

Tell HN: My experience with a "Resume 2.0" site. - wmeredith

http://ilovecolourlovers.com<p>There's seems to be some interest around here in these “resume 2.0” sites lately, so I thought I'd throw my experience out there for the benefit of my fellow HN'ers (also some critique will be coming my way, I'm sure.).<p>I was contacted by their CEO who said he was impressed with the site and my passion. After some back and forth questions he said they'd already filled the two positions for which I may be a good fit. He wished me the best of luck and said he'd pass on my info to any interested parties he came across. (This was last week.) It was a positive experience overall, but no offer.<p>Since I didn't get the job, I re-purposed it for 37signals and sent it to them as an application piece for their current UI opening. (http://ilove37signals.com) I haven't heard from them either. (Probably some really stiff competition there, considering their level of pop-dev media exposure.) I'd like to get some feedback on this. It's my code and the enthusiasm is sincere, but I felt weird re-purposing it after building it for a specific company...<p>Maybe my interface design/dev and copy writing chops aren't what I thought they were, or maybe I just had bad timing. I’m also aiming high, because I actually like my current job, but it looks like pay has leveled out and I basically have no benefits (I pay almost $1,000/month for health coverage for myself and my family.)<p>As for the code, it was meant to be a resume/portfolio in and of itself as evidenced by the content, but also the back end of it utilizes everything I currently know about CSS3 and responsive web design with lots of nice (IMHO) touches like embedded web fonts, shadows, text shadows gradients, media queries, transforms etc... I think it's a pretty slick piece.<p>I'm probably going to re-skin my personal site at http://wademeredith.com with some iteration of this design and keep looking for a telecommuting/Kansas City job as a UI designer/developer that actually has benefits.<p>FWIW, As long as it's an employer's market, I think this "resume 2.0" trend will grow. A competent design/dev can knock out a completely custom one of these out in a weekend. (I did this over the course of about 7 days in my spare time. I work 60 hours a week and have an 11-month old daughter.)  When the cost of really standing out from the stack of resumes is a weekend project's worth of work, why wouldn't you do it? Especially if it can land you a job you'll have for years.<p>TL;DR Didn't get the job, got a nice note from the CEO, will be re-purposing the code for something else since a lot went into it.
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coryl
I think your visuals could be a lot better than what you have now. To me, you
have an odd choice of colors and fonts. I also hate reading thin columns of
text, your layout is very taxing for the reader because they must scroll up
and down for every column they want to read. That might be a design flaw.

So a bit more work into it may be needed.

*Also, getting called out on the TemplateMonster...hopefully you're the original designer? Not sure what to think otherwise.

~~~
wmeredith
Template monster? Where is the call out? Is there a template like this
somewhere? The design is 100% original, although very simple so a similarity
to a template (or several) would not entirely surprise me. As for colors, it
was a ColourLovers palette and a nod to their pallete creation interface.

Thanks for the feedback, though. Will definitely take into account.

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Maro
Hi, I'm not a designer, but here it goes.

1/ The vertical coloured stripes look good on the "content" part, but not on
the top, as a background to the "I love ..." text.

2/ You "cut" the page horizontally below the "I love ..." text, but this seems
to be dissonant with the vertical stripes. Maybe the top part should have a
different background color?

3/ The vertical stripes don't go all the way down, it doesn't look right to
me.

4/ The screenshots move up on mouseover, but it doesn't feel right.

5/ The actual content of your "Resume 2.0" is still too resumey.
"ColourLovers.com has been a part of my creative process blah blah... I've
been designing, building and writing blah blah". I'm not saying it's bad, in
fact it's probably very good, it's just not _that_ different from a regular
old resume.

6/ I think that a website-as-a-resume is an all or nothing deal. I mean, the
person either sees it and says "yeah I want this guy", but if not, I don't
think they'll go to the trouble of actually finding your resume PDF link on
the site, printing it and adding it to their stack of regular submissions in
whatever system they're using.

7/ Shouldn't the "one-page resume" link to a PDF? I think it's broken, I can't
get to your actual PDF resume to print it!

8/ As another commenter mentioned, you're using Wordpress to generate one
page? It's even got an empty RSS feed =)

Hope it helps, good luck with your job hunting!

