

Career damaging self description - abennett
http://www.itworld.com/video?bcpid=1578108607&bclid=1588003312&bctid=23220283001
"I am a X programmer" (for arbitrary values of X), is not a good way to describe yourself in my opinion.
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CalmQuiet
Am I the only one who thinks that video is a highly inefficient (linear) way
to communicate such a collection of ideas?: I must invest 10 minutes to see
what ideas are new (i.e., I can't scan down the bullet points of a table of
contents; nor can my eyes scan back up to consider an earlier point).

[ After all: he wouldn't suggest I tax the time of a prospective employer by
sending _my resume_ as a video. ]

Having the video as _an additional option/supplement_ to the text it WAY more
respectful to the visitor to the page. IMHO.

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RiderOfGiraffes
After 3 minutes he's said:

    
    
      Don't describe yourself as an XXX programmer.
      Languages come and go.
    

Great insight - I switched off there, I can't be bothered spending another 7
minutes finding out another (extrapolating) at most two obvious points.

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RiderOfGiraffes
I'm saving myself a little time here by copying this text from a previous
comment:

Warning: Auto-starting video

Finding which tab out of 30 tabs in 5 browser windows is annoyingly difficult.

Please - it's in the guidelines - put a warning in the title.

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teehee
He sounds like an Irish Bob Ross. Let's put a nice happy little tree on your
resume :)

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jcromartie
The problem is that it's already too late to help the people that need to hear
this advice.

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villageidiot
I disagree. He has two points. The first - Dont call yourself a "Java
programmer" (for example) because your job most likely will use more than Java
and the self-description may contrain your career options. Instead use more
general self-descriptions like "Database Expert" or "Web Developer". The
second - Learn multiple languages to give yourself a flexible mental framework
with which to solve problems.

I don't think it's too late for anyone to hear this advice. I thought it was
quite helpful.

