DEV Community

Adam Crockett πŸŒ€
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

Posted on

What should a developer CV / resume look like?

There's no doubt in my mind, my CV (it's a resume in other countries) from school is nothing like my CV today, it's got a layout which is a little bit unusual for a CV but not mad as a box of frogs either. I like my CV like I like my tattoos, black and white. But never mind what I think, should a developer open InDesign and get to work building something that looks more like a magazine layout.

I am especially interested in hearing your thoughts!

Latest comments (20)

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard

Hello Adam

The most important thing you need to know about CV is that they should matter much less than you think.

When you are a random guy sending a CV to a random company, your odds of success are a bit like sending a love letter to that girl or guy you like but have you never talked with first.

Here is how I do it nowdays:

  • I never send my CV pro-actively
  • I focus on making a connection and discussing with the people first
  • Inviting them to drink a coffee is my favorite way to do it
  • Only after I've met them and they explicitly ask for my CV, I send it
  • At that point I'm not a random stranger sending a letter to a random company, so how my CV looks doesn't matter much.
Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

How would you handle this as a remote worker or would you only stay local?

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard

What I'm doing is that I write down my candidate description

daedtech.com/my-candidate-descript...

Thread Thread
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

I am in awe sir this is incredible, the market here is a employers market right now so I don’t know how this might work but has it brought you much success?

Thread Thread
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard

This is how I help developers in France to get a better job
Don't be afraid to stand out, especially in an employers market, that makes you feel unique

Collapse
 
dapptech profile image
Dapptech

One pager is d best.. max 2 pages.. beyond that is a novel ...

Collapse
 
herudea profile image
Steve Meisner

I've had the same question! I got my first job right out of school just over 10 years ago, and have only moved jobs once since then. I was connected with my current job through some good relationships and conversations so my official CV/resume wasn't as important at the time.

I had explored the job market early this year with intentions of moving on to another job. I ended up staying at my job after some serious interviews and offers from other companies (personal reasons, love of my team, etc).

I did some light research and still being unsure, started on my own take of a CV. It worked very well as I was able to get a couple interviews in part because of it. I'm not sure if it's "good" or "correct" but it's where I landed. If I made it again today I'd probably do it a little differently.

Would love any feedback and I hope it's helpful to you all!

Steve Meisner's resume

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

That's lovely I really like the simplicity. That is the maximum amount of colour I would like but that's just me.

Collapse
 
jmickey profile image
Josh Michielsen

I use LaTeX for my CV, based loosely on this template: github.com/posquit0/Awesome-CV

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

here is my CV

That's a screenshot of mine, the template is my own but probably base on a Google search. I used the same fonts as my website (that doesn't exist yet)

Collapse
 
sabbin profile image
Sabin Pandelovitch

Black and White seems about right for me. For me the resume is just a brief introduction of the candidates background. But a piece of paper cannot describe your personality, mind set, social skills, etc.

It works the other way around for me too. When someone is contacting me and starts telling via a mail/chat how wonderful and great everything is and sends me a 10 Page job description PDF all coloured like a magazine, how can I really determine what kind of atmosphere is there?

A piece of paper is a piece of paper... Keep it simple

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

Some great advice there Sabin, paper is paper.

Collapse
 
purezero profile image
Kartika Prasad

My CV kinda has a bit of everything and not in a good way. I think a website really will do the trick for a dev, I like the idea of a one page website without loading times and some seamless animations on the different sections. I just have to find the time to do it.

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

Its been 6 years and I still haven't got around to mine. Don't be like me, go and make one today. πŸ“―

Collapse
 
eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

Sounds like an academic CV should be rather comprehensive. CV.

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

Ahh, Americanisms, in the UK a resume and a CV are the same thing, sorry, I should have said.

Collapse
 
rohansawant profile image
Rohan Sawant

Umm, I mean if I had the skills to design a beautiful resume, I sure would.

My current one is quirky as well, it has about 3 colors and a template stolen from Canva.
πŸ€©πŸ˜›

Collapse
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

How successful has this CV been do you think? Anyway interesting, I will take a look at Canva.

Collapse
 
rohansawant profile image
Rohan Sawant

Actually, there is no way for me to tell, I am at my first dev job and my current employer found me through GitHub. πŸ˜…

Thread Thread
 
adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett πŸŒ€

Fairly ineffective then but the upside which is nice for you because real employers look at code first haha