In my previous article, Your Resume, It’s the little things that hurt, I extended an offer to provide feedback on programmer resumes for anyone brave enough to take some criticism in a public forum as a pedagogical tool.  The first victim will be known as HJS for the purpose of this analysis in an admittedly feeble attempt to provide him with a shred of anonymity despite his insistence that it was not necessary.

Disclaimer: My critique will consist of my raw, uncensored opinion and thought process as I read through the resume from the perspective of a technical hiring manager looking for a programmer. In some cases, I may make comments that indicate bias or other things that it is illegal to consider when screening candidates, at least in the US.  I want to clarify that in the execution of my duties as a manager, I make every effort to make hiring decisions based on objective facts, endeavor to treat all candidates equally, and follow affirmative action principles as part of our recruiting methodology. 

As I discussed recently in “Age Discrimination and Programming Jobs,” it is my strong belief, however that acknowledgement of our bias and that of others is critical to combat unfair recruiting practices.  As such, I am going to call out things in my analysis that the candidate could proactively do to minimize the potential for discriminatory practices by unscrupulous managers. None of the material in this article represents the policies or practices of my current or previous employers.

Candidate “HJS”

Address

<Censored>

Phone: <Censored>

email: <Censored>

The multi-line address at the top of the resume in a giant font is taking up hugely valuable real estate. Put it in a single line on the footer to reduce the vertical real-estate.
Re-purpose the top of this resume to succinctly create a branding statement that shows my job is the one he is looking for “Experienced Web Developer” or something like that.

Summary of Qualifications

• § Experienced Software Team Leader. How experienced? Quantify it with a number of years and maybe a title 
• § Fourteen years of software engineering experience. Good start. Experience is a key differentiator, I like how you get to this quickly. 
• § Master of Science in Information Systems. Normally I wouldn’t feature a degree so prominently, but in this case it is a powerful selling point, because it is an advanced degree and relevant to the job.
• § Languages: C, C++, Java, Python, Javascript, Erlang, HTML, XML, SQL, Unix shell, Perl.
• § Web applications, Communication Protocols, Linux, Client/Server, Distributed Systems, Parallelism and Concurrency, J2EE, EJB, TCP/IP, RPC, SNMP, Network Management, Element Management, Multi-threaded. Too specific, doubly so for summary section.
• § Development Tools: Eclipse, make, ant, Apache, Subversion, XML-RPC, RPM, Installshield. These are not enough of a selling point to feature them in this section. Move to separate “Skills” section.
• § Experience in an organization certified at SEI level 5 and ISO 9001. “Experience in an organization”… emphasises your employer, not you. re-word “organization” out of it.
• § Software engineering techniques: Requirements, design, OOD, OOP, UML, project planning, Fagan inspections, configuration management, change control.
• § Native English, good spoken and written Hebrew. If you are applying for a job in the US, they are going to assume English, mentioning makes me want to doubt you speak it well. Unless the job desires/requires Hebrew, dump this fact.
• § Enthusiastic, innovative, organized, motivated, adaptable and a quick learner equipped with broad technical knowledge and excellent people skills. I skim past statements like this that are subjective and on every single resume.  This just wastes space.

Experience

Giant Steps NETWORKS                                                                                     2003-Present

Software Team Leader, NMS Division

• § Currently leading a team of 2 engineers working on Apache module in C++. Don’t be specific about the number of engineers if it isn’t impressive.
• § Currently developing J2EE distributed application deployed in Amazon Elastic Cloud. Sneak in some keywords/acronyms here to enhance search-ability (EC2, AWS, Cloud computing)
• § Multiplatform NMS (embedded Linux, Windows 2003 Server). Web-based using C, C++, Python, Openlaszlo (Flash), Java, SQL. Using SNAP protocol over RS232/RS485, HTTP, PPP, Modem control. Move these to skills section and reference them more generally here.
• § Managed and developed a 3 person project to develop a three-tier management system for Fiber-Channel SCSI switches. Technologies: Java, C, ant, XML-PRC, RPC, rpcgen, make.  Move to skills section, too detailed for this section.
• § Developed a document processing engine in C# and Managed C++.NET (Microsoft .NET). Analyzed, designed and implemented the software. Planned and managed the project teamincluding activities of other team member.
• § Developed and deployed a Client-Server Element Management System in Java(J2SE, Swing), XML-RPC and SNMP.
• § Designed and Implemented CSP-SMS protocol layer, SMS application layer for a Java(J2ME, MIDP) Instant Messaging application. Reduced code size by 25% while improving performance by refactoring the design. Was your original design that bloated and slow? Might not want to claim you invented it and then stress how much room you had for improvement.
• § Deployed (and continuing to administer) company wiki (Moinmoin). I wasn’t familiar with this Wiki software, you might want to be more specific what Moinmoin is. Also, emphasize your role in implementing a wiki. The wording makes it sound like it was someone else’s idea that you just implemented.

