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I would want to work for someone who doesn't know software, I think you are right. I think you have good criticism/feedback and I want to incorporate it. What other overly generalized descriptions do not make sense besides the experience regarding build scripts? I updated the build script section to add clarification of the experience. Updated link http://1drv.ms/1FkLUKC
Here is an example:
>Started-up the personal storage compatibility test team from scratch. I documented the test strategy and handed it off to another lead to move onto a tools team and begin development of a test result reporting system for device compatibility.
> Designed, constructed and deployed business process automation for Windows Logo Kit (WLK) content test execution as part of management’s automation push. Accomplishing this saved company money by reducing the need for FTE head count.
> Reviewed device feature team development and test documents and collaborated with these teams giving them actionable feedback.
C#, SQL, XML, JavaScript, COM, Office Objet Model, .NET Framework, PowerShell, CMD, Virtual Machines
I don't know how the languages you listed at the bottom (C#, SQL, XML, Javascript....) fit in the work you did. When I look at the description, things like test strategy, automation, and review test documents don't really require you to write C# code and what not. Or do they? Make it easy for the recruiter to piece together the information by describing how those languages and tools you listed fit into the work you described.
>Started-up the personal storage compatibility test team from scratch. I documented the test strategy and handed it off to another lead to move onto a tools team and begin development of a test result reporting system for device compatibility.
> Designed, constructed and deployed business process automation for Windows Logo Kit (WLK) content test execution as part of management’s automation push. Accomplishing this saved company money by reducing the need for FTE head count.
> Reviewed device feature team development and test documents and collaborated with these teams giving them actionable feedback.
C#, SQL, XML, JavaScript, COM, Office Objet Model, .NET Framework, PowerShell, CMD, Virtual Machines
I don't know how the languages you listed at the bottom (C#, SQL, XML, Javascript....) fit in the work you did. When I look at the description, things like test strategy, automation, and review test documents don't really require you to write C# code and what not. Or do they? Make it easy for the recruiter to piece together the information by describing how those languages and tools you listed fit into the work you described.
.
Software automation describes a software system that removes the need for manual input from a person and does all the work automatically.
In the experience listed as "Designed, constructed and deployed business process automation for Windows Logo Kit (WLK) content test execution..." manual input would be (but not limited to) "plug in usb hub, execute usb tests against that specific hub, wait for tests to finish, analyze results, package results into a report and send report".
So the languages are used in the software automation.
I picked "business process automation" as a term to describe the work, but it sounds confusing. Can you think of a way to communicate this experience in a way that would work well on a resume? I appreciate your help!
Ok, I work in role requiring reviewing a lot of IT resumes. I'm also a senior software engineer. So I know what I'm looking for in candidates we interview. The thing is, when someone (typically a stranger) applies for our positions and the resume doesn't jump and say 'I fit the position' there is something wrong... and it's not with the hiring team! The thing I've discovered over many years in the industry is that most IT folks have a very poor sense of marketing and writing skills are usually abysmal at best. Some can't write at all, seriously! That's also why many naturally gravitate toward IT over sales or something more humanities related. Almost all could use some professional resume writing training along with technical writing training in general. Writing is a lost art in IT, for sure.
In terms of the resume, I've seen better, I've seen worse. I do not see the SDLC process conducted on anything that was designed or developed. It leaves one wondering if it really happened at all. I'm just giving an honest first impression which more than any employer would do. So even if the resume makes it by the HR guy/gal, the technical person who really helps make the decision is left flat. Like beb0p, I find it expects the reader to assume too much. There is *very* little as in practically nothing in way of explaining how you used the laundry list of technologies and to what extent: C#, SQL, XML, JavaScript, COM, Office Objet Model, .NET Framework, PowerShell, CMD, Virtual Machines.
