OS Projects and Your Resume? 80
DavonZ asks: "Being that many readers of Slashdot may have contributed to Open Source projects, I thought this the best place to ask this question: What is the best way to outline our side projects into our resumes? I did the conversion of the C700 from Japanese to English, review hardware for nvmax.com, run MaxProjects which ports applications to the Sharp Zaurus, founded the Embedded Linux Developers Group and still maintain a full-time job with a semiconductor. How to I add these into my resume? I have been told not to; to only enter them into my cover letter. Others have told me to add a projects section. I have even been told that I shouldn't mention my projects at all. Which is the best approach? What are other Slashdot readers doing?"
Hobbies and Interest (Score:3, Insightful)
A Cover letter would probably be the best spot overall though.
Re:Hobbies and Interest (Score:5, Insightful)
Free Beer (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Free Beer (Score:2)
I work for a dictatorship that has a zero tolerance no alchohol policy. Thankfully we're far enough removed from our parent that we still have celebratory release parties, but it's a lot more paranoid and sneaky than the all out bashes we used to have.
I suspect the Mormons have their fingers in our HR...
Community (Score:5, Interesting)
My resume [objenv.com]
Re:Community (Score:3, Funny)
See my resume in the parent.
Re:Community (Score:3, Funny)
I thought they were extinct?
Re:Community (Score:4, Funny)
I retract my request. If anyone knows of a soup kitchen with especially fine fare, I'd appreciate a reference. I'll need something to eat starting around the end of April...
Re:Community (Score:1)
Re:Community (Score:2)
Resume Construction (Score:4, Informative)
If your resume is strong as-is, and nets you the important first interview, you could manage by just mentioning your volunteer activities in a cover letter. With resumes, size does matter and the shorter, "the better."
Otherwise, like some readers have already suggested, paste the information into a broadened "Experience" category or, if you prefer, an aptly named "Community" or "Projects" category.
HTH.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:3, Insightful)
I find that this isn't true. If you only have two pages after ten years experience that says something about you. If you can't fit two years of experience into seven pages, that does to.
I think that resumes, like many things, are best in moderation.
You want something no shorter than is necessary to get your point across and no longer than is necessary to make sure the manager sees everything that might be germane to the position.
That said, I think my resume [objenv.com] is about right, but may be getting a little long. I'm toying with the idea of having a traditional two or three page resume with an appendix of interesting material that wouldn't normally make the cut. For example, I already have one appendix that lists the really nice things my bosses have had to say about me over the years. I've had several positive comments about this. Then the skimmer type manager has what he wants, but the extra information is there for those who want a bit more depth.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:5, Insightful)
The thing is, you shouldn't have a resume. You should *create* a resume for every job that you apply to, that resume only listing what is of interest to that job.
Your c.v. on the other hand, should list all sorts of crap. Similarly, in academia, you're going to have lists of your publishing and the like.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2, Insightful)
As to the specific question at hand, I would probably list this as either "Related Experience" or "Professional Development" or any of 100 other euphemisms for "Stuff I didn't get paid much for, if at all, but makes me a better employee than I would be without it." Even if it's a "hobby" or "interest" I wouldn't call it that because that puts it in the same category as model railroading, teaching Sunday School, crochet, and jogging.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:4, Informative)
Speaking as somebody who's hired, who's been hired, and who's been rejected, I'll tell you this.
Very often: Your resume should be two pages. It should be catchy. It will be scanned for approximately 30 seconds, if even. It will be automatically discarded for a spelling mistake, formatting error, or other stupid little mistake.
It serves one purpose, and one purpose only; to get you into an interview. Therefore, put onto those two pages what will get you into that interview. If it's for a security related position, and you've done some security SIG work, put it on there. If it's not, don't put it on there. Don't do anything cute (I heard of one woman that always stapled a package of cup-a-noodle soup to her resumes, with a little 'sit back, relax, have some soup, and enjoy the resume' note. The response? 'I don't have time for this' and into the trash can.) No wierd fonts, no water marks, no designs on the paper.
Speaking of paper, use good, heavy, textured white or creme coloured paper. For a variety of reasons, from 'it soaks up the ink better' to 'it feels more solid' it's going to look nicer. You're selling yourself, as a product, basicially; pay some attention to packaging.
Similarly, ALWAYS put some hobbies/interests. When it comes down to two equally skilled/appropriate individuals, the fact that you share some hobbies with your boss is going to be enough to nudge you over the edge. After all, you work with people, not skill sets.
That having been said, when putting up a blanket online resume, it's going to be big. But if that's what you're printing and submitting, you're going to get tossed out.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
Very true, very true, but thems the chances you take.
