
Practical Tips for Facelifting a Tech Resume - andrewstetsenko
https://cvcompiler.com/blog/facelift-your-it-resume-to-get-more-interviews/
======
mfrye0
A helpful tip for finding a new job that uses technologies you don't have
professional experience with, but you want to learn...

Say you want to learn Rust, but all your experience is in Javascript. Most
recruiters will immediately filter out your resume if you don't have the
keyword "Rust" somewhere in the document.

Before you start sending out your resume, spend a few weeks hacking on a Rust
side project to learn some of the basics. Then on your resume, include a
description at the top saying you're proficient in Javascript, but want the
opportunity to work in Rust. Then include a "Side Projects" section at the
bottom that lists your Rust experience.

I've landed 3 jobs that way, where I'm hired for my experience with X, but
under the condition I will have the opportunity to learn Y. Otherwise, it's
easy to get trapped working with the same tech at a new job, and your skills
eventually become obsolete over time.

~~~
mettamage
This is blog post worthy, as I think this idea could fleshed out. Here are
some questions in no particular order of importance, just curious (and showing
some evidence this could be fleshed out):

1\. How many times did you try it?

2\. Why do you think it works?

3\. How do you find companies that have both technologies?

4\. Have you seen a difference in the willingness to let you learn the
technology that you'd want to learn?

5\. Do you know of times when this approach failed, if so why?

6\. Are you of the opinion that if you'd spend 5 years working on JS for 100%
of the time vs 5 years 50% of the time and 5 years 50% of the time on a
technology that you'd like, that you would be as experienced in JS in both
cases? Even if you're not, could people prove that you're not? Should you just
say you've had 5 years of XP with JS?

7\. Are there moments when this approach is strictly worse compared to a
traditional approach despite it not failing, if so why?

8\. Are there strategies that synergize well with this approach? Are there
strategies that diminish the value of this approach (aka work against it
somehow)?

Alright, brainstorm time is over. I'd read your blog post about it, or having
an email discussion would be awesome too (my email is in my profile, if you
think it'd be fun).

~~~
mfrye0
That's a good idea. I think a blog post explaining the strategy further could
be helpful for a lot of devs.

To be frank though, I really don't have time at the moment. My typical blog
post takes a few days to write, and I'm completely swamped with work for the
next couple months. Like 12-15 hours a day, no life sort of thing...

With that said, I'd be open to chat with you or someone else about it, and
they could run with it on their own.

My email is hello --at-- michaelfrye.me

------
bartread
I'm getting pretty tired of seeing 5 ("Establish and showcase an online
presence").

Why? It's substantially nonsense. Many of the best programmers I've worked
with don't do, or don't showcase, side-projects. And why should they? They've
got families and other interests.

Who wants to be stuck in front of a computer all the time? (He said,
ironically, whilst typing a HN comment on a Sunday evening.)

~~~
mfrye0
Because most of the code you write at a previous job is not going to publicly
available. So I have no other reference point as to your current skills.

Apart from just the code itself, having side projects is a good sign of
valuable, non-technical skills. Such as intellectual curiosity, ability to
start/finish things, and if it's a collaborative open source project, can play
well / collaborate with others.

~~~
king_magic
Eh, I’ve never really found that candidates I’ve interviewed with an
established open source presence are any better than those without. It does
not impress me as an interviewer at all anymore.

~~~
jonathankoren
Agree. All it tells me is that you either worked at someplace that already
open sourced something, or you have lots of time and don’t have hobbies
outside of programming.

People think that somehow interviewers or hiring managers are going to dig
through some random repo and assess it, but frankly there’s no time nor
motivation. The most I’ve ever done is click some links, and see if the repo
is just 3 files, or if it’s more substantial. There’s just not any time for
anything more, and it’s all going to become clear during the interview anyway.

------
Supermancho
> Avoid ‘false accomplishments’. These are your responsibilities, described in
> the past tense. Until you’ve shown an impact, it’s not meaningful.

That's just wrong. These are talking points and are the basis for your
"experience", which is important to discuss.

> Enrich your resume with numbers and accomplishments. Instead of ‘Was
> building a web application with [X] and [Y], write ‘Led the development of
> [X] feature, integrated it across [Z] products, resulting in extra [Y] in
> revenue’.

You probably don't know the revenue at a company of any scale larger than 10
people. More importantly, these numbers likely mean nothing when applying at a
different company (even if it's the exact same position in the same industry).

> Omit the Summary and Objective sections. In 9 cases out of 10, summaries and
> objectives are not impressive.

It's not supposed to be impressive, it's supposed to be informative and a
talking point.

> Use modern fonts.

Use courier or some other common plain text fixed-width font. Format it as if
it's being read like that, since someone may have to print it out and hand it
around and maybe _gasp_ copy-paste it (like web forms and other large-company-
process-nonsense) in an intermediate form. Don't be an ass.

Having interviewed hundreds of times and been interviewed hundreds of times (I
keep lots of resumes), I would not recommend this blog post as a guide.

~~~
iKevinShah
Thank you for a different PoV. If not this post, is there a post you'd
recommend? Like some points we tend to knowingly or unknowingly ignore.

