The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

another resume question

Hi folks,

How familiar would you say you ought to be with a particular piece of software or technology to warrant putting it on your resume?

For example, I've done a some sysadmin work for customers and stuff, and I've worked with things like OpenSSH, Sendmail, Apache, BIND, etc. I certainly have enough knowledge of these products that I can set them up and use them and know where to look if there's something I need to figure out how to do. But I'd hardly say I'm an expert in them.

What do you think?

marty
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

If you put it on your resume then it may come up as a topic it in an interview. So, iff you're happy with it's coming up during an interview, ...

Also, some people say that when they read a resume, they like a brief indication of your level of expertise with each item listed.

Christopher Wells
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Put them in an experience highlights section. Just
the name. If anyone really cares they will ask you
about it.

son of parnas
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

At the top of your resume, put all your computers skills (separate by languages and software) into bulleted form, with the number of years of experience you have next to them in parentheses.

When applying for a job, rearrange the bullet points (from the top) to match the skillset the employer is looking for.

List the skills where you have real world experience in, not just because you read a "21-days" book on it.

Example:
*Looking for a C++ person with Oracle experience*

- C++ (5 years)
- C (3 years)
- Perl (7 years)
- Visual Basic (2 years)

- Oracle (4 years)
- SQL Server (2 years)
- Visual Studio (5 years)

Chi Lambda
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

If you are hoping to get exposure through recruiters then it might help, since recruiters tend to rely on word searches when looking for a particular skillset.

On the other hand, when I am looking over resumes I tend to dislike the one that try to cram every possibly technology on the page, even if they only have a passing knowledege of it. I'd much rather look at a resume where the candidate has proven experience in a specific area.

But that's just me. Other employers might want more general experience so the "shotgun" effect will work better.

Mark Hoffman
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

My rule of thumb:

If I can:
* install it (including tracking down its dependencies),
* configure it,
* get a handful of applications working with it,
* maintain it, and
* perform a few "nifty" tricks,

then I put it on my resume. Though I make sure to list the version as I don't want to get hit for that one.

On a side note, I have an interview on Friday with a company that is getting its Linux team off the ground. It's a sort of CIO/Project-lead for the division.

It should be interesting...

KC
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

I break this into different categories: Stuff I'm "proficient in" (I really know it inside out), "familiar with", etc. That lets me list lots of stuff without claiming that I'm an expert in Scheme or whatever obscure thing that I kinda have worked with in the past but really haven't touched in a decade.

John C.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004