
Ask HN: Resume check and critique - jathu
Since the school year is coming to an end, I think a lot of students are starting to apply to jobs. So, I think it would be really helpful if they got feedback on their resume from the industry itself.<p>Those looking for a job: please post a link to your resume.<p>Everyone else: help someone out!
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synclair
Would really love some help with mine:
[http://synclairwang.com/assets/resume.pdf](http://synclairwang.com/assets/resume.pdf)

I just started looking for jobs and haven't had much luck. I bought into the
craze of coding bootcamps and although I learned a lot, I feel like it isn't
enough to stand out. Would appreciate any tips and thinks to change/remove/add
into the resume.

And in case anyone wants to give some input on my portfolio site as well:
[http://synclairwang.com](http://synclairwang.com)

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jathu
* Your layout is a bit confusing. It's kind of difficult to figure out what title is the company name and your job title. I suggest you keep the EXPERIENCE and EDUCATION labels on the left and move everything else to the right. I've done a rough mock: [http://imgur.com/a/g2t0c](http://imgur.com/a/g2t0c)

* I'm not a fan of the design, but that's just my opinion. You can search for better resume templates

* Add a section where you point out what languages you know

* Another section for all the frameworks, tech stack, experiences and etc.

* "Netted over 700 hours...", I'm not sure if quantifying something like that is a good thing. 700 hours is kind of arbitrary, even as a developer I don't know that that really entails. You should just say you know how to build web apps, you're a full stack eng. and etc.

* "After learning about this word from a friend...", totally irrelevant. I don't think a recruiter cares about this. It is a good story to tell in an interview, but just not an a resume. Just get to the point as fast as possible while describing what the app does

* Overall the resume tells me what your projects do but it doesn't tell me too much about you. Tell me what you did, what you learned, obstacles you overcame, etc. This is a good area to quantify things. i.e. "Used CSS to develop convolutional neural network to improve efficiency by 100000000%"

* I'm not sure if your other two work experiences are relevant for a web dev, but you did a good job in making it sound relevant to who you are

~~~
synclair
Alright noted! Thanks for the input. Time to revise!

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nkristoffersen
I am actually working on web app that walks you through building a solid
resume based on my own UX opinions. Then at the end you can print out the pdf.
This is my resume (rather outdated now) and my opinionated design.
[http://resume.kristoffersen.io](http://resume.kristoffersen.io)

Thoughts on a resume builder web app? Want to see one exist?

~~~
dullman
Sorry, but that resume looks absolutely terrible.

Lots of redundant content, looks messy because of all the images/logos, sub-
header 'blocks' take up too much space, font sizes are all over the place,
could be condensed to 1 page, etc.

~~~
nkristoffersen
Thanks for the input! Yeah the logos are terrible. However, from a UX
standpoint, what I was going for is an easy to skim resume. So less important
content get reduced, more important content gets increased to get noticed
more. This is because you only have a few seconds to catch the readers
attention before going in the circular file.

This is one of those things that I have A/B tested quite a bit :-)

~~~
dullman
A/B tested on who? I see hundreds of resumes throughout the year and your
resume is one that I would likely pass over because, frankly, it looks like
something a young student slapped together real quick in MS Word compared to
the average resume I see.

When it comes to design, I immediately notice that the font size for your name
is much too big (especially compared to the email address). Then there is the
page header (Qualifications) which takes up around 10% of the page on its own.
Under the 'Related History' section, the name of the projects take up way too
much space while the font-size of your job title and duration of stay are hard
to read. Why do you need that empty white block next to the name of the
projects? All this wasted space not only makes the resume's layout ineffective
but also makes it look very unprofessional.

Content-wise, the core of your resume should be what you have under 'Related
History'. I want to be able to get a good idea, quickly, of what you did in
your past positions. Based on that information I can get a good idea of pretty
much everything you have under 'Qualifications'. I would cut all of
'Qualifications' out and summarize everything in there into 3 - 4 bullet
points/short sentences. Also, why did you bold seemingly random words like
'CMS' and 'infrastructure'?

Honestly, I would just stick to something like
[https://www.careercup.com/resume](https://www.careercup.com/resume).
Remember, the key point of your resume is to quickly communicate your past
experience and highlight relevant information.

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EugeneFedotov
I have been unable to find employment, minus a short contract, since
graduation. I practically get rejected at every company. So any feedback is
helpful.

[http://docdro.id/p9Rei3K](http://docdro.id/p9Rei3K)

