Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Vellfire on February 22, 2011, 05:31:01 pm
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Why would I go to SW for resume advice???? Welp I know some of you dudes have programming/whatever other CS jobs and so you are already SUCCESSFUL. Others of you are probably students like me and would benefit from this info and/or might have already gotten some info from professors or something. So I want to ask you dudes some things about writing a resume for programming-type jobs. I've had classes that taught how to write resumes but none of them were taught by people who are in CS and so they can't really help me with things like explaining my skills and idk other very programming-oriented things. So I guess my big questions are:
How do I explain my programming experience? Like, is there some rubric to compare yourself to that explains how adept you are at a programming language? I might be able to outprogram anyone in my class (I can't lol) but that doesn't mean I can put EXPERT PROGRAMMER on my resume. I find it hard to do this part because I don't know what to compare myself to and I also don't feel comfortable listing a language unless I can explain what I can do in it (I don't wanna put down something like Python because I have only done a handful of programming assignments with it and nothing else, but I HAVE used it so should it be listed with some sort of BEGINNER tag aaaaa this is my point I have no clue what the etiquette or w/e for this is)
Also everything I've ever learned about resumes, including the textbook I have for the technical writing class I'm in, shows things like MICROSOFT OFFICE listed in computer skills. Is this really necessary for a programming job? Like, I feel like writing that on a programming resume would be LAUGHABLE yet I almost always see it on example resumes. I just figured it was there because it's for jobs where who knows maybe people don't know how to use office but is it wrong to assume that nobody at a software company is going to want me being so dang proud of knowing how to use Microsoft Word?
I guess until I can think of more questions you dudes who have these jobs can just give me general tips on what should be on a programming resume and what shouldn't (maybe even show me yours?????? I would like all the ideas I can get :o )
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Try to find someone in your department to look at your resume. I think most schools hire people for career advancement. They might also host seminars where you can get people to look at it (from within the CS department).
Leave off office skills like Word and so on, it is pointless. Programmers aren't hired for those skills, you are applying for the wrong job if someone expects to see Word on your resume.
Don't try to obsessively quantify your experience in various programming languages. At the most, you can say how long you have been using the language. You can also just split then into two categories, the languages you are experienced with and the languages you have used briefly. The people that look at your resume are just looking for keywords, so your actual skills will only come into play when it is time to get interviewed.
You should list the skills you have learned in your courses, things like networking fundamentals, design patterns, software architecture, and so on. What I do is list the courses I have taken that I think are important, along with some keywords about concepts. I have gotten feedback during interviews about my course list section, so I consider it a success.
If you know what job you are applying for you can tailor your skillset towards what is wanted. For example you might be applying to a company that does Java work in Eclipse, so emphasize that you used Java in like 80% of your courses, and you know how to use Eclipse or something like that.
On my resume I like to announce that I program in my free time so I list all the interesting side projects I do, I also insert any interesting school projects that I have done. Try to show you're independent and a self-starter. Maybe advertise some of the sites you have made or something. I think making a site from scratch and getting it live is not something most CS graduates have right out of school. So this definitely shows you're diversified. (Just be careful, if you cover your entire resume with simple websites they might confuse you as a web developer and not a computer scientist!)
If you have any professional or internship experience, list that. If you don't have anything like that, then just list some of your projects and don't stress over it.
Lastly, include your GPA and when you expect to graduate.
And in closing, for the harder to get jobs in companies like Google or Microsoft, what I have found is that they do not care about what you have done. If you have a high GPA they will interview you, and the interview is focussed on you solving the problems. I was told during an interview, "It doesn't matter what you have written on your resume, only that you can work the problems." That's just my experience, your mileage may vary. Of course it doesn't hurt to have a resume that any company can digest.
If you want I can send you my resume.
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Thanks a lot dude, I think you did send me your resume once ages ago??? Someone on SW did and I stole their layout because it ruled so hard, I think it was you. What you were talking about with not obsessively detailing my experience in languages is one of the big reasons I asked all of this because I absolutely don't wanna do that, I like the idea of separating languages I properly know and languages I've sort of SEEN or something. I also like the idea of listing relevant classes I've taken, I've heard of people doing that and it sounds like a good thing to do.
On my resume I like to announce that I program in my free time so I list all the interesting side projects I do, I also insert any interesting school projects that I have done. Try to show you're independent and a self-starter. Maybe advertise some of the sites you have made or something. I think making a site from scratch and getting it live is not something most CS graduates have right out of school. So this definitely shows you're diversified. (Just be careful, if you cover your entire resume with simple websites they might confuse you as a web developer and not a computer scientist!)
This is why I must finish ArcadeGrade asap so that it can be done by the time I need resumes. I really do like programming in my spare time so I hope I can use this to my advantage.
And in closing, for the harder to get jobs in companies like Google or Microsoft, what I have found is that they do not care about what you have done. If you have a high GPA they will interview you, and the interview is focussed on you solving the problems. I was told during an interview, "It doesn't matter what you have written on your resume, only that you can work the problems." That's just my experience, your mileage may vary. Of course it doesn't hurt to have a resume that any company can digest
Yeah I've read a lot about Google interviews and they seem more like LOGIC PUZZLES AND RIDDLES as well as designing algorithms rather than anything else. But yeah having a bad resume isn't likely to get me that far into the process.
There's probably some other individual things I didn't add to this post because I am eatin lunch atm but overall this is all incredibly good info so thanks!!!!
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Related: If somebody has a good LaTeX template for a CV tell me. I've been looking for one and they either aren't very good or they are very academic and focus on research publications.
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A lot of it has to do with what job you are applying for. Especially with CS jobs it's better to have a different resume for every job you apply for. You don't want to put skills on there not related to the job you are specifically applying for, because it'll make the skills the employers are actually looking for harder to notice.
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I am in a technical writing class atm and we have to do resumes for it so yeah leafo send me you resume because I lost the one I used to have and I'm pretty sure you're the one I copied my layout from in the first place.
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