Oh, and bear in mind that some of us like to make a game of identifying your version of Word for Windows by which Resume Wizard you used. :-)
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
I've hired many, been hired many times (consultant) and only been rejected twice. I find that my approach to resume building is very effective though it is clearly different from yours.
It will be automatically discarded for a spelling mistake, formatting error, or other stupid little mistake.
This depends on the position. Look, I'm not arguing that you shouldn't make your resume correct, but if you have experience you will likely get an interview. In fact, I've used resume errors as a way to throw someone off balance in an interview to see how they react to stress.
No wierd fonts, no water marks, no designs on the paper.
Agreed.
Speaking of paper, use good, heavy, textured white or creme coloured paper
My experience is that people who do this have pointed a finger to themselves and said that they aren't qualified. It's a bit like the spelling problem above in reverse. Sure, he should have checked his spelling, but I'm not going to deny a person a job because he used effect instead of affect. Conversly, the person with spiffy paper has made an active decision to attempt to differentiate themselves in an utterly unimportant way.
Similarly, ALWAYS put some hobbies/interests.
I know several people who think this is a bad idea and can only serve to reflect on you negatively.
When it comes down to two equally skilled/appropriate individuals, the fact that you share some hobbies with your boss is going to be enough to nudge you over the edge. After all, you work with people, not skill sets.
Any boss that is going to interview someone because he plays basketball I don't want to work for. Fortunately, I've been involved with hiring at four different companies and have never seen this kind of thing come up.
But if that's what you're printing and submitting, you're going to get tossed out.
Not my experience.
However, I will grant in a heartbeat that you have to know your audience. In 14 years I've only had a handful of interviews that I didn't recieve an offer from. I think this is because one must pre-qualify the position. If you've already talked to the person about the position and understood that you're going to be a good match, much of the rest of this stuff doesn't matter.
Similarly, if you haven't talked with someone, all the resume grooming in the world isn't going to help you much because you don't have enough information to properly groom for.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
All going to show that advice that works perfectly for one hiring manager is going to not work with another.
No, no, not like that. More like 'Gosh, both Bob and Joe would be PERFECT for this position, but rather than flip a coin, I'll hire Bob, because he collects Beanie Babies, and so do I. We can swap humorous stories about yard sales, around the coffee machine.'
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
Yes, this was my point. I didn't mean to say you were wrong, so much as point out that you weren't casting out immutable truths.
No, no, not like that. More like 'Gosh, both Bob and Joe would be PERFECT for this position, but rather than flip a coin, I'll hire Bob, because he collects Beanie Babies, and so do I. We can swap humorous stories about yard sales, around the coffee machine.'
The resume gets you the interview. The evaluation you speak of comes much later and by that time you'll know the folks well enough to determine what interests you have in common and present those as educated disclosures rather than random bits hoping for a bite.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
True, dat. Depends on your interviewing practices, I suppose; I tend to keep resumes around throughout the process to refer back to.
The overarcing point, which we seem to agree on, is that you need to *differentiate* yourself, and you need to be a *total* package. You hire a person, not a skill-set. Or, at least, you should, or you're going to regret your decision.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
PHB: "Well, I *was* going to interview this applicant with the amazing experience and impressive achivements. But then I came across Johnny Nogood's resume, and my heart nearly stopped. Rich, creamy paper, the color of sliced almonds. A firm, confident texture that my hands couldn't stop running themselves over. And the heft of the sheet! The sheer weight and being of it alone commanded my attention, made me look straight ahead and say to myself "Johnny's the man for this job. He knows his paper!"
Frankly, most (well, largish ones at least) tech companies seem to now be preferring electronic resumes, because they can search through them, grab as many copies as they need, and don't need to worry about the thing getting blurred or something in their hands.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
True, true, but again, if you run into the right (wrong) person in a HR department, somebody of the 'old school,' if you will, that sort of thing *does matter.* The devil, as they say, is in the details, and seeing as all it costs you is a few bucks for a ream of higher-quality paper, and the time to slap it into your printer, why not play every card available to you?
In terms of electronic resumes, always make sure your name is in the filename; 'resume.(doc/pdf/wpd/ps/rtf)' will simply get thrown out. Some places will insert you into HR databases; throw in as many product/tech names and buzzwords as you can. Other places, don't, so don't.
It's a big ole' crap shoot, I'm afraid, and the fact that so many of the old 'rules of thumb' are going by the wayside makes it more difficult to figure out what will and won't get your resume simply tossed out the door.
