Resumes and job interviews for technical jobs

Resumes and
Interviewing
Andy Lester, Land The Tech Job You Love
http://petdance.com/
andy@petdance.com

Saturday, October 1, 11 1

Awesomeness


Y! are a

unique & beautiful

snowﬂak"


... but this is my desk.


Your awesomeness
is not self-evident!


Hunting


Start networking
NOW


LinkedIn is not
networking.


Facebook is not
networking.


BTW, what's your
Google footprint?


Leland


"I'm not good
talking to people."


"I'm not good
talking to people."

Tough.
No better time to start.


Talk to a stranger
here at Barcamp.


Talk to a stranger
here at Barcamp.

Conferences are a
goldmine of contacts.


Resumes


Resume questions

• Should I put skills ﬁrst, or education?
• Does it have to be only one page?
• Should I list extra-curriculars?
• Should I leave off ...
• Should I tell about my ...


Why you write a resume


There is no
Resume Police.


You do not have
a resume.


Master resume


One page?
Two page?


"No good movie is too
long and no bad movie is
short enough."
-- Roger Ebert


Lose the clichés

• Professional
• Industrious; hard worker
• Good people person; team player
• Motivated; self-starter; makes things happen
• Strong communication skills


Give examples!
Let the reader decide.


The resume

• Summarize at the top
• Tailor it to the job
• Emphasize what's important


NO! NO! NO!

• No lies
• No fudging
• No "objective" or "references available"
• No salary history
• Nothing illegal


Emphasize what's
important

21 years professional software development, most
recently in Perl and PHP
• Manager and senior engineer for e-commerce site
(3+ years)
• Develop object-oriented Perl and PHP, interfacing
with Oracle and MySQL (8 years)
• Create intranet database applications with
ColdFusion, Access & VBA (5 years)


It came from my inbox

July 2001-present
Night Operations Technician, Bug-Be-Gone Corp.

* Maintained insect population by applying
insecticides with truck-mounted sprayer.

* Precisely tracked assigned paths through areas
served.


Cover letters


Rule #1:
Write one.


Rule #2:
Write one for the
speciﬁc position.



Dear Prospective Employer,

Your Advertisement on jobs.perl.com for a

Sr. Prog. for library book wholesaler

caught my attention. I would like to apply. I am
conﬁdent that I can perform the job effectively. My
background and career goal, seem to match the job
requirements well.



I am much more than a programmer. In my long and
varied work history, I have performed such jobs as
knife salesman, manager of a hardware store,
extracting retinas from bovine eyes as a neurological
lab assistant, ﬂower delivery driver and retirement
home activities director, all of which make me a well-
rounded candidate.



I am much more than a programmer. In my long and
varied work history, I have performed such jobs as
knife salesman, manager of a hardware store,
extracting retinas from bovine eyes
as a cow eye sucker, cow eye sucker and cow eye
sucker, all of which make me a well-rounded cow eye
sucker.


Your cover letter
• In plaintext in your email.
• Explains relationship with contact, if any.
• Explains what you're looking for, and what you
can bring to the company.

• Shows that you care enough to send a
personalized cover letter.

• Shows that you know about the company.

A good cover letter
Dear Mr. Lester,

My colleague Richard Dice referred me to the job
recently posted on jobs.perl.org. I believe that I can
help Elsinore Publishing with my skills, including:
• 4 years of database apps for MyCo, including....
• 3 years Perl experience, including two CPAN modules
(http://...) that extend DBI....
• A BS in CS from UIUC, with a 3.7 GPA.
• Experience in the book industry, and a natural love
of books.

I look forward for a chance to meet with you to discuss
your needs and how I can help you and Elsinore.

Interviews


15 ways to
kill an interview
• Show up late
• Be unprepared
• Chew gum, smell like smoke, bring a drink
• Shake hands like a ﬁsh
• Have bad breath or body odor


15 ways to
kill an interview
• Come underdressed
• Speak ill of anyone, including especially
past employers
• Complain or discuss your problems
• Bring up your needs: Money, beneﬁts
• Lie

15 ways to
kill an interview
• Appear uninterested
• Appear overenthusiastic or desperate
• Fail to ask your own questions
• Leave your phone on
• Cut the interview short


Interviewer + candidate
want the same thing.


Hiring manager's task

• "Can this guy do the job?"
• "Do I want this guy working for me?"
• "Do I want this guy on my team?"
• Convince candidate that yours is a
company to work for.


Candidate's task

• "Can I do the job?"
• Convince the HM you can do the job.
• Get a job offer, or move closer to it.


After the offer

• "Do I want to work for this guy?"
• "Do I want to work on this team?"


Conversation,
not interrogation.


Your interview is your
ﬁrst day on the job.


Preparing
the day before


Preparing
the day before
• Clear your schedule.
• Prepare to get there.
• Prepare what you're going to take with you.
• Include a portfolio of work if you can.
• Prepare your own questions.


Questions you'll
have to answer


Tell me about yourself.


Tell me about yourself.

• Did she do any research?
• Is she prepared?
• How does she speak?
• Does she take pride in her work?
• What else should I ask about?


Where do you want to
be in ﬁve years?


Where do you want to
be in ﬁve years?

• Does he have any sort of plan?
• Does he work on self-improvement?
• Will I have a place for him?


What is your greatest
weakness?


Why do you want to
work for us?
- and -
What do you know
about our company?


Why do you want to
work for us?

• Has she done research?
• Is this just another job for her?
• What drives her?


Tell me about a project
that didn't go well.
- or -
Tell me about a
teammate you've had
trouble with.

Tell me about a project
that didn't go well.

• Is he a blamer/whiner?
• Can he learn from mistakes?
• How are his personal skills?


Candidate questions


What's a day like?


What sorts of projects
will I be working on?


What will the ﬁrst day be
like? First month?


Is this a new position, or
are you replacing?
What happened?


Tell me about the team
I'll be joining.


Can I meet the team I'll
be joining?


Show you can
do the job.


Show you can do it.

• Diagnose a dead PC.
• Write some code.
• Assess design problems on a web page.
• Participate in a code review.
• Critique a network diagram.


Closing


Always ask for the job.


Debrief after.

• Thoughts
• Impressions
• Stories
• Follow-up


Recap

• Your awesomeness is not self-evident.
• Think like the hiring manager. You both
want the same thing.
• Speak of value in terms of time & money.
• Interview is ﬁrst day on the job.


andy@petdance.com
http://petdance.com
@petdance on Twitter

Resumes and job interviews for technical jobs

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