
Show HN: Resumegen – A single-page LaTeX resume generator - WrtCdEvrydy
http://writecodeeveryday.github.io/projects/resumegen
======
prashnts
I generate my CV [1] through a setup consisting jade templates, brunch and
css. The content of CV is in a yaml [2] file which is compiled to a static
html. Code is on github [3] for anyone to use. :)

[1] [https://noop.pw/resume](https://noop.pw/resume)

[2]
[https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/blob/develop/...](https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/blob/develop/riptide/vita.yaml)

[3]
[https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/blob/develop/...](https://github.com/prashnts/prashnts.github.io/blob/develop/demi/index.coffee#L6)

~~~
ge96
robot? haha that's pretty cool

What if you wanted to export this as PDF? Is that straight forward or no?

~~~
prashnts
Just print it as pdf. :)

There's a media query stylesheet for printing.

~~~
ge96
Really? What do you mean like print the web page?

Whoa that's cool it splits it up into three pages. Pretty sweet.

~~~
ghostly_s
I use a similar workflow for my resume (really it's just a hand-written html
file with some css templates for different section types), but I haven't found
"printing to PDF" to be adequate. All the common browsers override your
stylesheet with a "printing friendly" one, and do things like putting the URL
at the bottom of the page. Instead, I use wkhtmltopdf instead, which is
entirely adequate for this purpose.

~~~
zapu
I have an invoice generation script that outputs html, and I unfortunately
have to open it in Chrome and "print to pdf" manually. If you control styling,
you can usually set it to look the way you want. Also browser HTML
headers/footers can be disabled.

wkhtmltopdf output never looked quite right to me.

------
ltnately
I've been using this for a few years for my resume since learning LaTex in
college.

Online LaTex editor includes previews of documents as you work.
[https://www.overleaf.com/users/sign_in](https://www.overleaf.com/users/sign_in)

And these are some templates on if you just want to copy/paste and make minor
edits to personalize.

[https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/](https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/)

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Their Developers are also on point. I reached out for some help and they gave
me a lot of help on this.

~~~
jdleesmiller
Glad to hear it helped! (I'm one of the devs at Overleaf.)

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
On that note, what are the odds I could get the features I requested in my
last email? ;)

1) A POST API that can take a template link and a blob of source and create a
preview?

2) A GET request that can take a template link and a blob of source, allow
someone to login/register and that doc to their account.

I'd love to get people directly onboarded from this into Overleaf. I'm busy
trying to break the LinkedIn TOS to get the entire resume history for the
users but I could definitely use those outlined above :D

------
yeukhon
Nice output. I used to do a lot of interviews, and this is the sort of PDF I
want to view, although a bit too crowded, but nonetheless I am okay with a
one-page, or a two-page resume with just enough description.

Please never send in a 10-page resume detailing every single technology you
have worked with / used at work. You don't show up at someone's doorstep to
sell your product by introducing your whole life, do you? Resume is like a
simplified pitch deck, make me interested in learning more about your
application in 2 minutes. Also, please check your spellings and use consistent
formatting.

If you have worked on some side projects, definitely mentions the one you
really like or the ones relevant to your job. If you wrote a robot running
around the office on April Fool's Day, write that down, I'd be curious. I
usually look at people's GitHub profile if a link is mentioned.

My opinion is mine, though. Some HR / recruiter might not like my preference,
but I would rather not work for that kind of firm.

~~~
JimDabell
> Please never send in a 10-page resume detailing every single technology you
> have worked with / used at work.

It always surprises me when I hear this attitude. I can't think of another
example of people saying, essentially, "Please don't send me relevant
information".

My preference is the more detail the better. If I don't need as much
information, I can skim over the bits I don't need, but if I don't have enough
information to decide whether to take things further (and the typical US-style
1/2 page résumé rarely does), then it's an unnecessary waste of time chasing
for that information. I don't want to poll you for information you could have
provided ahead of time, and you aren't going to look good compared with the CV
that includes relevant experience.

Be succinct, by all means, but don't intentionally redact useful information!
This is about providing the information necessary to get you to the next
stage, not a teaser to pique interest.

> You don't show up at someone's doorstep to sell your product by introducing
> your whole life, do you?

That's handled with a summary at the top of your CV or a cover letter you send
with your application.

~~~
yeukhon
Your opinion is yours, of course. I prefer to have a live conversation with
the candidate. I will never be able to learn a person's ability in just 60
minutes, or over a 10-page resume. Do you really need to tell me all the
projects and technology you used at work? What I care about is the highlight
and give me skills you are most comfortable with. All of them should be
relevant to the position you are looking for. Also, CV and resume are not
evidence. Interviews can show me whether the person know his / her stuff if I
focus on the right questions. I've failed enough candidates I know how some
people will make themselves look great on paper, but show up incompetent in
real interviews, and the kinds of questions I ask aren't even tricky and don't
require some deep understanding of the subject. Real conversation is better
than a piece of paper, if I have to weigh the two. The longer your resume is,
the more ammunition I have to throw at you during interview. I found more
liars than I expected I would have.

~~~
JimDabell
A CV isn't a replacement for an interview, it's a tool to cut down on the
number of interviews you have to conduct by giving you better information to
make the decision about who to interview.

