Concerned that my CV is bad for software development positions

DefinitelyMarc · 02-07-2018 11:27PM #1

Hi folks,

I've been looking around to see what the landscape is like for Java developers (As I don't think it's a good idea to stay in the same position for too long) and it seems that everywhere wants years of Java Enterprise, Spring, SOAP and REST experience.

Unfortunately despite having plenty (If 3 years counts) of generic experience, the "generic" part may filter me out when I eventually get around to searching for a new position, as I only have professional Groovy/Grails experience and experience with a JVM-based language called Gosu. I have tried a few positions already to test the waters, but am getting no responses/rejections.

I guess my main questions are "Would you hire this CV for a Java Enterprise job? If not, why not?"

Also does anyone have any hints/tips for someone in my position? In the long-term I would also like to master Ruby, JavaScript (Vanilla), PHP and Python over the course of my career in order to become as great at software development as possible, so would like to avoid this kind of thing happening again if possible.

johnnykilo · 02-07-2018 11:31PM

Probably a good idea to edit out your actual phone number and email from the CV you linked, unless you want every weirdo on Boards contacting you :pac:.

DefinitelyMarc · 02-07-2018 11:46PM

johnnykilo wrote: »

Probably a good idea to edit out your actual phone number and email from the CV you linked, unless you want every weirdo on Boards contacting you :pac:.

I get that, but my website is in my Sig anyway, and it hosts my CV. No problems so far!

The worst I can see happening is someone applying to pornhub with it :pac:

LincolnHawk · 02-07-2018 11:59PM

I think you'll be fine. Strong education, reputable company.
CV doesn't read that well though so you might be getting screened out because of that...but I've seen a lot worse.
Have you talked to any recruiters? They'll often give you examples of "successful" CVs with personal details redacted to compare.

Rulmeq · 03-07-2018 11:52AM

My company is hiring, if you want to send me a PM I can give you the details.

whelzer · 03-07-2018 03:52PM

Overall your CV is ok - the formatting could be improved - I did not read to the end.

I see 20-30 new CVs per day and give each < 60 seconds.

Couple of very small suggested changes, SCRUM is not an acronym, nor is it a methodology, it is a framework.

Good luck in the hunt for new role.

Pelvis · 03-07-2018 04:05PM

Do you actually have an Ord and Hons degree? Doesn't look like there's any gap between the two?

DefinitelyMarc · 03-07-2018 06:04PM

LincolnHawk wrote: »

I think you'll be fine. Strong education, reputable company.
CV doesn't read that well though so you might be getting screened out because of that...but I've seen a lot worse.
Have you talked to any recruiters? They'll often give you examples of "successful" CVs with personal details redacted to compare.

I didn't think this was possible, I'll ask around. This was one of the first things I wanted to do with old coworkers to see exactly what they put down for similar positions, but I thought it'd be pretty awkward if I was like "Hey man, can I see your CV?". Is there anything in particular that jumps out at you as bad? I tried putting everything relevant that I could in each role, but if this is too much I'd definitely change it.

whelzer wrote: »

Overall your CV is ok - the formatting could be improved - I did not read to the end.

I see 20-30 new CVs per day and give each < 60 seconds.

Couple of very small suggested changes, SCRUM is not an acronym, nor is it a methodology, it is a framework.

Good luck in the hunt for new role.

Alarm bells were ringing after I was rejected so many times in a row that I changed up my CV quite a bit (Added everything I did in previous jobs, tried to format it better, and so on). I really don't want to be in a position where I badly need a new job and can't find one, but it sounds like the formatting could be improved further (It was honestly awful before my initial improvements). I'll change the SCRUM casing, I'm honestly not sure where I got that it should be uppercase from. Do you have any suggestions on what would make the formatting look better? I'm not being sarcastic or coy or anything, I think I genuinely suck at making my CV look good.

Pelvis wrote: »

Do you actually have an Ord and Hons degree? Doesn't look like there's any gap between the two?

I do, WIT let's you finish your education at the ordinary level (Which is seen as the bare minimum education in Waterford at least), but I did the add-on year with the same course title to get my hands on an Honors degree. They do this with the IT course and now a few other new ones too I believe. Might look strange if you didn't go to an IT for your undergrad alright, but it also allowed some cheeky feckers the chance to double-up on their courses (So an ordinary degree in IT, and an honors in SSD, Multimedia, or whatever else). Although if it really looks that strange I could change it to "2009-2013 SSD(Hons)" instead of fussing over the ordinary degree.

rosmoke · 03-07-2018 06:11PM

I'd remove the blogging bit from your CV, it's easy to check the link and see your portrait picture, I know they could probably check Linkedin as well, but it just makes it too easy for them to form an opinion based on looks.
Also the weightlifting bit, it's a CV, unless you apply for a company where they deal with weightlifting stuff, I don't see it relevant.
In your CV it should only be what's relevant for them.

Pelvis · 03-07-2018 06:16PM

I go to an IT, you have to choose when registering for 3rd year if you're going to do the ord degree and you do a project as part of that.

I'm doing the hons degree myself but that doesn't mean I have an Ord degree too.

In my place, for those who did the ord degree, if they wanted to come back and do the hons I believe they have to wait a couple of years before they're allowed.

DefinitelyMarc · 03-07-2018 06:33PM

rosmoke wrote: »

I'd remove the blogging bit from your CV, it's easy to check the link and see your portrait picture, I know they could probably check Linkedin as well, but it just makes it too easy for them to form an opinion based on looks.
Also the weightlifting bit, it's a CV, unless you apply for a company where they deal with weightlifting stuff, I don't see it relevant.
In your CV it should only be what's relevant for them.

