Critique My Resume!

I know there have been some posts in the past where people critique resumes, but I haven't seen one for a while. Are there any long-time devs out there willing to check out my resume and give some tips? Thanks!

Check it out here as a pdf

Comments

[Andrew Stetsenko]

I like it that your resume is concise and clean. As many commentators have already said, I'd drop out the photo and added a link to your LinkedIn profile.

As I understand, you don't want to pursue a career in education anymore. So, it's cool that you concentrate on your skills and projects, not your previous experience. However, I'd make this resume clearer by adding a specific job title to the first paragraph. That shouldn't be a huge 'Objective' section, but a recruiter should understand your goals from the first glance.

As for the projects' descriptions, I'd recommend you to concentrate on your accomplishments, not the applications' functionality. Recruiters love numbers. E.g. 'Made the loading [X] times faster by implementing [Y]' might be a good eye-catcher for any recruiter. You can list your achievements for each project in short bullet-points.

In general, your resume is quite good to find a decent job. Good luck!

[Allison Walker]

I've been working on a blog post specifically around resumes, based on the advice I've received after attending several seminars from job hunting experts on how to write resumes to get an interview.

I'll summarize their advice, as it applies to your resume:

1. Photo is inappropriate, especially in the US. Use your photo on LinkedIn, but your wife and daughter are not appropriate. If you want to use this photo, you can use it on your own website.

2. Your projects do not have dates. Overall, I'm not sure what this section is. Is this experience? If so, it should go into experience and it should be tied to a job title.

3. Include a job title, include keywords, re-write your summary to describe the job you want, not the job you had. Match to the job you're applying to.

4. The way you described your accomplishments as a math teacher is better than the way you describe your accomplishments in your projects as a ????. You're using very few past-tense verbs to describe what you did. It reads as though you're describing what the project is about, not what you did. Check out this list of verbs to help you describe your accomplishments: livecareer.com/career/advice/jobs/...

5. Put your full list of skills at the end, after Education.

6. You might want to look into a "functional" resume format. It might work better for you. Don't sell yourself short trying to keep your resume to 1-page.

I also agree with the people who said LinkedIn, black and white, and reducing your name for space. If someone prints this out, they'll use black ink, not purple.

[Ben Sinclair]

OK, this is going to sound wildly picky, but the way you split your name into "Ryan M" and "Doyle" reminds me of people putting too much big text into a div and it splitting somewhere they didn't expect. Maybe it's the "M", I'm not sure, but it's exactly the sort of thing that clients always complain about when you give them a nice new website and they start putting unexpected content in it.

I'd get rid of the shadow on the photo, for that matter. I think it's quite a nice picture and makes you instantly look more approachable than a wall of text or a straight headshot, but some prospective employers might find it a bit strange to include other people in it.

I'm not a fan of the purple. I don't know if you feel it's like a personal brand thing, in which case it's fine, but if not then it seems a bit odd, especially in the heading, and also because everything else is black or grey.

I like the simple dates (years is plenty granular enough for an employer) and general "Granite Bay" area you use, because some people fill their header with complete addresses and so on and it's just unnecessary.

I'd put the skills section first, before the projects. In fact, I'd probably leave the projects until the end, or maybe put it between experience and education, because I'm trying to think how this would be laid out in the order of importance a recruiter is most likely to want. For them, the experience and skills sections are the most important, even if you don't have a huge amount of "relevant" experience.

What I'd recommend is to take the experience section and try to flesh it out with something in each role that you could start with an action word, like you did on the first one ("Developed curriculum..."). It feels like you have a few things to say about one, and nothing about the others, which gives the implication that you didn't really do anything while there - and I'm sure that's not true.
If you can't think of anything off the top of your head, write down a page full of things you did there, no matter how trival, over the course of a day or so, and then look through them for the most interesting one or two. They don't have to be related to the job you're applying for but it obviously helps :)

If you're not trying to keep it short, under a page, then flesh out the sentences a little. You're quite terse.

Try rephrasing things to not use the passive voice. "Users can add multiple cameras..." could become, "I designed and built a service to let users add as many cameras as they like through an intuitive, accessible UI." That sort of thing.

Good luck :)

[ItsASine (Kayla)]

Convention thoughts

1. Being in the US automatically means remove the photo. There's too much around discrimination, especially in California where they are super mindful of it, to include that you're a white dude with a family right there. Put it on your personal site but your resume would likely get binned quick if you look like a future lawsuit. Your application could be the best they have and it would still get binned if it seemed to much like your photo swayed that opinion (yes, you have basic white dude name of Ryan, but even just adding in that you have a family is enough to make things squicky)
2. Normally I would say any working adult should put exp at the top to be conventional, but since you're trying to pivot more technical (as per your summary), I'd keep it structured as is 👍 If you're applying for jobs that take cover letters, use them! Show off more of what you have in your summary by describing your passion for tech and how math translates with analytical soft skills and stuff (note: I'm a math major who sucks at wording that part -- I know it's a useful connection but can't explain it well)
3. Your projects I would try making more bulleted to be skimmable (or at least easier to highlight what you care about). Technologies used: * React * Next.js etc

