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How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

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Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#91

Post by gedrap »

At our university, University of Manchester, we had a careers service drone telling us to list your experience working as a waiter and highlight skills you learned there ('communicating in stressful environment' and what not).

Dear young readers. Seriously, don't do that. Waste of space at best. Looks just stupid at worst. It doesn't tell me anything about your ability as a programmer at all. Description about a weekend project is much more useful. And no, clarifying whether someone wants latte with regular or soy milk is not a 'communication skill'.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#92

Post by alkonaut »

peteretep wrote: post #7
Bahamut wrote: post #5

"...did you wear a suit" I guess it might depend on the industry, but at most interviews I have done, the expectation has been to just wear jeans and whatever. I usually go with jeans and a polo shirt for safety.

Which city are you in? I wonder if it's a cultural difference. In the UK, I'd always recommend dressing smart.

Example: UK and Nordic business dress codes are miles apart. In the UK every traveling sales person wears a suit. It's especially obvious when we have internal meetings where they dress up for work and can't wait to switch to casual before we go to a restaurant. Meanwhile the swedes all wear jeans to the meeting and dress as smart as possiblr for the restaurant.

For interviews I'd always just dress smart but not wear a suit unless I believe there will be at least one more person in the office wearing a suit. Dress for confidence. Being overdressed and uncomfortable (if you aren't used to wearing suits) isn't a confidence booster. Just be clean and at least as smart looking as the person interviewing.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#93

Post by gedrap »

philangist wrote: post #87

> If you can't be bothered to dress up a little bit for your interview, the hiring manager knows that you're going to be a pain in the ass to manage. I wonder how common this sentiment is in the UK. I know that most developers I've met/interviewed/been interviewed by in NYC don't care (at least outside of finance). Can anyone on the other side of the pond give me their thoughts or experiences?

In the UK (based on my experience), a suit is considered to be just a safe choice and many people just stick to it.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#94

Post by bitwize »

philangist wrote: post #87

> If you can't be bothered to dress up a little bit for your interview, the hiring manager knows that you're going to be a pain in the ass to manage. I wonder how common this sentiment is in the UK. I know that most developers I've met/interviewed/been interviewed by in NYC don't care (at least outside of finance). Can anyone on the other side of the pond give me their thoughts or experiences?

It's true everywhere. Always, ALWAYS wear a suit to your interview, even if the hiring manager says he doesn't care. It presents a crisp, professional appearance and shows the hiring manager that you care.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#95

Post by kasey_junk »

UK-AL wrote: post #59
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a myth, at least not in most cases. If I take you on I want some indication that you're going to stay around long enough for the investment we're going to make in you to be worthwhile. We'll normally pay a recruitment fee and then we'll pay you while you're learning about our product, our industry, our processes and the specific technologies you haven't worked with that we use, and we'll be paying our existi…

Most people jump when the company is not paying market price so they switch. I move very fast from companies that don't keep up with pay. I stay at companies with regular pay rises. I've had both. So in my mind it means that companies concerned with job hopping, are really hoping to keep your pay down. It's an early warning .

"Most people jump when the company is not paying market price so they switch."

I've seen no data that suggests this is true, and from my own anecdotes I've found it to be untrue as well. The people I see that switch a lot seem to be simply unable to deal with colleagues or challenges that aren't going their way. Lots and lots of prima donna's in this industry that do not have the skill set to change things that are problems.

Even the money concern is a bit of a red herring. Being unable to justify pay increases at your current employer may be a sign of a bad employer, but it's just as likely the sign of someone who either cannot present their value proposition properly or someone who overestimates their value. Both are bad signs for the candidate.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#96

Post by tmorton »

philangist wrote: post #87

> If you can't be bothered to dress up a little bit for your interview, the hiring manager knows that you're going to be a pain in the ass to manage. I wonder how common this sentiment is in the UK. I know that most developers I've met/interviewed/been interviewed by in NYC don't care (at least outside of finance). Can anyone on the other side of the pond give me their thoughts or experiences?