~~~
wmeredith
Thanks for the detailed feedback! I'll take this stuff into account for the
code on this I end up re-purposing.

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yuvadam
I have a gripe with this whole "resume 2.0" thing.

It's not about a flashy design. It's not about specifically targeting the
company you want to work for.

It's about standing out from the crowd. Being special. Once everyone and their
mother start creating a "resume 2.0", it will become a commodity, and
designers and developers will need to devise new ways of attracting employer
attention.

~~~
bendmorris
I totally agree. The first couple were novel but now we're seeing these on HN
every week or so. The novelty has worn out.

~~~
wmeredith
Yep, pretty soon you'll have to have a resume app in the app store. ;)

That's a joke, but I guarantee we'll see one soon. It's probably already
happened and hasn't been well publicized. I also recall reading a story about
someone who targeted a resume promoting Facebook ad at a single person (their
desired employer's creative director) in New York if I'm not mistaken.

It's an amazing time to be in publishing.

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freddealmeida
First of all, I think its a great effort. I'd keep refining it over time. I
agree that maybe you would want to shift the content to a less resume-y look
at your skills and work. But using HTML5 tech is cool. Targeting a specific
employer is great but pull down the last one. Also a little more research into
specific companies toolsets would be worth your time (ie. 37signals is a rails
house, love sass and coffee-script and yeah, I would bet PHP is not at the top
of their skills list (but that is just an opinion))

Take a look at prosite.com for a great way to develop a portfolio site.
Consider connecting your site to your git repo or dribble, behance, or forrst
accounts in a more visual way. I didn't see it here (I certainly didnt want to
read it to find it).

I'm sure you will end up exactly where you want to go. Keep pushing for
colorlovers. persistence is everything. Especially if you really want it.

And I see a small side business in this for you. I'm sure there are quite a
few people (non-techies) that would kill for their own resume 2.0.

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mdolon
_lots of nice (IMHO) touches like embedded web fonts, shadows, text shadows
gradients, media queries, transforms etc._

Using a ton of different effects is very risky if you can't get them to work
in unison. The first thing I noticed on your site was the glow on the text,
making it fuzzy and hard to read. Also, the columns feel like an expanded
Kuler palette, which doesn't really work well when used as the entire
background. Overall the site just doesn't feel very polished.

In terms of re-purposing your design, if the latter company (or companies)
finds that out, I don't think they'd be very impressed at all, as it shows a
lack of effort. If you want to save yourself from having to create multiple
top-notch resume sites, just make a really slick looking portfolio site that's
not targeted to a specific company and give that link to everyone.

~~~
wmeredith
Yeah, it was kind of a shot in the dark. That's definitely what I'll end up
doing.

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brandoncordell
The resume site is ok. The narrow columns are truly annoying, provide bad user
experience (which is not good for a resume site, and especially not good for
someone looking for ui/ux positions), and promotes horrible readability.

On a resume site, especially for companies such as colourlovers and 37signals,
it's all about first impressions. You've got to include something that stands
out and really catches the persons eye. Just because it's a "resume 2.0" site
doesn't mean they're going to give a damn.

The header font just looks out of place to me, I don't think it's the font
itself. I think it's the fact that it has a glow about the text which spans
across the different color columns.

One thing that kills me about this site is the fact that your portfolio sites
DESTROY this site in terms of design. Your portfolio looks great, this site
should have just as good, if not way a better, design.

I would declutter it (use more whitespace for sure), tone down the colors
(choose another color scheme, they don't work well in my opinion), and
definitely focus way more on your portfolio than you are. My eye is drawn more
to the "Hi my name is unicorn" picture than to your portfolio. That's not a
good thing. Designers need to know how to draw user focus.

Is there a reason that "Hi my name is unicorn" image is there? I would
personally leave stuff like that out of your resume. Just because it's "resume
2.0" doesn't mean it's ok to steer away from the professional direction.

I apologise if this came off in a bad way. I truly am not meaning to bash your
site in any way. I'm just trying to provide feedback and my opinion (that's
all it is, don't take it to heart). I'm also at work trying to type this out
as fast as I can.

Good luck with finding a job if you decide on moving on from your current
position.

