Invisible wrote:
> I posted a sheet of paper to two-dozen people, typed the filled in 
> results into an Access database, and printed some pie charts. If you 
> take out the word "small" it sounds like I did something really major.

It doesn't matter!  Do you think the HR person reading the CV can do 
that?  Do you think others applying for the job are going to downplay 
their skills?

> Similarly for the scripting; copying some files from A to B isn't 
> exactly rocket science. It's not like I developed a major application. 

> It's just some small utilities.

No, it's an important backup utility.

> Is anybody going to care that I wrote a program to copy some files 
> around? I mean, we're talking about a few dozen lines of code here. It'
s 
> not exactly GCC.

Yes. It's an important backup and data access utility. When you get to 
the interview, they may or may not ask you.

>> Under your skills profile, I would actually write the complete list of
 
>> languages you have a "long history" with, drop the "etc" at the end.
> 
> Hmm, yes, that sentence can be misinterpretted. It makes it sound like 
I 
> have a "long history" with the specific languages listed; I actually 
> meant I just have a long history of programming in general.

That's good. You can explain that at the interview. :-)

> Heh. Should I include the anicdote about the time I got so bored that I
 
> learned PostScript in my lunch break just for something to do? ;-) I 
> think it's a great story, but I'm not sure whether I should actually 
> mention it.

Mention it at the interview.

> Hmm, this is difficult. I've been programming for decades, but I don't 

> really have anything useful to *show* for it. I suppose I could try to 



> BackupExec license (although that really is flexing the truth somewhat 

> severely).

Yes. That's exactly the attitude to take. Redo the whole resume with 
that sort of thought in mind.

> Well I'm *supposed* to work with the US dudes, and I'm *supposed* to be
 
> responsible for planning future upgrades. 

You're responsible. You don't have to downplay that either. :-)

> You realise that the grades I mentioned are just the good ones, right? 


That's the point of a resume.

> Most of my grades were far less stellar. (E.g., for Accounts & Auditing
, 
> I think I got a D-. The Research project was an F+. And several 1st yea
r 
> modules I failed outright.)

As an aside, I've never heard of an F+ before. :-)

> Does it matter? MVC is highly unlikely to be even remotely relevant to 

> anything I'll be doing. (And it would take several paragraphs to explai
n.)

Designed and implemented advanced modular user input and presentation 
framework.

> Hmm. Skiing? Rock climbing? SALSA?? Hahaha!

Pipe organ recitals!

> Yeah... I get the concept. I'm just not sure how to put across how grea
t 
> I am without it sounding like I'm blatently lying.

You just don't say anything negative.  Again, don't take this as 
anything more than friendly advice, but try this sort of thing:


Skills:

Extensive knowledge of and passion for a diverse range of topics in 
computing, mathematics and science, including cryptology, 3D graphics, 
artificial neural networks, symbolic computation, and numerous other 
related fields.

Eighteen year history of .... then list every language you could write 
Hello World in. :-)

Passion for teaching and mentoring, with a strong track record of 
explaining complex topics in understandable ways. Samples available on 
request.

Responsible for keeping the UK computing center operational for 30 staff 

members using 50 workstations. The systems included four servers, a 
local LAN, and Internet connectivity. Responsibilities included ensuring 

compliance with extensive government regulations, integration with the 
US offices overseas, and all forms of technical support for computer 
operations. This includes creation and maintenance of database structure 

and operations (including assurance of the safety of irreplacable 
medical data) and creation of numerous custom programs for maintenance 
of file and database information, saving 8000 via automation in the year 

they were implemented. <Like they're going to check that?>

Created and maintained computer policies and procedures, documenting 
same. Documents were approved and even complimented by the auditors of 
<insert company/government agency here>.

Created and executed client surveys to <what?> gather data on new yadda 
yadda, resulting in retention of several major clients.  <You can't just 

say you did it - add in what the result was, even if you have to stretch>


1998-2002
Smalltalk and Java, a pure interpreted OO language and a popular 
powerful compiled OO language.  Also classwork on theory and 
practicalities of database design and organization, as well as a 
practical unit using the Oracle database product.

Also studied interfacing these technologies to the WWW, with detailed 
studies of both run-time performance and developer efficiency. Classes 
on operating systems covered file system design and scheduling dispatch. 

Computer graphics covered both high-quality ray tracing and high-speed 
polygonal rendering with modern graphics cards.

Final year project was to research, design, and implement a distributed 
user interface component using best practices in modularity and efficienc
y.


You can't just say "I did C and Pascal."  You have to say what *you* 
did, not what Ritchie and Wirth did. :-) Pretend the person looking at 
your resume didn't go to school for computers and doesn't even know what 

any of those words mean.

Also, at least in the USA, a lot of places now will just filter on 
keywords. If they're looking for someone to do Oracle databases, they 
toss any resume that doesn't have to word "Oracle" in it without looking 

at it.  So at the bottom of my resume, I put in fairly small print all 
the OSes, languages, frameworks, etc that I'm familiar with, just as a 
list of "technology summary".  It gets you past the automatic 
resume-spam filter.


-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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