I figured the same, but I have heard before that if a hobby is some kind of self development, that it's good to put it on. Though thinking back to what my CV looked like when I first graduated, putting something non-technical like weightlifting on my CV DOES seem a bit amateur-ish.

On the portrait picture side of things, I'm in two minds. I really would prefer that employers know that I blog (Because it's honestly a pain sometimes and I want to really reap some benefit from it), but I am aware that some people just won't like someone based on how they look. Do you think it'd be ideal to remove my picture from my website? I can't think of many technical blogs that I follow that have mugshots to be honest.

Pelvis wrote: »

I go to an IT, you have to choose when registering for 3rd year if you're going to do the ord degree and you do a project as part of that.

I'm doing the hons degree myself but that doesn't mean I have an Ord degree too.

In my place, for those who did the ord degree, if they wanted to come back and do the hons I believe they have to wait a couple of years before they're allowed.

WIT does things differently Pelvis, I went to two graduation ceremonies and got two degrees for my wall out of WIT. It was just like another year, they just asked at the end of third year if you wanted to do the additional Honors year.

The main differences between the final year of the Ordinary and Honors degree were that we did a 12-week internship for the Ordinary degrees final year and a thesis project (Called a "Final Year Project" instead of a thesis for some reason) for the Honors add-on. Anyone who did the Ordinary degree can come back any year they want and do the Honors add-on.

Also which IT are you going to, out of curiosity?

rosmoke · 03-07-2018 06:53PM

It's not a bad CV I have to say and I am quite a critic, even though I don't have too much experience in analysing them.
Other things that I can mention would be:
- I had to zoom in to actually read it
- There is some repetition (read job title and next line)
- I would remove the "office administration." bit

I know it is usually best to have a CV as plain as possible, but if you can think of adding a little bit of colour, or format, it might look better!

Overall it's good, I'm sure you'll find a desired position quick enough in today's market.

cintec · 03-07-2018 08:21PM

could you update your website and add some colour and show off some of your personal projects. Another thing could be contact the companies who you got a rejection and ask for some feedback.

LincolnHawk · 03-07-2018 10:20PM

Definitely remove the ordinary degree part, it's just confusing and having it on it doesn't add anything when you have the honours degree.

Buford T Justice · 03-07-2018 10:49PM

If you've worked in an agile environment (and I'm assuming you have since you've mentioned SCRUM) then make a bigger deal of it. I've been told by a number of employers that being a team player being a good fit within a group rather than a lone wolf is more important than specific stack skills.

daymobrew · 04-07-2018 09:28AM

Minute formatting comment - add space between Guidewire and the open bracket: "Guidewire(August 2016 – Current)"
This will make it consistent with the other roles.

Dubba · 04-07-2018 03:27PM

When I was looking for CV advice on here, a poster suggested using a LaTeX template. Perhaps you used something like sharelatex for your FYP report?

Dermo · 04-07-2018 04:15PM

I am heavily involved in developer recruitment in my current company.
Some advice, which is just my opinion, on how I would read the cv.

Personal profile
Too generic, would not stand out from other cvs. To me it reads like this "I'm a developer, I enjoy developing, I want to do more developing". Why are you looking for something new? Do the challenges in your current role not excite you? Where does your inspiration for wanting to be a developer come from?

Skills
Highlight some of the more advanced skills you may have. Again, you want it to stand out. Everyone has experience in object-oriented development. But do you have experience in Design Patterns, Software Architecture etc?
What do you mean when you say MVC web frameworks?
Strong MySQL skills, in my opinion, means the ability to do data models, schema definitions, database server administration, performance optimisation... If you have those skills, list them.
The rest of the skills need to be more specific. Without any more info I can't tell the difference between you and somebody who has just completed first year in a computer science course. Your skills should stand out.

Work experience
This needs to be re-written. When reading work experience I want to know 3 things.
1) Your role & responsibilities
2) The technologies you used
3) Any achievements you contributed towards

Education
All good, you have been working professionally long enough so that you should not have to dwell on this information too much.

Projects
I always like seeing personal projects on a cv. Maybe try to include links and years that you actively worked on them.

Details
Delete this section. Move your linkedin link to your header. Include the github & play store links in your projects section.

Interests & Hobbies
Some wasted layout space. Maybe have 2 columns of information?

References
Keep this if it fits within 2 pages. Remove if it causes an extra page. It's not really needed anymore.

I can't stress enough that this is just advice based on my own opinion and that there are many ways to read a cv. It took me a long time to actually get my own cv in proper order. I can send you on my cv if you would like to see alternative ways of doing things.

Edit: Another quick note. If you have experience in continuous integration/dev ops, automated testing and/or agile methodologies, highlight them a lot. These are things that are not practiced in a lot of companies so can be seen as premium experience.

LincolnHawk · 04-07-2018 05:54PM

Good advice above.
Only other thing.. It's a small world so your current employer could see all of this and that you're looking to move on from there. If you're comfortable with that then cool obviously

DefinitelyMarc · 08-07-2018 11:24PM

LincolnHawk wrote: »

Good advice above.
Only other thing.. It's a small world so your current employer could see all of this and that you're looking to move on from there. If you're comfortable with that then cool obviously

Hi Lincoln, I'm just testing the waters right now as I've only been at my current company for 2 years. I would definitely not plan to spend five years at my current job, but am ok for now. But based on how good the market is (Or so I've been told) I was initially expecting a lot more callbacks than what I have been getting, hence this thread.

I'm still in the process of making change to my CV, and want to respond to everyone individually when I have the chance, but just wanted to say that I really appreciate the help that everyone is giving me in this thread. I have no developer mentors in real life to ask questions like this to, so it really helps me out a bunch

Concerned that my CV is bad for software development positions

Comments