Hi! My name is Ryan. I'm currently employed but actively looking to move into software. I have been rejected for quite a few positions so far, which feels bad, but I'm not giving up. If you're someone who hires people or has input into a hiring process, would you mind taking a look at my resume below and giving some feedback?
- What do you like?
- What makes you not like me?
- What questions does it give you, that it could explain more and be more clear about?
- What could I add/change that would help get me in the door to interview? I feel like I interview extremely well, and I end up befriending most people I talk to face to face. I just can't seem to get very many people to talk to me.
Some notes:
- I update my resume for every job I apply to in order to match the posting a little bit and show the hiring manager my best qualities. This copy is based on a job for a Customer Success Engineer, but it's about 85% similar to most other versions.
- I don't have any professional software engineering experience yet, but I've been programming for over 10 years, and am very experienced in many of the "engineering" skills--albeit in a more mechanical application--like design ideation, review, teamwork, professional communication, documentation, working to solve problems and build something, project management, etc. I'd like to showcase that, since I think those skills are often more important than whether or not I know a specific framework or something.
- I am applying for Mechanical Engineering jobs as well, so I leave the CAD/design skills and certifications on there as well.
There are a few revisions. Click here to go to the most recent one.
Revision 1
Here it is in screenshot form. Here's a link to it in Google Doc form if you prefer to see it in one piece.
Update: Rev 2
Based on feedback, I updated it to look like below. Is this any better? Worse? Link to actual document.
Update: Rev 3
OK, based on even more feedback, I got the machete out and really went to work on it. I cut out a lot of the prose and got it down to one page. I focused pretty heavily on my strengths and got rid of the stuff that maybe made it seem like I was trying to overcompensate for lack of skill or experience. I made this version a full, 100% software engineer position resume, cutting out what to me, feels like most of my mechanical engineering accomplishments. But, overall, I think I'm extremely happy with where I ended up. I plan on narrowing the scope of the Goal statement depending on what company I'm applying to, but other than that, I think this is a much better explainer of why I would be a good developer at your company.