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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

#121

Post by vkjv »

FlyingLawnmower wrote: post #116
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…

Do you (or anyone else reading this thread) have advice for current college students looking for internships or their first full time job? Unfortunately, I don't have the breadth of experience detailed in the slideshow to even justify a multi-page CV. In my environment, we work with a 1 page resume and I have a variety of side projects I've hacked on, but it's very hit and miss -- some recruiters care a lot, others c…

I graduated during the peak of the recent recession. I ran into this a lot. What worked best for me was to stop fine tuning my resume and do my best to skip HR. I got a few interviews by calling friends already in the field (some of those parents of friends) and asking to be put it contact directly with a technical hiring manager.

Of course, none of those panned out either. A few took hires with more experience and one offered me a job at an embarrassingly low salary (i.e., less than I made as a summer lifeguard).

Ultimately, what worked for me was getting in with a good company doing low level tech work (help desk) which got my recommendations for an internal position. This was my first lesson in corporate hiring: the most effective way to find a job is knowing someone.

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

#122

Post by vonmoltke »

Bahamut wrote: post #25
spindritf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been told that it should be one page unless you have had a really long career. Was this bad/outdated advice?

Probably outdated - for my first job search, a recruiter shopped around a beefed up version of my resume that spanned two pages instead of the one I had it. I was surprised that the old adage was not used in practice.

Probably outdated but still parroted relentlessly in resume advice.

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

#123

Post by [deleted] »

pm90 wrote: post #115

Recently coming out of a Job search, sending out even the perfect resume won't get the attention of recruiters as much as you physically talking to them or someone from the company. They are much more likely to remember a good person than an excellent resume. Of course you should make your resume as nice as possible, all I'm advising to job-seekers is that it isn't enough, and it would probably be worth your time soc…

[deleted]

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

#124

Post by ruswick »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #99
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.

I don't think that's true.

In my experience, development experience is relatively easy for students to obtain while in school. Internships are abundant (obviously not everyone is going to come out of school having worked for Google or Microsoft but most people who want to get development experience during college can find it). Personal projects are another way of doing something "useful" that have effectively zero barrier to entry.

It isn't too hard to do something "useful" as developer in college, if one has the motivation...

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

#125

Post by vamin »

dpweb wrote: post #114
peteretep wrote: post #2

I wrote this. It's a tiny bit Perl/UK-centric, but I think you could easily apply it to other markets. Happy to answer any questions...

Great slides - thanks. One surprise "leave off education". Would like to hear some more thoughts about that - haven't seen that before. 18 yrs experience so I'm sure its not too important (I did nothing spectacular in college, but did graduate) - still leave it off completely?

I started putting an abbreviated education section at the very bottom (instead of a full section at the top, as is common) and it significantly improved response rates. I especially recommend this strategy if your field of study isn't traditional.

I made the change to education at the bottom after watching a recruiter read my resume in person--I could actually see the moment she got to the education section and tuned out completely. It turns out people in tech tend to be turned off by my chemistry degrees. (Aside: It would be cool to have some sort of service that allowed you to A/B test resumes against a certain hiring demographic.)

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

#126

Post by crdoconnor »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #86
mercurial wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a developer, why do you feel it's reasonable to disregard side projects? If, say, I claim LLVM knowledge based on a publicly available language developed on my spare time, why shouldn't be taken into account in the recruiting process?

I don't disregard them completely and I think CVs can be written in such a way that recruiters (who actually get very excited about such stuff these days) and HR people will be fine with this sort of thing. What I would say is that there is a difference between hobby code where you get to do what you want and code where you didn't control requirements and had to deliver to unreasonable people in unreasonable timefram…

>What I would say is that there is a difference between hobby code where you get to do what you want and code where you didn't control requirements and had to deliver to unreasonable people in unreasonable timeframes (aka commercial software development). Obviously it would depend on the projects but generally someone who has commercial experience would probably be viewed more favourably as it's more directly comparable to what I need you to do.

Yeah, the difference is that hobby code means that you can take the time to do it right and "commercial contexts" (aka coding in a rush) means that you can't so you never learn how to do it properly.

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

#127

Post by jonnathanson »

spindritf wrote: post #16
alistairjcbrown wrote: post #14

"Your CV should be about three pages" - I had always been told, keep your CV to two pages, so you can print it on one sheet of paper (both sides). I like it as it ties back into the main message of these slides: "reading CVs is a chore" so keeping it condensed helps me to focus with showing only the most valuable information.

I have been told that it should be one page unless you have had a really long career. Was this bad/outdated advice?

It's not necessarily bad advice. Brevity is appreciated in all things -- especially by an HR worker or hiring manager, who has to sift through a stack of 300 resumes in a week or so. But it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Also, the one-page advice originated on the non-technical side of the job market. Technical resumes are usually longer than non-technical resumes.

Three pages is pushing it, though, unless you've been around for more than 10 years, or if you have something unique about your history that doesn't quite fit into your Experience section. If you've been granted 20 patents, or if you've been published 20 times in the Harvard Business Review, then by all means, include a section on these things. (But only if you feel they're relevant).

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

#129

Post by logfromblammo »

mrottenkolber wrote: post #54
lostcolony wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Or at least business casual' It really depends on the place. If there's a recruiter involved, ask them. Otherwise, (the following is based on my experience in the US, YMMV, etc), if they're not a software company, or are a defense contractor or similar, probably safest to go with a suit. If they are a software company, business casual is probably fine. If they're a startup, jeans and a t-shirt is probably fine. If y…

I don't have all these different kinds of clothing. (And no I don't want to own them either). Am I the only one who thinks this game should be played the other way around? If a company needs my services, they should impress me. I am not a model and I am sure as hell not a wage slave. I don't do CVs, and I sure as hell don't talk to HR. I am performing a necessary duty, if I can fill my role then my other traits will…

That attitude is a bit arrogant, and will only serve you well as long as potential employers have little alternative but to put up with it.

But it is still less arrogant by far than the attitude of most employers with open positions that I have encountered.

The "game" should be played with equal respect offered by both sides. Both parties are vetting the other before entering into a potentially long-term relationship. It is not the time to play stupid dominance games. I expect that equal effort should be expended on trying to convince me to work there as is spent trying to ascertain whether I am qualified to do so. If I spend a full day of my time jumping through hoops, I expect to see the company sacrificing a significant effort in exchange, trying to convince me to work there.

If you hear even an inkling of a suggestion that the company is trying to "avoid wasting interviewers' time," just say, "thank you for this, but I wouldn't want any more of anyone's time to be wasted," exit as gracefully as possible, and cross that company off your list. Then do the rest of us a favor, and post a negative review of the interview. Time spent on recruiting is an investment that might not pay off, never a waste. And nobody involved should be disrespectful of the other's time or preferences.

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

#130

Post by philbarr »

gedrap wrote: post #93
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.

Yes if in the UK always wear a suit. Even if you didn't have to no-one is going to think ill of you for it. It's just standard here.

Looks like if you're in the US, though, you're going to have to be careful to find out first what the code is.

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