

Ask HN: Should programming resumes be one page or two pages? - Kortaggio

I&#x27;m finishing my last year of college (graduating April 2015) and I&#x27;m updating my resume and portfolio to get ready for a full-time job search in web software development. Most advice articles I see on the Internet advise graduates to limit their resumes to one page, but this advice generally assumes the applicant is trying to get a non-technical job. Most of my friends who work in technical roles have two-page resumes, and I assume this is because the extra page is needed to accommodate a larger listing of projects, programming languages, etc. Is the assumption correct that recruiters expect two-page resumes from undergraduates for technical roles, or should I still limit myself to one page?
======
ModernMech
There might be a couple of issues here. One, how old are your friends? If
they've worked in industry for a while, they're going to have a lot more to
put on their resumes than you. Coming out of college, even if you've interned
at a different tech company every summer, I can't possibly imagine how you'd
have enough experience to fill two pages.

If your friends haven't really been in the industry too long, my guess is they
are like most tech-minded people and don't know really know how to write a
resume, which is a subset of knowing how to communicate effectively. Many
tech-minded people make the common mistake of trying to convey too much
information, especially highly technical information that the hiring manager
really isn't that interested in. Tech people like all the dirty details, but
everyone else wants you to just get to the point.

Here's what I think you should do: write a two page resume. Now cut it down to
one page. Condense ideas, cut out fluff, and really distill it to its
essential elements. This will be a much more impressive document since you've
put a lot more thought into saying only what you need to, and not just
everything that comes to mind.

~~~
Kortaggio
That's a good point. I think it's a combination of (1) My friends in tech are,
on aggregate, about 3-5 years older than me and (2) There's still the
(probably misguided) advice floating around of "You should write down every
language and framework you know so that your resume shows up in a keyword
search!"

Your advice makes a lot of sense, I'll keep to one page. My feeling is that
North American HR people generally expect one page resumes.

~~~
ModernMech
Your reply made me think of another issue. There is no such thing as "your
resume". It's not a single document that you write once and send out to
everyone. If you are applying for 100 positions, than you should write 100
resumes. Most people write a general resume which has everything on there
they've ever done (which is why they need two pages), but a resume targeted to
a specific position at a specific company can be much shorter.

~~~
Kortaggio
I will be customizing my resume for each company, but I'm thinking about a
general version that I post on my website where I don't know who is going to
download it _a priori_.

------
enkiv2
Go for a single page, unless you have some legitimate reason to have multiple
pages. Many HR people will simply throw out resumes if they seem too long, and
having a resume that seems 'padded' will not get you respect either.

If you have a PhD and a whole page of peer-reviewed published research, you
can put that on the second page; otherwise keep to one page and assume that
whoever is looking at your resume will google your name if they are
interested.