Motorola                                                                                                                     2000-2003

Test Lead, Vancouver PCS System Test Team (2002 – 2003)

• § Molded the Vancouver PCS System Test team by creating test plans, mentoring and training junior team members and resolving technical and project management issues. Molded?
• § Increased customer satisfaction by completing test cycles 20% ahead of schedule by estimating work packages, re-planning activities and optimizing test procedures.  I don’t get the connection to customer satisfaction, it stands fine without that prefix.
• § Reduced escaped defects while reducing cycle time by 50% by establishing and then optimizing an Integration Test Plan. What is an escaped defect? Also, once again you created something (the plan) then had to go back and optimize it. You are creating subtext that you don’t get things right the first time through.
• § Created a System Test team in Turin, Italy by identifying and training a team lead, developing initial test plans and training team members. Created is probably the wrong word unless you gave birth to them.

Software Engineer, GPRS SGSN (2.5G) Core Platform and Availability Team (2000 – 2002)

• § Reduced software defects by representing the Platform team on Change Control Board for problem reports and design changes. Analyzed, assigned and tracked problem reports.
• § Resolved system stability and availability problems with high customer impact. Traveled to Europe on two different occasions to successfully resolve major availability problems.
• § Supervised and mentored co-op students. Assigned tasks, monitored progress, evaluated performance.
• § Received three “Bravo” awards for exceptional performance. Tell me more about the circumstances of the award.

Forward Software                                                                                                  1996-2000

Contract Programmer/Analyst                                                                                                        

• § Developed ERP software using Progress 4GL and RDBMS. May be true, but it feels like an exaggeration. You did this single handedly?
• § Worked on payroll, accounting, manufacturing and “data mining” software packages. Turn this into an accomplishment. I don’t want people that “work on” stuff, I want people that get stuff done!

Placer Dome                                                                                                               1993-1996

Systems Administrator, Campbell Mine (1995 – 1996)

• § Administered a mixed UNIX and Novell PC network. Any accomplishments to note other than filling a chair?

Programmer, Vancouver (1993 – 1995)

• § Implemented database (what platform?) inventory system from design documents. Too specific, remember that the little things hurt when you call too much attention to the obvious.
• § Tested third-party software. Say what? This seems vague and doesn’t indicate an accomplishment. Anyone can do, you need to show excellence.

Education

2008            M.Sc in Information Systems at Athabasca University. Essay Project titled “Concurrent Programming – A Case Study on Dual Core Computers.”. Completed courses include Distributed Systems, Project Management, Human Computer Interaction, Enterprise-wide Network Architecture, Data Structures, Systems Analysis and Design. (Separate degree onto separate line from details to highlight it)

1991            B.Math in Pure Mathematics from University of Waterloo, after 2 years study in Electrical Engineering.  Graduated on Dean’s Honours List.  Received Engineering Entrance Scholarship, Descartes Fellowship. (Separate degree onto separate line from details to highlight it)

Training

5NINES training – Sounds promising, give more detail!

PowerPC programming – Is this programming on a particular type of computer? Is this relevant to the job you want?

LynxOS device drivers – What about them?

Inspections training Fluff – This is meaningless outside your current firm.

Inspection Moderator training  Fluff – This training helps someone at another company, how?

Disposition: Promote candidate to phone interview stage.
Initial Impression of Candidate: B+

Filed under: The Recruiting Process | Tagged: critique, hiring, jobs, programmers, resume | 2 Comments »