I agree with this statement, and I'm in the US. My manager wears cargo shorts to the office, but I'd still raise an eyebrow if you wore them to an interview.

The key is to dress up "a little bit".

Wear what would you wear for a "big day" - presenting at a conference, demoing for a customer, or a one-on-one with your boss's boss. Some places, that's a clean t-shirt and your best pair of jeans. If you're fixing healthcare.gov, that might be a suit and tie.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#97

Post by couchand »

mrottenkolber wrote: post #76
kasey_junk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That really depends on the hiring environment you are working in. Right now, in most of the tech centers around, it is an employees market. This is not always true and it can be different for different tech centers, technologies, and employees. So sure, while this is working for you right now, keep it in mind in the future when this bubble bursts. I do find it interesting that an adult with professional career in the…

I didn't say I don't own professional clothes. For me its a shirt--the ones you iron--a suit jacket and jeans, no tie. It's just that I am not willing to compromise on my interpretation of "business attire". I consider it quite offensive to openly criticize based on looks. If anybody would consider my jeans unfitting then that's their problem as I have a very good reason to wear jeans (exclusively). I wear clothes be…

I am not in a bubble. :)

I don't know if the smiley is supposed to indicate this comment is a joke, but you must be aware that this comment is a joke, right?

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#98

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

couchand wrote: post #85
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a hiring manager this feels perfectly reasonable so I'd be interested to know why people might think it isn't. I write a job spec which lists what we're looking for which is advertised and passed to recruiters - if you're interested in the job you've almost certainly seen that. Assuming you do have the experience, using the spec you should be able to tweak your CV in about 5 minutes to highlight the key t…

There's one very simple reason that this strategy fails: good developers can and do learn new technologies quickly. It's far more important to find someone willing and able to learn than someone who can copy and paste a few keywords.

But it doesn't fail. I've been recruiting solid teams who deliver software for a decade now.

The right current skills and the ability to learn future skills aren't incompatible. After all, how do you think those people got those current skills? I don't have to choose one or the other and I've rarely met anyone in IT who isn't willing to learn new skills.

Generally I have two or three core skills I'm looking for for a role for and the rest are nice to have. To me it's a given you'll basically be smart and that you'll need to learn stuff but I also know from experience I can get smart people who have a core set of knowledge which will make them productive early on.

I certainly have no interest in someone who can copy and paste keywords and if that's all you'd done you won't get past first interview. All I'm asking is that you present your experience in a way which is most relevant to me to help me understand.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#99

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

gedrap wrote: post #91

At our university, University of Manchester, we had a careers service drone telling us to list your experience working as a waiter and highlight skills you learned there ('communicating in stressful environment' and what not). Dear young readers. Seriously, don't do that. Waste of space at best. Looks just stupid at worst. It doesn't tell me anything about your ability as a programmer at all. Description about a week…

You're being harsh - graduate CVs are tough because almost no-one has done anything useful. Yes it all looks rubbish but I'd rather someone who had made an effort to sell themselves and had shown they had the ability to pitch up to a job on a regular basis.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#100

Post by UK-AL »

kasey_junk wrote: post #95
UK-AL wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people jump when the company is not paying market price so they switch. I move very fast from companies that don't keep up with pay. I stay at companies with regular pay rises. I've had both. So in my mind it means that companies concerned with job hopping, are really hoping to keep your pay down. It's an early warning .

"Most people jump when the company is not paying market price so they switch." I've seen no data that suggests this is true, and from my own anecdotes I've found it to be untrue as well. The people I see that switch a lot seem to be simply unable to deal with colleagues or challenges that aren't going their way. Lots and lots of prima donna's in this industry that do not have the skill set to change things that are p…

Being able to justify or not justify has little to do with rises. Any smart person can justify just about anything, including justifying no pay rises.

Decent challenges, and decent colleagues are included in my definition of market price.

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