How a programmer reads your resume (comic)

http://www.hanovsolutions.com/resume_comic.png

by zvikara • 17 years ago

72 41 17 years ago

etal• 17 years ago

For an easy +12, I recommend the "simplecv" LaTeX document class -- it's included somewhere in the full TexLive distribution. That Computer Modern font on a resume or CV, combined with judicious use of small caps, looks deadly serious.

http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/simplec...

noamsml• 17 years ago

moderncv is also nice.

ciscoriordan• 17 years ago

You can get Computer Modern in OTF here: http://canopus.iacp.dvo.ru/~panov/cm-unicode/download.html

eru2• 17 years ago

I use currvita. It's a package and to be used with your favoured document class (e.g. letter or article).

mpk• 17 years ago

I generally agree, but I'd like to point out that there are actually technology certification courses out there that are impressive if you've passed them. For example, having CCIE on your resume will certainly grab my attention.

asnyder• 17 years ago

I've recently had to look over hundreds of resumes for recent job postings and I must say this is spot on.

lunchbox• 17 years ago

I don't know whom this is actually making fun of -- if I were hiring, I'd consider the presence of a cover letter with my name on it to be of far more informational value than a resume typeset in LaTeX. The cover letter would actually show me that the person made some modicum of effort to apply to my company; the LaTeX wouldn't give me anything I wouldn't be able to tell from the rest of the applicant's resume. And there's no way it's worth more than "started own company".

jauco• 17 years ago

I don't think it's a case of this one's wrong and this one's right, but rather a funny 'cause it's true kinda thing.

And the punchline's of course the tabs and spaces item.

sketerpot• 17 years ago

The LaTeX says "this person is sincerely nerdy enough to actually become comfortable with LaTeX."

endtime• 17 years ago

Is it worth learning Latex just so that (some) people who see my resume will recognize that I took the time to learn Latex?

catz• 17 years ago

I use LaTex a lot. That said, I have a few problems.

Nothing is as bad as someone who decides he is going to use Latex for general documents - such as composing tests or any type of document.

Why when people use LaTex their brain automatically shuts down? In college there are people who give extra marks if a report is done in LaTex. I thought that if a report looks nice (no matter if you've done it in FrameMaker or Word/OpenOffice) it is all that matters.

LaTex is nice - but it is not the holy grail that everyone pretends it to be.

timr7• 17 years ago

-1 for a PhD? That's nonsense. Even ignoring the fact that Google et al. love to hire CS PhDs, I can guarantee that anyone who has had the persistence to make it through a PhD in an analytical discipline has skills a lot more valuable than the ability to make a resume in LaTeX. Yet another example of short-sighted anti-intellectualism by software nerds.

chancho2• 17 years ago

The reddit thread (http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/888km/how_a_pro...) on this point gives some insight into the mind the person who holds such a prejudice. Apparently, PhDs can't code, take too long to solve problems because they want to solve them utterly, and are difficult to work with. This is news to me, but it appears to be a popular sentiment among rank-and-file coders. You could make a lot of guesses as to why this perception exists, or even if it's correct. Maybe it has to do with the caliber of PhDs that apply for rank-and-file coder jobs, or maybe it has to do with the caliber of shops that hire redditors (oh snap.)

timr7• 17 years ago

That thread is infuriating. Ah, the collected wisdom of such "smart" people, overgeneralizing about the coding skills of everyone who has a particular degree -- that's a discussion with roughly the same level of intellectual merit as a gaggle of construction workers on lunch break, discussing which races are best suited to particular trades.

DanielBMarkham4• 17 years ago

I love the title code monkey, but I'm anything but a rank-and-file coder.

In the last 20 years, I've had the chance to manage about a dozen PhDs in various disciplines.

The ones who were not in computer-related disciplines (but were coding/managing anyway) were uniformly very good. Not knock-your-socks-off-great, but very good.

The ones that were from computer-related disciplines were usually condescending, non-responsive, and difficult to get along with. It seems that they were missing important social and interpersonal skills and felt they knew everything they needed to know. In fact, you might say they felt that they were way above what they should be doing.

