

Ten Tips For A Slightly Less Awful Resume - Neoryder
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/09/ten-tips-for-slightly-less-awful-resume.html

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dpapathanasiou
If he wants to see resumes with fewer buzzwords, then he should take ownership
of the screening function.

At too many big companies, HR is used to screen, and all they know how to do
is match buzzwords.

And that's just for starters (there's more to say on the topic of why job
search is broken).

Employers need to realize the system is broken largely because of what they
demand from candidates.

~~~
karzeem
It's a shame that at a lot of big companies, HR is the division with the least
intelligent employees. At most places, it's not the kind of job that attracts
the best and brightest.

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geebee
This is a really great post, and Steve Yegge is always fun to read.

I think that this post reveals how programmers are in the process of
speciating - ie., diverging into seperate groups that are no longer capable of
reproducing, resulting in different and incompatible branches of an
evolutionary tree. Why? Because resume that Steve recommends will keep you
from getting a job doing java for the accounts recievable department of a big
corp, and the resume that will get you that big corp java job will prevent you
from getting an interview with Steve.

Big corps are, first and foremost, looking for a pliable, good natured person
who will follow directions and largely do as told. Within that context, they'd
like as much talent as they can get, but they aren't willing to break the
obedience requirement to get it.

Negative indicators for a big corp are: contributions to open source projects,
an interesting an opinionated blog, microISV work, startup experience,
substantial side work, passion for (or borderline obsession with) "obscure"
programming languages (like LISP, ruby, smalltalk...) These things show that
you might be trouble.

Positive indicators for bigcorp are: buzzword bingo resumes, weasel words,
long lists of mainstream programming languages, databases and operating
systems (like Java, C#, VB, MSSQL...), vendor certification in the above list.
These things suggest to the big corp that you'll play their game the way they
like it played.

It turns out that you can't really cover both bases, which is why I call this
speciation. We're rapidly moving toward a point where these two groups will no
longer be able to interact or cross-pollinate. You can't be a bigcorp
programmer and an innovative hacker at the same time, any more than you can be
a sea cucumber and a clownfish the same time. One excludes the other.

Fortunately, you get to choose - and you _can_ change.

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nanijoe
I thought the whole point of this website (YC), was so you would never have to
write another resume.

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Neoryder
Yep, But we dream of the day when we are deluged with resume from people who
would like us to hire them. This gives us a little idea of how to filter the
better ones at least.

Think of this as a guide to help us make the process of scanning resumes just
a little bit more manageable. :-)

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jimbokun
Best quote:

""Lead" is ... the present-tense verb meaning "not doing any coding""

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brlewis
This is a funny and well-written essay on a pedestrian topic. I wish he had
been this pithy in the sheep-wolves essay, which I think has an important
meaning that I can only guess at.

~~~
imgabe
It took me a few minutes to realize which essay you were talking about,
because that's the only essay I haven't yet read all the way through; not for
a lack of trying. Steve Yegge is the James Joyce of programming blogs, and
that post is his Finnegan's Wake.

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Goladus
Definitely note that point he made about it being his experience with the
software industry. Other areas you often have no f-ing clue what format is
expected. Sometimes application processes are bizarrely complex. Cornell, for
example, lets you apply to multiple positions, and lets you update your resume
and cover letter, but doesn't tell you what exactly gets sent to the relevant
parties. That is, it's not exactly clear whether you're allowed one
authoritative version, or if your current 'live' resume gets forwarded to the
reviewers when you click submit.

At least, that's what it was like a year ago.

A lot of places just say "email a resume" and don't specify whether they mean
send an "email resume" or an "email with a word doc attached" or an "email
with a text resume attached" or "html-email" or "email with html attachment"
or "pdf." You just have to guess. I typically would send a rich text, informal
email cover letter with a few lines, then I'd attach the resume as html and
word doc.

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edw519
Now let's see if I got this right...I can either

a. prepare paperwork that completely neutralizes my differentiating assets
just to satisfy the automated processes of mindless drones

OR

b. start my own business.

DYHAQFM?

~~~
Neoryder
DYHAQFM, excuse my ignorance but what does this mean? Do You Have A __ __?

~~~
edw519
from the article...

the time honored end-of-interview transmission code: DYHAQFM? ("Do you have
any questions for me?")

~~~
Neoryder
thanks , I missed that!

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indie01
A blogspot-templated blog; how cute. I always find it slightly humorous when
people who profess to be "programming gurus" use something like a blogspot (or
WordPress or MoveableType) template to dispense their expert programming guru
knowledge. FTA:

"You listed HTML under programming languages, didn't you? Argh!"

IMHO, there's absolutely nothing wrong with listing HTML on one's resume,
especially if one actually _knows_ the context and how to use HTML to do
something besides make text (for example, render) bold or italic.

Plain text resumes can indeed work to get information across, but if ever
there were a way to demonstrate actual ability to code electronically, a
resume coded in HTML would be that way. Resumes are about presentation. HTML,
coupled with CSS, is a valuable way to demonstrate ability to present plain
text.

Actually, thinking about it, most programming is essentially about presenting
or rendering or parsing plain text, is it not? I would rather see somebody's
hand-coded text/HTML resume than a plain-text text/text resume with
(undemonstrative) HTML listed as a skill.

More on why job search is broken (and part of my startup philosophy):

There is a lot to be said for the meaning of irony when companies who claim to
want creative and "out of the box" thinkers request that potential employees
visit their website in order to submit the info on their resumes via little,
pre-formatted text boxes.

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anamax
> Resumes are about presentation. HTML, coupled with CSS, is a valuable way to
> demonstrate ability to present plain text.

What happens when your resume is processed/displayed by something that knows
nothing about html?

If I have to open a browser to read your "plain text"....

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indie01
When did it become significantly more difficult to open a web browser vs a
text editor? Command-line?

[indie@localhost~] $ firefox [indie@localhost~] $ gedit

I don't disagree with Mr. Yegge's assertion that plain text can be a decent
way to present info on a resume _if_ that is the only other option vs.
discriminatory Microsoft .doc formatting, bullets, etc. . . . but his
statement:

"HTML formatting usually makes it through safely because it's plain text.
However, even if your tags are left alone by the automated mangler, there's no
guarantee that your resume will be viewed from a browser, and nobody wants to
read through a bunch of ugly markup while they're trying to assess your
skills. So you shouldn't use HTML either."

Hello: programs (usually written by "programmers") are usually the entities
doing this "automated mangling".

Anyway. I realize now that by putting "programming guru" in quotes, it seemed
like I was attempting to insult the author's (SY's) skills, which I wasn't. .
. apologies for that. I simply have an aversion to the word "programmer";
phrases like "programming language" seem really immature and pedantic to me.
To me, _code_ is the magic word.

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indie01
Wow, even my apology is getting modded down! I must have hit a nerve or
something. :) To all who modded me down: way to jump on the bandwagon.

Why is everybody so anti-HTML?

~~~
rms
I think it was more about you cutting into this guy for using blogspot.