Let's starts form the top. The first problem I see is a position that only lasted one month! Why even put that there to begin with? The first impression I have is not a good one, quite frankly. Ask yourself if this helps your cause at all? As a first impression, does this make some hiring person reading it want to hire you? If not, get rid of it. At the vary least start with something, anything more positive. For example, many good resumes start with Summary about the professional. It could start with an Objective. Then many are followed by a section on Technical Skills or Summary of Qualifications. This is where you give an 'executive summary' and sell yourself, preferably in bulletized fashion. I highly recommend going online and looking at high quality examples. It may be worth taking a class.
Next, when I finally get down to the point of a more long term position, I see a lot of repetition without the content actually describing what you did using what specifically and how. It leaves the reader flat, wondering what was actually done. This is something you really have develop more yourself. Engage the reader, connect the dots, showcase what you did and how, technically and succinctly.
Remove redundancy, please! No one likes cut and paste, especially in a resume. Remove Microsoft Corporation April 2000 – August 2011 in all cases but one. You can simply describe different duties/role under the same company. There is absolutely no good reason to repeat it four times! I read it the first time, thank you.
Where is the education, training or professional certificate section? It's not there! If left out, the assumption is not a good one. It leads one to think the person does not like learning or training. Is he/she even trainable? If you have no formal education/training find a way to show something. Did you take classes at one point and/or do some kind of training?
Always keep in mind, your resume represents your best foot forward, your ability (or lack thereof) to sell yourself, as well as reflecting the very best of your writing skills. So put forth the effort to make it that, because that is how a hiring manager perceives it.
If you ever make it past the first cut of resume reviews, it wouldn't take me or someone else technical very long in a 'phone screening' to determine who much actual meat and potatoes development really occurred. But if the reviewers are skeptical and wondering that already, there is a good chance they will not call. It's just a numbers thing. We get hundreds of resumes and only have a very short time to review them, finding the best of the best to follow-up with over the phone. So don't take it personal in the sense that someone doesn't want to hire you. Instead, find a way to make your presentation better so that they do. This has to start with writing a much more informative and inviting resume.
Then, you must 'tailor' the resume to the position. Many feel this is not right or they are not being completely honest if they do. Hog wash! That's just a lame excuse for being lazy, seriously. If you are really interested in the job, show it! Learn about the company, the type of work they do, the position, the technologies used. If you don't understand them, do some research to learn more. Take the initiative and then show it.
Lastly, be realistic. You say you don't want a tester's job. Yet your resume screams test engineer. You might need to start there as a more realistic goal just to get going with something. Then grow from there. Take on more development tasks whenever the opportunities arise. Some job is definitely better than no job. You can always move on and up from a stronger position (e.g. gainfully employed).
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 06-17-2015 at 09:14 PM..
Ok, I work in role requiring reviewing a lot of IT resumes. I'm also a senior software engineer. So I know what I'm looking for in candidates we interview. The thing is, when someone (typically a stranger) applies for our positions and the resume doesn't jump and say 'I fit the position' there is something wrong... and it's not with the hiring team! The thing I've discovered over many years in the industry is that most IT folks have a very poor sense of marketing and writing skills are usually abysmal at best. Some can't write at all, seriously! That's also why many naturally gravitate toward IT over sales or something more humanities related. Almost all could use some professional resume writing training along with technical writing training in general. Writing is a lost art in IT, for sure.
In terms of the resume, I've seen better, I've seen worse. I do not see the SDLC process conducted on anything that was designed or developed. It leaves one wondering if it really happened at all. I'm just giving an honest first impression which more than any employer would do. So even if the resume makes it by the HR guy/gal, the technical person who really helps make the decision is left flat. Like beb0p, I find it expects the reader to assume too much. There is *very* little as in practically nothing in way of explaining how you used the laundry list of technologies and to what extent: C#, SQL, XML, JavaScript, COM, Office Objet Model, .NET Framework, PowerShell, CMD, Virtual Machines.