I found them useless.

A few stories does not a rule make, but at the same time, I can't help but notice others in our field have similar opinions -- so there is probably a pattern here.

Note that others did not find them useless. On several occasions I was told we had to keep them -- in order to make our bids look better to win government contracts.

wayne• 17 years ago

For every awesome PhD who can code, there are 3 who forgot how to code, never coded anything beyond a toy, or are too good to code what we code. Maybe all the good ones get snagged up by Google.

pmjordan• 17 years ago

Sure, but the same can be said for those holding an MSc or a BSc or whatever. So I don't follow how the degree itself could be a negative metric.

ggruschow2• 17 years ago

Hi, I'm a short-sighted anti-intellectual software nerd.. who has done a lot of hiring and programming, management, and/or analysis work with the people hired for years thereafter.

IME, a PhD in the closest related subject to the job is a negative, but not a damning one. Some of these folks just seem to put their head down, ignore the things around them, and tend to take overly complex approaches to problems rather than tending to eliminating problems. I've guessed this comes from the mentality you have to be in to complete a PhD. That said.. I've known some pretty cool PhDs in the relevant subject too.

My favorite candidates are actually PhD /dropouts/. I've really enjoyed people who were smart enough to get a PhD, but found going into one deep topic for years in academia wasn't for them. Also, PhDs from a different area seem cool too. They're smart, and the mere fact they're applying to something outside of what they mastered proves they're not the sort I'm afraid of.

jlees2• 17 years ago

My favorite candidates are actually PhD /dropouts/. I've really enjoyed people who were smart enough to get a PhD, but found going into one deep topic for years in academia wasn't for them.

As one of 'em, I obviously agree, but what I found surprising is the number of 'normal' people who do too.

In academia, the very thought of leaving my PhD was unmentionable. I struggled for a long time coming to the final decision and was even referred to counselling to 'make sure' I was fully mentally stable (of course I wasn't! who is?).

Since leaving I've had nothing but thumbs-up from people about it, and that's been a real surprise. So +1 to dropping out!

timr7• 17 years ago

"Some of these folks just seem to put their head down, ignore the things around them, and tend to take overly complex approaches to problems rather than tending to eliminating problems."

...which is a true statement for all coders, not just those people with a PhD. In fact, I think you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a description that is more generally applicable to the autistic world of the software nerd.

You can candy-coat it any way you like, but what you're doing here is making a generalization about a group of people based on their choice to pursue an advanced degree.

wheels• 17 years ago

It depends on what you're applying for. In that list of qualifications it didn't make much sense (i.e. where writing a compiler was considered a good thing), but say you're coming fresh out of a PhD and need a rank-and-file web devel position to pay the bills -- you might be looked over for being overqualified. I know some folks that don't list their PhD on the CVs if they're applying for positions where it'd make them massively overqualified.

Funny story -- my uncle has his PhD from one of the best conservatories in the US. After years of being a music professor and symphony librarian, he got tired of it and just wanted a non-brain-job working in a hardware store or the like. He couldn't get one until he removed all of his work experience for the last 20 years from his CV and just said that he'd worked odd jobs. Of course, once he did, he only lasted two weeks there because it was, in fact, boring him to tears. Seems the hiring wasn't so off after all.

That's an extreme example, but I think illustrates the phenomenon.

theschwa• 17 years ago

Man, If it were a programmer who read my resume, then according to this it would kick ass! Unfortunately, it must be some one in HR who thinks LaTex is something they make gloves out of, because my job offers are not so hot.

Eliezer• 17 years ago

I kept waiting for it to be funny, but it was merely true.

jlees2• 17 years ago

Surely for female coders 'topless in facebook picture' is a +12, not a minus? ;)

rjprins• 17 years ago

In my last application (I got hired) it was the programming guy who asked me what Latex was.. (and not to test me!)

How a programmer reads your resume (comic)

Related Stories