Personal opinions

1. You already wove your skills elegantly into your projects, so your Skills section doesn't enhance your candidacy at all. I would use that space to buff up something else, but I know some of my coworkers adore skills scoring and I don't. Hiring is full of personal quirks like that. IF you want a skills section, maybe use it to highlight your best stack or your desired stack (but don't apply if it's not in that stack)
2. Nitpick: if you own your domain, I wonder why you don't at least have a vanity email for inquiries that forwards to your Gmail like [e-mail]. Migadu will do this for free.
3. Consistency: pick a convention and stick to it for how to list your credentials. Your work is Position, Company, Location, tab tab tab, years while your education is more like Company; Location -- Position, Year and your projects are Position, tab tab tab, link. For what it's worth, I liked Position, Company, Location, tab tab tab, years the best but you do you.

Awesome things

1. I thought the summary was super clean and conversational. Like you were telling me why you want a tech gig. Objectives rub me wrong (your objective is to get the job you applied for, no shit) but your summary nails it to me. Cover letters are where you can dive more into your motivations for moving careers.
2. You have a really solid balance of whitespace. I know above I was like "moar bullet points", but overall, your resume is quite readable.
3. Seriously, we're only nitpicking because we care. Hiring is super subjective and the most important thing is that you are comfortable with how you're portraying yourself. Do you read this and think it explains why your experience got you to this point and how it will position you well for the next step? Does it read like you would say it in an interview or telling someone at a party what you do? In its current state, I think it does.

[Ryan Doyle]

Ahhh thank you so much! I love the nitpicking. I feel like the moment I had the idea to post it here was because I was right at the point where I was starting to nitpick everything myself, but figured...I don't actually hire people so what am I even nitpicking?!

It's really super helpful that everyone is giving tips like, "you're a white dude in CA get rid of the photo," (should have been obvious if I think about it) while also giving super specific personal opinions because it helps with seeing how people process these things. Obviously I can't take all the advice and make every change, but there is a lot of consensus with certain suggestions and also a great deal to learn from how people perceive what you put forward. Thanks again!

[Autumn]

I really like how you have the technologies at the bottom of experience. Would be great if you're looking quickly over it and thinking to yourself "ok, so what does this person actually know??"

[Autumn]

ok so dev.to was glitching out for me, i couldn't reply to your reply to my comment, so sorry ??? haha

[Ryan Doyle]

ha, thanks!

[Antonio Radovcic]

I think it's very good all around. The only thing I'd change would be the photo: Use one without other people. Maybe invest a little bit in a professional portrait/headshot.
An active GitHub and your listed experiences are big pluses, well done!

[Autumn]

Photos in CVs are a no (normally).

Colourful CVs are hated by some industries (maybe not dev)
You can use hyperlinks to hyperlink your social media (most cvs are read as pdf)
You should have a section for "achievements" - things you've done that are cool

Nice education section, i like how short it is. what does "multiple subject teaching credential" mean?

The format can be hard to read by an applicant tracking system (ATS), which are used heavily in the dev industry

I have no idea if you are a experienced dev or unexperienced.

Slight bias, I wrote a 34,000 word blog post on careers. Chapter 1 is all about CVs (called Resumes in some places). Might be helpful to you :)

skerritt.blog/employability-skills/

[Ryan Doyle]

Some great points here. I'm not sure why anyone would know what a multiple subject teaching credential is unless you were in that field. (Not a single teacher I know knows what React, Vue, Angular, etc are...). I'm definitely beefing up/making more clear the projects and achievements I am doing. I also want to make more clear I have experience...although on the flip side I'm glad my resume doesn't scream "NO EXPERIENCE!" Thanks for the feedback and the link to your blog post!

[Florian Rand]

As a Designer I can point out some tips. Someone here mention that the resume must be print friendly. That advice is gold. Try to print it and see how it looks.

Don't be afraid of black and white. Black text is your friend. Just use different font sizes and Styles (Bold, italics ...) to create an information hierarchy to help the reader. This is related to the use of grey. Grey tones look pretty, but it's a common trend (and a common mistake) in new designers that goes against Accessibility. And this is important: grey tones have very low contrast in a white screen (paper), so they are very hard to read. Like I said they look pretty and it's like everyone agrees that i's okey using these kind of tones over light backgrounds, but trust me: It's a mistake.

Also, the first block of information, with your name, contact and photo is enormous. Try to reduce it. It will give you more white space. Also try to fit it within the paragraph margin.

Finally, You did a great job! Designing Resumes is harder than people think, that's why templates exists. So don't worry and try to keep it simple!

[Ryan Doyle]

Thanks for the feedback. I think the first block is too big in contrast the rest of the rest of the doc/font size (looking at it all a day later). Some great points on accessibility. Thinking about printing with the grey makes my head spin just thinking about it!

[Adam Crockett 🌀]

I'd drop the photo, it gives the viewer a chance to judge you off the bat. I think it's risky. This is all opinion so do what you think is right.