Let's starts form the top. The first problem I see is a position that only lasted one month! Why even put that there to begin with? The first impression I have is not a good one, quite frankly. Ask yourself if this helps your cause at all? As a first impression, does this make some hiring person reading it want to hire you? If not, get rid of it. At the vary least start with something, anything more positive. For example, many good resumes start with Summary about the professional. It could start with an Objective. Then many are followed by a section on Technical Skills or Summary of Qualifications. This is where you give an 'executive summary' and sell yourself, preferably in bulletized fashion. I highly recommend going online and looking at high quality examples. It may be worth taking a class.
Next, when I finally get down to the point of a more long term position, I see a lot of repetition without the content actually describing what you did using what specifically and how. It leaves the reader flat, wondering what was actually done. This is something you really have develop more yourself. Engage the reader, connect the dots, showcase what you did and how, technically and succinctly.
Remove redundancy, please! No one likes cut and paste, especially in a resume. Remove Microsoft Corporation April 2000 – August 2011 in all cases but one. You can simply describe different duties/role under the same company. There is absolutely no good reason to repeat it four times! I read it the first time, thank you.
Where is the education, training or professional certificate section? It's not there! If left out, the assumption is not a good one. It leads one to think the person does not like learning or training. Is he/she even trainable? If you have no formal education/training find a way to show something. Did you take classes at one point and/or do some kind of training?
Always keep in mind, your resume represents your best foot forward, your ability (or lack thereof) to sell yourself, as well as reflecting the very best of your writing skills. So put forth the effort to make it that, because that is how a hiring manager perceives it.
If you ever make it past the first cut of resume reviews, it wouldn't take me or someone else technical very long in a 'phone screening' to determine who much actual meat and potatoes development really occurred. But if the reviewers are skeptical and wondering that already, there is a good chance they will not call. It's just a numbers thing. We get hundreds of resumes and only have a very short time to review them, finding the best of the best to follow-up with over the phone. So don't take it personal in the sense that someone doesn't want to hire you. Instead, find a way to make your presentation better so that they do. This has to start with writing a much more informative and inviting resume.
Then, you must 'tailor' the resume to the position. Many feel this is not right or they are not being completely honest if they do. Hog wash! That's just a lame excuse for being lazy, seriously. If you are really interested in the job, show it! Learn about the company, the type of work they do, the position, the technologies used. If you don't understand them, do some research to learn more. Take the initiative and then show it.
Lastly, be realistic. You say you don't want a tester's job. Yet your resume screams test engineer. You might need to start there as a more realistic goal just to get going with something. Then grow from there. Take on more development tasks whenever the opportunities arise. Some job is definitely better than no job. You can always move on and up from a stronger position (e.g. gainfully employed).
Wow, that was super-fantastic feedback! I've got an action list to rework my resume. There are two points I heard you made that I want to comment on, the other points I think I fully understand. Removing the one month job does make me look bad. But when the question comes up "you haven't worked since 2012?" how do I respond to that? I did spend more than a year trying to start a business, but that doesn't account for such a large employment gap. That and I lack salesmanship skills to know how to respond in a manner that makes me look good.
The other thing I wanted to hit on was the problem where I have test background (titled Software Developer in Test) and I need to make the jump out of "Test" and into "Development". I know that making this jump is hard and I could get a job in test and then work up, but do you know how someone could make that jump in another way?
I did have a resume version that sounded a lot like I'm changing back into. A recruiter for Disney explicitly asked me to put the languages and technologies used under the description of work for the job and verified that is what was wanted upon review. Its sounding like one group people like resumes one way and another group of people like it another way.
Last edited by 505HPC6Z06; 06-18-2015 at 04:19 PM..
Is there any way to tie in that one month job with a 'longer span of time' while starting up your own business? Or is that too much of a stretch? In other words, if that was the one thing you did while attempting to start up the business, it does count. But you don't necessary have to show the 'one month' period. Its kind of like showing your dirty socks/underwear during an interview. Instead, it could be XYZ consulting from 2012-present, CEO, yours truly. During that time you happened to work as a consultant/contractor for Insight Global while developing your business. See what I mean? Please don't do that if its a total lie. But if that was during your period of wanderings after MS while trying to start a biz, then I think its fine. Also, was there anything else you did business related during that period as well? Include it.
