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Discussion on: Intermediate to senior dev resume

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Talia T • Edited

I am a senior dev. At least, I think so; I've been doing this since 1995. What I can tell you is that my resume is 2 pages long, and encompasses perhaps half of my actual experience.

I'm not sure there's an actual principle of diminishing specificity, but if there is, my resume is it. I have the most detail attached to my most recent jobs. What I did, what I used to do it, and most importantly, something about the real-world effects of whatever it was I did. Did I save the company money? Did I make users' lives easier? Did I streamline a process, making developers more productive? Did I help a major United States military organization track and catalog the social media efforts of international terrorist organizations?* It's in the resume - at least for the most recent 4 or 5 positions.

Beyond that, feel free to collapse things - it's ok to remove the "how" or the "why" of a given accomplishment. A senior dev is just a junior dev with experience, and the ability to explain that experience. Always make the resume about experience, and adjust for the passage of time.

*Yes. Yes, I did.