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How To Write A Kick-Ass Technical Resume

Emma Bostian ✨ on January 08, 2019

Writing a resume is hard. Yet even today, most job applications require resumes to be considered for a position. The true goal behind a resume is t...
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JeanCarl

The resume with the picture is very clean and visually different. However, I feel like it could introduce bias (although no one will admit it, of course) by including it. One of those conflicts between really caring about quality and the clash with the corporate world.

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Joseph Crandal

First impressions are important. They will likely see them when they come in for the real interview which makes the bias still possible. I had a mentor that got refused because he didn’t fit their image for the role.

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Jared Wheatley

Hi! I've just joined this site and your post happened to be one of the first I stumbled across.

Having checked out your other posts it's interesting how closely they resemble the sort of content I was planning on releasing on my personal site - I'm sure I'll use some of your writing skills as inspiration!

Keep up the great posts - thanks for sharing.

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Trebuh

I don't understand why you put picture of yourself on a resume. I believe that recruiters should look on your skills and education and maybe application letter but not on how you look like as that has nothing to do with the job you are applying for.
I really like UK standards where actually CV with photo will likely be discarded.

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Pietro Ghezzi

I agree with your point but there are job applications where it is required to have a photo, in Switzerland at least.
Personally, I would opt for a smaller photo in passport format.

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Emma Bostian ✨

You don't need to add a photo. It's personal preference.

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Danny Dore

Thanks Emma for the post on resume writing! I didn’t really think about the current tech stack rule regarding resumes, and now I think I’m going to consider that when rewriting my resume.

One question I have is this: You talked a lot about the advantages of a visual resume and I like how they look, but my concern is don’t they get passed in resume screening software?

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Emma Bostian ✨

They definitely do get past ;)

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Nested Software

Do you think it's a good idea to highlight what someone has done on social media, like your success with dev.to for example (possibly including some stats)? Or would doing that look bad on a resume?

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JeanCarl

Like Emma said, be selective and add the important stuff that showcase your talent. I would say if it demonstrates what you do, yes. If you're a writer, your blogs demonstrate your style and ability to communicate. If you're a developer, your GitHub repos show your coding style and ability to make stuff. If you're in marketing, social media show how you convey a message and increase engagement.

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phantomread

Great article,

I think having a colorful and well designed CV is a big plus point for a front end/UI developer.

Back end guys can live with a plain bare minimum - as long as it's well structured and succinct.

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Sandor Dargo

Nice resume and article about it.

I like the general look of both resumes but I have a second look, they don't tell me a lot.

Assuming that recruiters will have a first look who don't have a lot of time and sometimes knowledge about our industry, I think you'd do better for yourself to share some numbers. Like "reduced load time by 30%", or "designed a UI for collaborative space with +500k visitors a month". Something that actually impresses people.

Regarding your skills. Are you proficient in all those? Or you also list what you are familiar with? Do you think it's worth to group and share your level of expertise (even if it is still vague)?

I think you still have plenty of space to show recruiters even more how great you are.

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Emma Bostian ✨

I only list technologies I'm comfortable being interviewed on or have worked on in a professional setting(typically)

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Jason • Edited

I will add that I've stopped putting my graduation dates on my resume. I still put 'Degree obtained: BS in Computer Science' but I quit putting year that i graduated was 2000. Similarly, I limit my list of employers to about whatever the job requests for the position. If the job requires 5 years experience, then I will put up to 5 years experience.

Reason being, is that I find that I don't get initially rejected due, and I seem to get farther along in the interview process. I seem to get to alot more of the 'phone screen' or 'in person' portions of the interview.

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Alex 👨🏼‍💻FullStack.Cafe • Edited

Great article, but please never add photo to your resume. It's a no-no practice. I would also recommend to check the fullstackresume.com service to build your Full Stack Resume in less than 30 seconds. Instead of writing all the content by yourself the service will generate it for you based on your unique experience using minimalistic A/B tested template!

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Angeiͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥͥ

Didn't know about CV Compiler. Great advises.

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Ricky White

I'm literally writing my first technical resume right now! I stopped to procrastinate, and this new article pops up. Thank you!

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Rahul Parshi

Nice article. What is your CV compiler score mine is 56%.

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Murtaza Haji

The link to download sample resume is broken. Please fix it if possible , would love to use this resource.

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naveenp

Lovely

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dukemai

thanks for sharing your tips Emma. It looks clean and informative with your CV.

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Bruno Dantas

Emma Thanks a lot for the post! Again, a great content for the community :)

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JoLo

Hi Emma,

A pretty nice post!
Based on yours, I have written mine :)
dev.to/jolo/how-i-used-css-grid-fo...

Cheers and Greetings from upper Germany ;)