Regarding the laundry list of technologies, they definitely need to be on a resume. They are also what the resume bots scan for - buzz words!!! You need to make the resume IT buzz word compliant. The things is, its also important to describe a bit 'how' you used some them, succinctly. Let's face it, a lot of folks add BS to their resumes, including buzz words. And recruiters know that. Because of this, its important to show that, yes, they were actually used.
Jumping from tester to developer is not impossible. But if that is really your goal, you have to ask yourself two questions:
1. Do you really have enough development experience to answer some harder technical questions during an interview?
2. If you were to get a pure developer role, could you do the job and make things happen?
If your answer is yes to both of these, or at least 'I think so,' then you really need to emphasize more development tasks and steps along the way vs. the word 'test' and test related words Sooooo much. Example:
> Designed and implemented software automation for test pass execution reducing test time by 10%. > Test execution for Windows Phone Web services in Scout and Explore feature areas. I created the test matrix, test result report and tracked bug regression history.
If you don't want a TEST job, then why the #@*( do you overuse those testing words so much? Think about it? Come up with something new, fresh. Talk about .Net, SQL, something/anything more developer related rather than simply 'test.' It seems like those terms by far dominate the entire resume. Should they really, if that is not your primary goal?
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 06-19-2015 at 01:29 AM..
Is there any way to tie in that one month job with a 'longer span of time' while starting up your own business? Or is that too much of a stretch? In other words, if that was the one thing you did while attempting to start up the business, it does count. But you don't necessary have to show the 'one month' period. Its kind of like showing your dirty socks/underwear during an interview. Instead, it could be XYZ consulting from 2012-present, CEO, yours truly. During that time you happened to work as a consultant/contractor for Insight Global while developing your business. See what I mean? Please don't do that if its a total lie. But if that was during your period of wanderings after MS while trying to start a biz, then I think its fine. Also, was there anything else you did business related during that period as well? Include it.
Regarding the laundry list of technologies, they definitely need to be on a resume. They are also what the resume bots scan for - buzz words!!! You need to make the resume IT buzz word compliant. The things is, its also important to describe a bit 'how' you used some them, succinctly. Let's face it, a lot of folks add BS to their resumes, including buzz words. And recruiters know that. Because of this, its important to show that, yes, they were actually used.
Jumping from tester to developer is not impossible. But if that is really your goal, you have to ask yourself two questions:
1. Do you really have enough development experience to answer some harder technical questions during an interview?
2. If you were to get a pure developer role, could you do the job and make things happen?
If your answer is yes to both of these, or at least 'I think so,' then you really need to emphasize more development tasks and steps along the way vs. the word 'test' and test related words Sooooo much. Example:
> Designed and implemented software automation for test pass execution reducing test time by 10%. > Test execution for Windows Phone Web services in Scout and Explore feature areas. I created the test matrix, test result report and tracked bug regression history.
If you don't want a TEST job, then why the #@*( do you overuse those testing words so much? Think about it? Come up with something new, fresh. Talk about .Net, SQL, something/anything more developer related rather than simply 'test.' It seems like those terms by far dominate the entire resume. Should they really, if that is not your primary goal?
I'm hearing my resume is tailored to a test role. But I'm saying I want a dev role. I think this conflict is what has been pointed out that I didn't get until now. I want to fitness or feather the development experience to talk as a developer would for the particular job I'm applying for, leaving out the BS and adding the how-I-did-it with concepts like Agile development.
In 1996 I landed a contract job on the MS Tech Move team unplugging PC's so the equipment could be moved to its new office destination where we would then re-plug everything. I didn't know anything about computers then. It is because of people like yourself and beb0p that helped me grow. I appreciate the time. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you guys.
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