------
xwdv
As an engineer I’ve resigned to making my resumes simple text files written in
monospaced Menlo with manually wrapped columns at 80 characters. Very little
adjectives are used, I stick straight to the facts.

People are stunned when they pick up my single page resume and see how simple
and straight forward it is. In a time when so many people are making wacky
embellishments and cover letters to stand out, here’s a page filled with dense
information and a promise to not waste any time.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
Okay, but does it actually get you through HR? I'm not writing a "fancy"
resume because I like it; I wanna get hired.

~~~
xwdv
Way more often than a fancy resume.

------
joncp
You know, if a resume came my way that was in comic sans I’d definitely read
it, thinking “here’s a wiseass who’s confident in their abilities. I’d
probably like working with them.”

~~~
mieseratte
Well now I’m curious, would anyone here reject a Comic Sans resume and why?

~~~
umanwizard
Forcing your personal brand of silliness/quirkiness on someone before you have
established enough of a rapport with them to know what they’re likely to find
funny is a sure-fire recipe for annoying them.

I wouldn’t automatically reject such a resume but it would absolutely be a
negative signal.

~~~
mieseratte
> I wouldn’t automatically reject such a resume but it would absolutely be a
> negative signal.

I could imagine using a resume with a wonky font to elicit signal from the
employer side.

------
lacampbell
_Instead of ‘Was building a web application with [X] and [Y], write ‘Led the
development of [X] feature, integrated it across [Z] products, resulting in
extra [Y] in revenue’._

How many people are actually in positions to know how much revenue a feature
of theirs brought in?

Unless I'm supposed to read between the lines and it's actually telling me to
make something up.

~~~
JabrZer0
Related question: How does one balance objective, numbers-driven reporting
like this with the terms of an NDA? I imagine that most companies would
consider the financial impact (or other similar statistics) of many features
to be a trade secret.

------
thekhatribharat
> _Led the development of [X] feature, integrated it across [Z] products,
> resulting in extra [Y] in revenue_

The example isn't apt. " _[Y] in revenue_ " has no connection with the
engineering function, " _[Y] in revenue_ " is a responsibility of the product,
marketing and sales functions. (This then contradicts pt. 3: _" Avoid false
accomplishments"_ of the article)

I'd wager technical hiring managers would be more interested in technical
metrics (QPS, incident response times, etc.) than business metrics (revenue,
MAU, etc.)

~~~
vekker
Yeah I agree. This makes sense for a managerial role, not for tech roles. From
the perspective of a hiring manager such a line looks like hiding behind the
accomplishments of the team.

------
DoreenMichele
Or hire someone for a few bucks to give it the once over. Because it's really
hard to edit your own stuff.

~~~
uchman
Yea eventually the tool eventually gets you to pay for manual review or extra
features.

~~~
DoreenMichele
It's content marketing. I have no clue if the advice is any good. But that's
how the game gets played, basically.

I sometimes edit resumes for pay. They are typically very good resumes -- well
written, few typos, etc. They still benefit from having a second set of eyes
on them.

I'm also a freelance writer and blogger. I know all too well how hard it is to
edit your own writing. It's extremely hard.

People tend to see what they intended to say instead of what they actually
wrote, thereby glossing over all the typos. It's very hard to catch your own
mistakes.

If you are in tech, you can probably afford to cough up a few bucks to have
someone review your resume. If you can't, ask a friend or go to a Reddit sub
that does this for free or similar.

But get some feedback somehow. Don't just do it all yourself.

------
xpe
Re: ‘Your potential employer will objectively evaluate your skills and
knowledge during the technical interview or a test task.’

Please remove the word ‘objectively’.

Employers have varying types of evaluation, none of which I would call
objective. I think a company is doing fairly well if their evaluation is a (1)
useful proxy for the work and culture and (2) updated on a regular basis.

------
evadne
> Comis Sans

~~~
lechienquipete
Funny when the previous point is "avoid typos"

~~~
samplatt
Muphry's Law is a harsh mistress.

~~~
DonHopkins
There's a Comic Serif font just for ironic resumes.

[https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/hvdfonts/hvd-comic-serif-
pro/](https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/hvdfonts/hvd-comic-serif-pro/)

[https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/hvd-comic-
serif](https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/hvd-comic-serif)

------
0942v8653
I disagree with the point about fonts. Computer Modern or similar will look
much more professional than the listed modern fonts, in my opinion.

~~~
williamdclt
I think you could send your resume with any of those fonts to a couple hundred
recruiters, none of them will notice that it's not Times New Roman (and I
don't blame them).

------
uchman
Where do you even find these fonts? Can't find them in Word Palanquin,
Merriweather, Lato, and Poppins

~~~
jobigoud
[https://fonts.google.com/](https://fonts.google.com/)

~~~
mediumdeviation
Yup, you can definitely see a web developer bias here - those are all popular
webfonts because Google offer them free on their CDN, and it is easy to drop
them into any website by just pasting in the CSS, but they are probably much
less familiar to those outside frontend web development. They're also not
necessarily the best fonts to use for the same reason.

