

Ask HN: How should I present my skills section on my resume? - eel

Hi HN, I am currently looking for a new job. I've already applied to a few, but I'm still tweaking my resume. I've run into a snag in how to present my skills. I am graduating with my Masters in May, and I have picked up a fairly broad array of skills via internships, jobs, class projects, and side projects. I have no idea how to present all this information on my resume.  Currently, I am listing the following under my "Skills" section:<p><pre><code>  Object-oriented programming (C#, PHP, Python)
  Front-end web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, YUI, Django, MVC design pattern)
  Familiarity with C programming (including C syntax, pointers and memory management)
  Windows application development (.NET Framework, WPF, MVVM design pattern)
  Mac OS X application development (Objective-C and Cocoa)
  SQL databases (MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite)
  Version control (git, SVN, CVS)
  Linux (Bash, Vim)
</code></pre>
These are things in which I feel I have reasonable experience or practice in for a recent graduate. I'm also omitting things (such as Java and Lua) with which I have experience with, but still less than the above. Does anyone have any recommendations on how I can best present this information? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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kellros
I'll start off with a question; what's your label?

A resume should echo what you are passionate about.

Some people write up a resume per interview specifically tailored to the need
of the company. (I see you plan to do X, I have skill Y)

Saying 'I can do everything' doesn't imply 'I can do everything well'.

If you market yourself as a .NET programmer, then that's the job you'll get.

It's nice to have the occasional additives (languages/frameworks you rarely
use) just in case of referral (being asked to interview for something that's
not your speciality). But be sure to weigh your primary and secondary skills
differently.

Be sure to provide social proof to back up your claims (ex. I used X, Y, Z to
build A, B, C for company N to accomplish E, F, G). Interviewers/potential
employers also want to see what your responsibilities were at your previous
jobs/projects.

Don't be shy to mention hobby projects if your portfolio in regards to
experience is a bit thin - also try to keep it less than 4/5 pages (think
menu, not memoir) :)

Good luck

~~~
jnorthrop
Your suggestion to tailor the resume towards your passions (or also the job
you want) is great advice, but 4+ pages? I have 20+ years experience and my
resume is two pages. The resume should be just enough to get them to call you
and nothing more. No one is going to read through anything more than a couple
of pages and certainly not for someone just out of grad school.

------
sharth
You should be tailoring your resume to the job that you are applying for. If
you are applying for a job doing web development, does it matter that you
understand Windows and OS X application development? Likewise, if you are
applying for a company that builds C# applications, your knowledge of web
development is not very meaningful.

The other problem with the skills section is that it is not clear which skill
segment you understand best.