~~~
yeukhon
I never said it is a replacement. I said resume should be consice and get to
the point. I have tons of experiences in my area of expertise, but I am not
gong to sell you an autobiography of my whole career, because I know the
highlight of my career. I also don't need to know your experience from 20
years ago, last 5-8 years would be enough.

~~~
JimDabell
> I never said it is a replacement.

No, you were responding as if that was what I was saying.

I'm struggling to understand your point when you say that a CV isn't evidence
and people can look good on paper but not in person then. That's not an
argument against having more information up front to help you decide whether
to interview somebody or not.

~~~
yeukhon
Because i don't need to know everything up front. I just need to know enough
about you to tell me why I should consider interviewing you and enough for me
to prepare questions. I don't run interview for 15 minutes. I run between 1-2
hours interview per candidate. If you try to oversell yourself to me, you are
trying too hard. I still go through the interview if I think you are the right
candidate to interview even if you did send me a 50-page resume, but that
doesn't mean I don't want a briefer CV.

So let me ask you the, is it okay for you to get a 20-page resume then instead
of 10? How about this, someone with 40 years of experience and now you get a
40-page resume.

~~~
JimDabell
Where is this 15 minute interview idea coming from? I run interviews for 1–2
hours as well. I just don't want to waste that time on large numbers of
candidates when I can qualify a smaller number more quickly by having better
information up front.

Nobody actually does this, but yes, a 40 page CV would be fine as long as it
had a cover letter or summary and it was laid out in a way that I could skim
it. I'd prefer the 40 page CV to a 1 page résumé any day, because the 1 page
résumé doesn't have what I need to make an informed decision. I can skim a 40
page CV in minutes without chasing anybody for more information and without
conducting a 1–2 hour interview.

You've still not provided an argument against more information, just said that
you don't value it. There's literally no downside as far as I can see. If
you're not interested in certain details then you can just skim over them.

------
wnm
Nice work!!

Some thoughts:

\- For my taste the sections/fields are not flexible enough. There are a few
big ones missing, that I have on my résumé or have seen on others. E.g.
Projects, Open Source, Involvement, Writing, Speaking Engagements,
References... (there are a few more, for a complete list, have a look at the
schema I'm using for ProgrammerCV at [http://programmercv.com/resume-
schema](http://programmercv.com/resume-schema), which is open source btw)

\- Getting the output as latex is a really nice idea. I'm working on a tool to
extract résumé data from linkedin, xing etc. ([http://programmercv.com/resume-
exporter](http://programmercv.com/resume-exporter)) and I want to offer export
to multiple formats like .docs, .pdf, .html etc... and I'm already seeing that
its quite difficult to offer flexibility and at the same time, garantuee some
output quality. I guess latex could help... I will add it to my todo :)

\- As someone else commented on, for my taste the template feels to cramped.
stretching infos over 2-3 pages is preferable over to much on one page, imo.
But luckily there are quite a few high quality latex résumé templates out
there

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Might have to hit up your LinkedIn extraction. Their new developer API is dick
and gives you none of the info you need for a resume.

~~~
wnm
yes, I agree! thats exactly why I wrote it: I hate that they try to lock users
in. That résumé data is mine, and I should be able to export in any format I
want. Instead every service tries to lock their users in, and for every other
website I use, I need to reenter the same stuff...

------
Bedon292
Just curious, why one page? It seems to compress a ton of information into a
small area, which I would think makes it less appealing. If I were looking at
the example resume, it would just be too much. I always heard 3 pages was the
right length, first one for the hooks, and then the other 2 for the detailed
history. Is that different from others experiences?

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
In the tech industry, the recommendation unless you have 10+ years experience
is a one page resume with all of your info. If you have 10-15+ years
experience, you can do 2 pages but most HR departments won't read beyond the
first anyways.

~~~
ryandrake
Very true. Also consider: The "screening" phase is the toughest part to get
past. When someone has 400 resumes on their desk to quickly go through, they
are going to barely scan maybe the top 1/3 of the first page of your resume,
and I guarantee they won't look past page 1. You need to have your strongest
pitch front and center on the very top of page 1.

Your resume is the first hint a company gets about your communication skills,
_including_ your ability to edit and summarize. Unless you've got heaps and
heaps of experience, 2+ pages can send the message "trouble editing".

~~~
user5994461
The strongest pitch is when they turn the page and realize you've got numerous
real world experiences in what they want. Even more than what's on the first
page ;)

------
peacetreefrog
nice work, some feedback: would be nice to have a sample output file at the
beginning in order to see what you'd get at the end

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
If you click on the Deedy Resume, you can see the initial template, but this
was designed to use Overleaf for real time rendering so you could see it as
you filled it out, which was never implemented.

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almog
Does the output include the tex file itself? The main reason I chose to use
LaTeX for my C.V. aside from the obvious typesetting capabilities is how easy
it is to edit and source control it.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
The output is the raw latex source and a link to Overleaf to the template.

