Today I was going to finish up by covering your resume, talking about where to find jobs (that you will qualify for), recruiters, and the interview process. However it turned out that resumes are a pretty big topic; one large enough to have an entire post devoted to it. So tune in tomorrow for Part 3 - where to find jobs (that you will qualify for), recruiters, and the interview process.
Please keep in mind that everything in this blog is just a suggestion. These are tips that worked for me, but it's always a great idea to think outside the box and come up with unique strategies of your own.
Disclaimer - Let me start by saying that my resume is by no means perfect. Specifically, its lacking in proper description of projects I worked on in Camp. More on that below. Also, I am not a designer - there are many templates out there you can use to make your resume visually more attractive than mine.
Disclaimer aside, you can see my resume here: LWalden Resume.
Length:
The first thing to know is that you can throw out the old rule of fitting everything on one page. Yes, ten pages is excessive, but overall, if your resume contains the right content (and ONLY the right content), length is largely unimportant.
Customize:
Before you attach a resume to a job application you need to review it and edit it to match the requirements of the job posting. Most job postings include a bullet list of key skills and/or duties. Your resume should speak directly to as many of those bullet points as you can (while being honest about your skills and experience) - if possible use the exact same phrasing as the job posting.
Yes, it is a lot more work to tweak your resume each time you send it out, but it is well worth it. The HR rep that reads your resume has no idea what "Linq to SQL" means. They just know that they have a list of requirements they are looking for - you need to use phrasing that matches their list to get your resume moved on to someone that can make an informed decision.
Your resume should contain several key sections:
Contact & Bio:
Your name, phone number and email to start. Then add URL's for your LinkedIn profile, GitHub account, online portfolio, and your blog. You do not need to include your snail mail address - in fact this information can only hurt you if a potential employer thinks you live too far away.
Skills:
You have learned a lot at Coder Camps - let people know! This is the most important section in terms of getting recruiters to contact you, as they often work with keyword searches. Include programming languages, frameworks, IDE's, etc. Avoid including non-coding related skills such as "MS Word", "Powerpoint", or "Sales".
Experience:
This is one area that will be very different from a "typical" resume. Odds are you don't have much, if any, experience as a Developer. That means you can't just do the typical list of previous job titles, dates of employment, and bullet points detailing duties and accomplishments.
Instead you need to list projects and describe what technologies you used and how you contributed to the project.
Bad: (and yes, mine resume looks a lot like this)
Full Stack Developer - Coder Camps - x/x/xxxx - x/x/xxxx
Created dozens of Apps using Javascript and C#.
Worked as part of an 8 Developer team on a real-world application in an agile development environment.
Good:
Full Stack Developer - Coder Camps - x/x/xxxx - x/x/xxxx
Project: Twitter Clone
Designed and developed a working SPA twitter-clone client including a UI with profile management, asynchronous AJAX calls to a restful API, connection to a NoSQL database, and the ability to communicate with clients developed by other developers at Coder Camps. Utilized Javascript, AngularJS, Firebase, HTML5, CSS3, and Bootstrap 3.
Project: JrDevs.co
Used C#, Entity Framework, and SQL to add back-end support for job posting and job seeker skills functionality. Used Javascript, CSS3, and AngularJS to add frontend UI for the same skills functionality. Redesigned site forms and added client-side validation using AngularJS.
You will want to use technical language in this section and highlight your contributions to group projects (rather than the scope of the entire project). Keep listing projects until you have covered as many of your skills as possible.
I did not do this on my resume. I received feedback from several recruiters that this would be helpful. When I applied for the job I have now the recruiter asked me to give them a word document that basically described several of my projects in this format. They attached this two-page document to my resume for me - it didn't look good - the formatting was totally different from the rest of my resume, but you know what? I got the job!
Do yourself a favor and just include a list of your projects on your resume now.
What about previous jobs?
You should include SOME of your previous work history from other career fields. Include any job you held for 2+ years - the HR team will like seeing that you can stick around. Include anything that shows you can successfully work as part of a team. Include anything that shows you have critical thinking skills, or have done creative work in the past. Include any promotions you received, or times when you made significant contributions to the success of a company you worked for.
Beyond that, the rest of your work history can be cut if your resume is getting lengthy. If you have ten years of work experience, there's no need to go back and list every job back to the beginning. At the least, consider removing any bullet points or description of job duties that will be totally irrelevant to what you will be doing as a Dev. Just be careful to avoid creating the appearance of large gaps in your work history.
Education:
Include Coder Camps! Keep in mind that code boot camps are still relatively new - so its a good idea to include a short description of what camp is, what you learned, and the amount of time you invested. Rather than just saying camp was 9 weeks long, consider how many hours you spent on the pre-reqs, in class, on homework at night and on the weekends, and in the Masters section if you attend it. Add it up - it's going to be between 600-1000 hours of intense instruction and application of current best practices and the latest in demand technologies in today's development environment. That's information you want to communicate to potential employers.
References:
Do not include references on your resume. Do not say "references available upon request" This is a waste of space. The exception: as you customize your resume for a particular job post (which you will always do as part of applying!) you should include references if the job post specifically asks you to.
Where to post your resume?
Once you have your standard resume ready (please have several people proof read it!) you need to post it online. At a minimum you should post your resume to Dice.com, Indeed.com, and Monster.com. You should also make it accessible from your portfolio site and LinkedIn profile. Reddit has sub-reddits for jobs by city/region that you can post in, and there are probably hundred of other places you can post your resume online.
Cover Letters:
Writing a cover letter is one of the most hated parts of applying for jobs. Fortunately, writing a cover letter for your first Dev job is a little different, and not quite as painful.
First - pay attention of the requirements in the job posting. Often they will give very specific instructions for how your cover letter should be crafted. Follow these instructions. It's a test. To see if you can follow instructions. Pass the test.
Next - If there are not specific instructions, but they do ask for a cover letter follow these guidelines:
- Be real - Speak in your own voice, don't be overly formal.
- Be honest - If you don't meet all the qualifications, don't lie about it.
- Sell yourself - You don't meet all the qualifications, sure, but you are still a great candidate - tell them why they should hire you anyway - communicate your passion, dedication, and talents.
- Keep it short! - One paragraph is fine. Three is way too long. (again, unless the job position has specific guidelines.)
- Do not use a form letter! You might have a template to start with, but you had better customize it using the information in the job posting you are responding to.
Finally - If the job posting does not ask for a cover letter:
Cover letters often go unread. If they didn't ask for it you can consider simply not including one. Another way to go is to just include a couple well crafted sentences that speak to your passion for development, and refer them to your blog, online portfolio, and resume to learn more about you. "My resume contains links to my blog, LinkedIn, and online portfolio so you can truly gauge who I am, and the quality and productivity I will bring to this position."
That's it for resumes! I'll try to wrap things up tomorrow with where to find a job (that you quality for), recruiters, and the interview.
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