~~~
brandoncordell
as a side not to my comment. This is one of the best employer targeted
(37signals actually) resume sites I've seen. You can learn a lot about what
ui/ux employers want to see on a site like this.

<http://jasonzimdars.com/svn/>

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inkaudio
I don't think repurposing your design is a good way to get ux/design job.
You'll need a custom design to fit like a glove, see loren's " I want to work
for Airbnb ". The template monster thing is a problem. Second your site feels
too much like a resume. I think writing and content should have more of a
cover letter + resume feel to it. Highlight all the benefits you'll bring to
the company.

~~~
wmeredith
I concur. I liked Loren's site. That's what actually inspired me to take a
crack at this.

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bgnm2000
As a UI/UX guy I don't think the site is particularly user friendly.

~~~
PetrolMan
Examples would be nice.

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mcotton
I have been trying applying for jobs in a very targeted way. I have been doing
personalized introductions to screencasts or sending links to things they've
specifically asked for. It hasn't payed off yet, but I believe it is the
correct path for me.

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atarian
To me resume 2.0 websites will hurt you more than it will help. You're wasting
time creating something you're not getting paid to do. And in the end it adds
no value whatsoever to your overall portfolio. Why not spend that time
refining your portfolio instead?

Also if you like your job, then chances are your employer like you too. You
really should consider asking for better compensation instead of jumping ship
onto a different company. I certainly hope you talked to your employer first
before announcing on the Internet that you're not satisfied with the pay...

~~~
freddealmeida
So much for creativity and art and open source. the resume 2.0 is definitely a
new trend but it is not going to be saturated by any sense. It clearly shows
what one is capable of doing without risk to the company looking at you. It is
doing the work, to get the work. Any founder here would be happier with
someone that did this than someone that cranked out a word doc.

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phektus
Hello Wade, your resume really stands out! I'd like to ask your permission to
use it as a template for my free resume builder app ->
<http://www.cvstash.com>. It will be included with the free templates users
can choose from, with a backlink to your site (or this particular resume page)
so others can also get in touch with you. The site is completely free service
for job hunters, like you and me, without ads or anything. Let me know what
you think ;-)

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vikasvadlapatla
I think the concept of online portfolios have been around for quite a while
now. These are what I call Resume 2.0's <http://mashable.com/2011/01/17/tips-
video-resumes/>

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petervandijck
I'm sorry, but it just doesn't look good enough. The header especially is
ugly. A glance and your application will go in the bin. You should work on
your visual skills.

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molecule
the proper spelling is 'résumé', not 'Resumé'

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9>

~~~
wmeredith
Doh! Thanks!

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jdjdjd
your colors (grays and reds) don't work for me and they are distracting.
lighten up!

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jcol
<http://i.imgur.com/HrRuJ.png>

That's a well known TemplateMonster template. Also, you're using Wordpress.

~~~
wmeredith
The resume site was built on WordPress (somewhat unnecessarily in the projects
final iteration it turns out - hindsight) because Clourlovers was hiring for
WP devs. A few things that were in at the start that would've actually taken
advantage of the platform were dropped. There is other work in my folio that
does take full advantage of the platform and really pushes it to its limits.
(Although it seems that around HN WP's name is mud more often than not.)

As for the template monster thing and the PKDcure.org design, that design is
100% original and was part of a 9 month roll out for a huge corporate client
with usability testing and extensive UX planning etc, etc... Any similarity is
coincidence. The design in question was worked on by a team of designers for
months so it's ironic/depressing that there's apparently a template out there
for it that can be had for a few bucks (I'm assuming). Although there's
literally no way it's _exactly_ the same, PKDcure.org is a 400 page site with
10-15 unique page layouts.

Can I get a link to the template of which you speak?

