at a nonzero cost, just like whiteboard interviews.

If ten people apply for a position and their resumes all look good the company needs some way to determine who to hire.

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#186
post #149

Looks like a simpler time. You just say what you did. No need to BS it up to sound like you are gods gift to programming. And once you get the job probably no logging every second of your time.

Umm, that time still exists. My resume is exactly like this, just says what I did and doesn't contain BS. IDK what you mean about "logging every second your time" but all government contractors require a daily timecard and did so in the 80s as well (according to my coworkers - I was a kid in the 80s). The reason being was so they know how much time to bill for!! If you wanna work in hip startups then I guess it's dif…

You must be quite fortunate to have such excellent connections amongst the privileged elite, most people will never get past "the algorithm" if they don't stuff their resumes full of buzzwords to even get past some python script.

Many companies these days install tracking software on workstations, as well as for programming challenges during the interview process.

IBM and defense contractors are known for the good old boy game, so your mindset is not surprising. I used to work at Ball and was pushed out for complaining about every single face in every single meeting being white, so I'm something of an authority on this subject.

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#188
post #100

Nearly 24 years with a single employer. How many programmers can claim that these days?

I’m an EE with 22 years at the same employer; first job out of grad school. Working until 67, I could be there 42 years, and I probably will be. This is an old school defense contractor. Though EE (RF, Microwave, Antennas to be exact) still has the respect for the gray beard. The record for my employer is 60+ years; a machinist who started at 18 and still working into his late 70’s as he enjoys it.

I worked at an old school defense contractor where tenure was measured in decades. :)

Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980

#189

If I lived through 3 wars and had a strong career alignment with major defense contractors, I suppose I'd be inclined to disclose health and height out of habit...but was this generally expected on a resume back in the 80s?

If you have an active security clearance you're long since accustomed to giving out personal/private information to government bureaucracy (OPM, etc).
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