As a side not please also prepare a standard word doc and pdf equivalent all black and white. Some employers (in the HR department) won't accept anything else.

[Ryan Doyle]

The photo seems to be the point of agreement among everyone. Looks like it's getting cut!

[Stephen Belovarich]

1 page. You did it! Keep it that way, FOREVER! I don't care how much experience you have, keep it to one page.

I see you used the Pages template. Make it stand out a little more. Use blocks of color, not font color to stand out more.

I disagree with the gentlemen who says this format is unconventional. This format is extremely human readable. To make it machine readable, export it to Microsoft Word first and always have a copy that is formatted for Word. Programs that parse the resume largely depend on Microsoft Word, not plain text.

The photo should just be of you. No photo is OK too. I suggest going to a studio and asking for the school photo look.

You need an objective. Your three keywords at the beginning is description enough.

Web developer, not just "developer". Full stack web developer, all the better... just more in terms of SEO here. "learner" 👍 "teacher" 👍.

I am a teacher. I put it on my resume. It's not confusing to people. The omission of an objective makes it unclear in this resume.

What works well for me is swapping out the objective and even the experience per submission.

If you said you built web sites, I wouldn't hire you. Someone else would. Are you looking for a team that builds software or landing pages? Its up to you. The world is your oyster.

Your projects need a lot of work. I'm less interested in what the application does, but instead want to know exactly what you contributed to the project.

P.S. whoever hires you is lucky to have someone who can't stop, won't stop learning.

[Ben Sinclair]

The thing about keeping it under one page might be good for candidates in the USA (and I'm aware that's where @ryanmdoyle is from...) but elsewhere it's not really the thing.

In the UK for example, we don't really have "résumés", we have CVs, which are usually two pages. I've seen longer, but when I've been expecting CVs, and something lands on my desk that's a single page, I think to myself, "they haven't done much, have they?"

Outside formal layouts (like the EU standard), I think it's a bit of a trap to think that there are rules for these sorts of things. Give the company relevant information in an easy-to-read manner, and don't worry about things like word- or page-count.

[Stephen Belovarich]

FWIW in the states a one page resume can be seen in the same light. People expect multiple pages. Easy to read is key! I totally agree.

[Allison Walker]

I disagree on the one-page resume. This leads to people selling themselves short by cutting out good information or using super tiny font to get it to one page.

Restructure the resume to promote the important bits on the first page.

[Stephen Belovarich]

My resume is only 1 page and I’ve been developing since the 90s. It has 11pt font, so I see your point but far from illegible. Engineering managers have thanked me before for making it one page. I’ve had recruiters ask me to reformat it before to look like everyone else’s. I respectfully decline. Then they watch me get a callback faster than other candidates or get an offer after 1 round. No one wants to read a book. Last big job search I ended up with 4 offers so I must be doing something right.

It’s hard for someone starting out to get a job. The more unconventional the resume the better so they can stand out.

One of my friends in college went down to the local police station and got the blank paperwork for filing a warrant for a fugitive. He made his resume look like a police dossier. It looked like the real thing, but I think he embellished it to say WANTED. Quite brilliant really. Josh got an amazing job right out of college at a company with a household name.

If I were just starting out today I think I might try something drastic like that. You’ve got to stand out somehow no matter the experience. Page length doesn’t matter. Making a statement does.

[Allison Walker]

Well, you started off your comment by saying your resume is "only 1-page", then ended by saying "page length doesn't matter". So I'm not sure what point you're making. :)

In any case, my advice comes from several job hunting experts. Ultimately, it really depends on the person and their experience. I agree, differentiation is important. The point is to sell yourself and your accomplishments, in order to get an interview. (A resume alone doesn't get someone a job.) If someone can sell themselves in 1-page, great. But don't cut out relevant accomplishments to your own detriment.

[Stephen Belovarich]

For sure. We totally agree! Relevancy is key, but you don't need to push the irrelevant items to second or third pages. You can omit them entirely.

The point I am trying to make by saying "page length doesn't matter" is pretty much what you are saying. It comes down to personality, being able to stand out. Maybe it's a great idea to make the resume a 1000 pages long so when someone goes to print 1000 pages spit out of the printer that read "HIRE RYAN", "HIRE RYAN", "HIRE RYAN" , or maybe its something more clever like if you were to piece them together it says a message. That is if anyone even prints these resumes anymore.

FWIW I've probably interviewed with over 100 companies throughout my career. I've listened to the advice of "experts" and proven them wrong time and again.

[Allison Walker]

Sure, everyone should do what works best for them. Listen to experts, but of course YMMV. I personally am not out to prove experts wrong, but to apply what's relevant for me.

[Ryan Doyle]

Thanks for the feedback. I have a lot of tweaks to make! I see your point in using the Pages template. Long ago I used InDesign but I don't have that anymore so I think I need to make it less template-y for sure. Thank you for the tips on Word parsing and refining my "objective" as well. I think I need to go back to everything I've ever written, making sure I don't say "websites." I don't want to be making landing pages!