Open Comments Thread for "The Art of the Developer Resume" by Daniel Read

This series of comments was ported to this new comments page from the original comments thread page for this article:

Posted by kellegous @ 11/19/2003 02:24 AM EST:

In general, I have become pretty disgusted with what seems to be an ever increasing uniformity in resumes. The "Objective" section is one example. The only value it provides the employer is some space in which to jot notes about the candidate. Your objectives, in my opinion, are a more fitting topic for the cover letter where "To find a challenging and rewarding position in a dynamic and exciting work environment" is not really acceptable. Another grievance with the institutionalized resume is the "References" section. Let me guess, they are available upon request. I gloss over that section with the same zeal I do government mandated footnotes like “The Department of Such and Such is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate...” If an employer wants to speak to references (I always do), they will ask you for references regardless of whether you dedicate a section to it on your resume. If I put anything at all about references, I make it a footnote unobtrusively placed at the end of the resume that states "Additional information and references available upon request." I prefer, however, to leave that out as well.

The primary goal of a resume, as you point out, is to represent you to the hiring manager. Resumes are not tax forms, there is not some common way to represent the abstract entity called potential employee. The resume is creative and it serves a purpose. Do what needs to be done to best represent you as a potential employee. If it means more emphasis on education, then expand that section. In general, if the structure of your resume does not mirror your experience in some way, you have probably done a poor job. And, for the love God, someone please find these people who insist that resumes are single paged personnel flyers and send them away. Make at least three separate diligent passes through your resume trying to make it as concise as possible. If your effort is sincere, the length will not be a problem.

(and, yes, i do realize i am about to comment on an article that was posted in 2001. so be it)

Posted by Daniel Read @ 11/19/2003 11:43 AM EST:

Hello, Kellegous. Thanks for your comments. I could not agree more. Unformity is indeed a double-edged sword. All of the resume books preach uniformity. Follow the standard format or employers won't give your resume serious attention. That is good advice to some extent, because if you print it on colored paper with a flowered border around the edges, no one is going to give your resume a second look, other than to pass it around the office for laughs. However, within the "standard format" there is a lot of room for innovation and creativity. Thanks for reading.

Posted by NewToTheGame @ 03/01/2004 01:58 PM ES:

I really liked your advice and comments. I've recently released from a correctional facility where I spent many (read: >10) years in software development. I have great skills and experience with software, but few with resume's. Were it not for articles like yours, I believe I may never get a job! Of course, I may not still, but that's another story.

Thanks!

Dan, I apologize for not commenting earlier, but I just wanted to add my support to the comments you made. In fact, just last week I sent a link to a girl who is a programmer analyst intern with us and graduates in May. She had asked me to review her resume and I just had to sigh. I said, "There's this great article about developer resumes you should really read." She thanked me profusely after reading it.

But back to my subject line. I had to hire three programmers in a period of three months between September and December, 2004. That's unusual, considering we only have 10 or so developers and turnover is rare. Since these were spaced apart, I had the pleasure of reviewing three separate heaps of applications. For each job 30-50 qualified applicants applied. (More than that applied, but Human Resources screened them out before I saw them.) Keep in mind that I don't live in a major metro area, so I can imagine demand can be far greater elsewhere. Here is the reality: You only want to interview 5 or 6 at the max for each job. How to pare down the pile? The reality is the smallest details make the difference between getting an interview or not. If everyone has a degree and little experience (these were Programmer Analyst I positions) then cover letters, descriptions of school programming projects, or related work on the side starts to really matter.

I am a believer in tailoring your resume to fit the job. One fellow listed in his objective that he was looking for a job in the private sector. (The job he was applying for was in government.) I ended up giving him the benefit of the doubt and interviewing him anyway, but later realized that had been a HUGE clue. I also interviewed someone despite the fact that he spelled HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) like HIPPA, claiming he had been very involved with it. Since I had led the countywide HIPAA team for three years, it was a bit of a touchy detail for me. Again, it was a clue. As my CIO says, a resume is extremely important to a candidate. If they would make mistakes on it, what does that say about their attention to detail or commitment to excellence?

I think we tend to take our resumes a little too lightly, thinking that in the interview, we can explain more fully our experience and impressive background. No we won't, because unless the hiring supervisor knows us personally, we'll never make it that far.

That's another thing. Once you've been in the industry a while, your experience becomes your resume, in a way. At least if you stay in the same area. You have a trail of projects that either speak to your credit...or...well, you can always move.

Great job with this topic, Dan. I don't know when I have seen such a thorough and thoughtful treatment.