This is a starter for people who don't want to write for two hours to get
started.

~~~
almog
Very nice, I didn't know about the Deedy Resume template. I'll give it a try,
to see if I can squeeze my 2 pages (modern-cv) into a one page.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Overleaf has an entire section on resume templates but I just picked my
favorite.

------
charlieegan3
This looks really nice - great to have a nice builder for the latex. Would be
cool if it was possible to add your own sections.

I've been collecting a few latex resume links for those interested:

[https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/](https://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/training/latex/resumes/)

[https://github.com/mrzool/cv-boilerplate](https://github.com/mrzool/cv-
boilerplate)

[https://github.com/posquit0/Awesome-CV](https://github.com/posquit0/Awesome-
CV)

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
It's public, fork and make your changes. I'm open to suggestions.

www.github.com/writecodeeveryday/writecodeeveryday.github.io

My final idea is something that allows you to pick the template at the end and
uploads to Overleaf under your Google account.

------
darkhorn
[http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/documents/curriculum-
vitae](http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/documents/curriculum-vitae)

------
ryandrake
Works great! Very nice as a "starting point" for further customization, for
people like me who are still learning LaTeX. Comments:

1\. The experience/research section is pretty cramped, at least on safari.
Maybe take advantage of the whole browser window rather than putting it in a
frame?

2\. I may have missed it but couldn't find a way to delete fields mistakenly
added. Output just includes blank data that can be deleted later so not a big
deal.

Overall cool!

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Yeah, I wanted Jquery steps but couldn't make the sections expand downwards.

There is no way to delete but Ill figure something out tonight along with a
LinkedIn scraper.

~~~
ryandrake
Cool, good luck. Like I said totally useful. I was _literally_ thinking to
myself just this week "I should learn TeX by using a simple document like my
resume, but don't know where to start." Spooky like you read my mind....

------
_pmf_
The first person to port LaTeX to WASM will be hailed as the messiah.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Is it a sign of dumb or a sign of genius not to know what WASM is?

~~~
ygra
WebAssembly. The spiritual successor to asm.js for representing an easier
compile target to browsers from C/C++.

In any case, the sheer size of LaTeX will make such an endeavour probably not
very useful (Download 1 GiB to render a document? Probably not.)

~~~
leephillips
Almost all the mass in a TeX installation is in the fonts and documentation.
If you just need a TeX engine (lualatex) and use system fonts, it's just a MB
or two.

~~~
dmlittle
In asm.js (excluding fonts and documentation) it's about 3 MB
[https://github.com/manuels/texlive.js/blob/master/pdftex-
wor...](https://github.com/manuels/texlive.js/blob/master/pdftex-worker.js)

------
equalunique
Scored my first IT Sec job by impressing the hiring manager with a resume
type-set in LaTeX.

------
alexbanks
Should probably escape #'s (in the case of C#)

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
Yeah. I saw that in testing and never got around to it.

------
awalGarg
tl;dr: it is a big form where you enter your personal details. The form is
slidinated (pagination with slides).

At the end, you get a button to copy some latex, which you are instructed to
paste in some website which applies a template and you get a preview back. You
can get a PDF as well. Example here
[https://l.awalgarg.me/oobqng33.pdf](https://l.awalgarg.me/oobqng33.pdf).

Seems handy I guess for getting a starting point.

I made this but with markdown a while ago, [https://github.com/awalgarg/cv-
maker](https://github.com/awalgarg/cv-maker).

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
11/10 for "how do I remove this thing"

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mrcactu5
i write particularly bad resumes (as my colleagues have told me) and I find
resume critiques dreadful. A tool like that produces the basic item is truly
helpful.

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
You actually get the source so you can modify it as you get your critiques.
You may find moving the sections around helps when doing critiques.

------
user5994461
EPIC FAIL! You just failed all your applications because of this poor
template. Allow me to explain why...

What is the single most important line in a resume?

That's the job you do, like "FULL STACK WEB DEVELOPER", which is the title of
the resume, going on top, bold big font. That's the first thing a reader needs
to understand, what do you do and what are you applying for.

This resume generator doesn't allow to write a title.

~~~
latkin
As someone who does a lot of interviewing, I can confirm this is NOT how
everyone feels.

~~~
user5994461
Do you do the screening too? Are you sometimes handed resumes without further
information?

Answer yes to any of these questions and you'll realize that you can't do your
job if the resume doesn't have a title. (Unless you spend 10 minutes to decode
it). You simply don't know what's the job of the candidate and can't forward
to any team/manager.

~~~
dmlittle
You can look at the Employment/Work Experience and see his current (and past)
roles. A good resume has this information easily available that you can get to
it within 2-3 seconds.

~~~
user5994461
Shall I remind you that the resume before you might be for a secretary and the
resume after you might be a construction worker trying to reconvert. The
resume pipeline is not limited to developers or your team ;)

Not to mention the challenge with people writing the meaningless official
titles from their companies and people having 10 years of experience in
different roles.

You can demand that everyone involved in recruiting scan your resume for 10
minutes and understand the last 10 years of your life. Most likely, that won't
happen and your resume will be discarded half the time.

