On: The opportunity cost of a broad skillset

Is it too hard to beef up resume with required buzzwords?

I have as many of the requisite buzzwords and acronyms of which I can legitimately claim knowledge.

The problem is that's not enough. For example, a job description might call for "Eclipse: 5-7 years". Eclipse. A freaking IDE.

Or "Swing: 5+ years". I've used Swing off and on since Java 1.2, but I certainly don't have 5+ years of it, thus my knowledge of other GUI frameworks (like Cocoa's UIKit) counts for nothing. And never mind that making a UI is more a process of proper design principles than it is of knowing intricacies of any particular framework.

Harumph!

Did you use Swing 5 years ago and refreshed what it is today?

Claim 5+ years of experience with Swing.

These are rules of the game.

(I assume you want to get that interview).

First time using Swing was about 13 years ago, actually...

So put "10+ years of using Swing" on your resume and tell recruiter that you are using Swing since 1998.

Again, I assume that you don't mind using Swing on your next project.