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Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

read.cv

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Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#2
I started read.cv when transitioning from full time to freelance design in July. I wanted an easy to update 'about me' page to link from my website and bio – something simpler than LinkedIn and more dynamic than a PDF.

Design wise I focused on legibility and tried to give projects/side projects equal weight to things like education and work experience. A few unique features: tagging collaborators in your experiences, status updates, and print optimized profiles.

It took me around three months (Sept to November) to get it out the door, and I've been working on making improvements since. Open to any questions or feedback!

Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#5
Some feedback from a random internet person, take it with a fistful of salt.

Why are there non-functioning arrows next to the names of projects, companies, etc.?

Why does it keep randomly re-rendering while I'm trying to read something?

The design is, no doubt to some people, gorgeous, but I'm finding the landing page example completely unusable. If it's intended to show off capability then it needs to be clear that that's the purpose. If it's intended to be usable then it needs to be re-thought.

(Later)

Ah, when I go to an actual example then the arrow isn't functional, but the text on which the arrow is placed, is a link.

My reaction ... I don't want it to be discoverable, requiring exploration to work out the functionality. I want it to be immediately obvious, using existing internet norms. If I visit for the purpose of looking at a CV I don't want to have to learn how to use the site, I want to get the information I'm looking for.

Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#6

Some feedback from a random internet person, take it with a fistful of salt. Why are there non-functioning arrows next to the names of projects, companies, etc. ? Why does it keep randomly re-rendering while I'm trying to read something? The design is, no doubt to some people, gorgeous, but I'm finding the landing page example completely unusable. If it's intended to show off capability then it needs to be clear that…

Thanks for the feedback! As you mentioned the arrows indicate that the project is an outbound link (links are optional so having a visual indication that something is linked was necessary, though there are certainly other ways this could be achieved).

Pages subscribe to updates in real time, so I think you just so happened to be viewing a profile as it was being edited. Seems like live updates should probably only be on for the editor.

As for the landing page I'm hoping to redo this in general. As a quick first version I just embedded an actual profile so I wouldn't have to update image assets as the design changed, but I can see how this approach is confusing.

Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#8
Congrats on the launch. Overall it's really clean and I like the design.

Some quick feedback, which you can take with a grain of salt: * I was confused by the image CV on the homepage. It expected it to be clickable, and it took me a minute to find the View Demo button. * I love the collaborators feature. IMO this is one the biggest missing factors of LinkedIn (e.g. who did you actually work with on a small team) * It would be nice to be able to customize the invite message when inviting a collaborator. * The Create a Profile button on the homepage doesn't user cursor: pointer, which made me miss that it was the sign up button at first glance. * It looks like most of the links don't have cursor: pointer, which feels off to me * Once I saved my profile, it took me a minute to find the edit button in the bottom left

Overall, nice working and I'm looking forward to following the updates. Also, great first name you have there.

Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#9
Great idea and execution! I personally find the white space excessive and it's made more obvious on print. Unless someone is name dropping companies, I would expect a resume to have a lot more information in a higher density view. A cool idea would be to replace the facepile with various icons with numbers next to it to show quantified metrics that were accomplishments of various positions/projects ($X rev/# commits/# users/etc.)

Re: Show HN: I made an alternative platform for professional profiles

#10
post #7

(unsolicited) Feedback: Why are there other people on my CV? Who are they to begin with? And when a recruiter is looking at my CV, I don't want them clicking on other people.

The idea is that you're able to (optionally) tag coworkers and collaborators in your work experience and projects. Although this doesn't track 1:1 with the traditional CV use case, it felt like a great way to celebrate the people you work with and create lightweight endorsements.

If you choose to print or save your profile as a PDF these tags are hidden automatically, making it much more of a traditional CV, appropriate for job applications etc.

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