Re:Resume Construction (Score:2)
I disagree with this. You should have one good resume and tailor the cover sheet to the specific instance.
I will admit, however, that the fact that I'm a consultant may be coloring my opinion on this subject.
my suggestion (Score:3, Informative)
Put a "Special Skills" section at the top of your resume. In this section, list a few software/hardware/personal skills that stand out. Here, you can also list one or two of your open source contributions, but don't go into too much detail and make sure that you choose only your best contributions. (You want to be succint, but still get the message across.)
Other alternative: you can list one or two of your contributions in your "Activities and Interests" section, near the end of your resume.
-kris
Re:my suggestion (Score:2)
I'll for for having a projects section (Score:5, Insightful)
I recently got hired for a new job. While I was interviewing for the spot, I was asked more than once about more than one of the projects I've done. They seemed genuinely interested in what I'd done.
I think having a projects section as part of your resume is a good idea because it indicates that you take developing your skills outside of work seriously.
Still work experience (Score:4, Insightful)
Beginning in OS Project Development (Score:1)
I have looked a little at Sourceforge, but am really unsure where exactly to begin. Any ideas?
Re:Beginning in OS Project Development (Score:1)
Download the source code.
Compile.
Look for bugs / possibilities for extending code (there is very often a TODO file or similar with the code, this is a good place to start. Also worth looking through archives of the mailing list).
Write some code, and submit it to the main developer (most projects are single person, send it direct to them and they'll be grateful. If it is a larger project, their submission process will be well documented).
And that's it! If you're proving useful, you'll be allowed to apply your code changes direct to the project.
Any more questions, post them below.
Resumes are hard (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have lot's of time, create a slightly different resume for each company based on your research and your estimate of their "atmosphere" or "corporate culture" or "Feng Shui energy displacement patterns" (that's as good as anything else, I guess).
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:1)
I would think that everybody would do this, if they're actually trying to get a job.
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:2)
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:2, Interesting)
Once you get enough experience under belt you want to rearrange your resume to make it a "perfect match" for any arbitrary job.
And if you are over 40 you definitely want to "dial-out" experience to fly-in under the rampant age discrimination in the industry today
Example: my current agency made me shave off 15 years. They said I shouldn't even bother otherwise. Never mind that the job and the management expectations of the job I'm working now on more closely match my original resume. Hey, the short resume got me in the door and was able to talk up the rest, so, whatever! :-p
Related to this, has anyone seen any tools that allow you to break your resume up into reuseable components (ideally XML) and reassemble them quickly into multiple customized versions? Possible OSS project? Any takers.
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:1)
How about this? [sourceforge.net]
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:1)
Re:Resumes are hard (Score:2)
Yes! Let me reiterate that point. I've given advice here that is completely the opposite of what some others have said.
pmz has it right. This is a game of hope and luck. I'd add that it's important that your resume reflect your personality. Mine [objenv.com] does that. And maybe that's the reason why I'm able to break many of the conventional wisdoms and still get both interviews and hires. I'm pretty good at what I do (as illustrated by the last couple pages), passionate about it and have made careers moves in order to produce good software. All this is evident in my resume and if it were much shorter some of it wouldn't be.
In short, be yourself and let your resume be a reflection of that.
(OT) Resumes are hard (Score:1)
In the spirit of OSS, let me make a few minor contributions:
1) Argonne National Laboratory - "...needs to work closely with it's peers." - "it's" should be "its".
2) Fermilab - "...maintain a subset of the physics thumbnails, all user data and allow for searching." - How about "...maintain a subset of the physics thumbnails and all user data, and allow for searching."?
3) Landis & Gyr - "Worked with client personal..." - Did you mean "Worked with client personnel..."?
4) Swing Master - "data was stored and later utilized..." - This is just a pet peeve of mine, and you're welcome to disagree, but I think the word "utilize" and it's variants are way over-utilized.
Cheers...
Re:(OT) Resumes are hard (Score:3, Funny)
You can, of course, crib the style. Try not to apply for my job, eh?
it's
Good, thanks.
Fermilab
I think it's a funny sentence even after you patch, I'm going to consider changes that obviate the need for that clumsy sentenece completly.
Landis
Good, thanks.
Swing master
Style matters. I'm not accepting this patch, but will consider it for a future release.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate the fresh eyes making my bugs shallow.
Re:(OT) Resumes are hard (Score:1)
Okay, has been bugging me, and it's getting annoying now: How can you type the é in resumé without using the character-map? It's Control-Meta-E in Windows, but what is it in KDE and WindowMaker?
Contract work under applicable license? (Score:1)
Stand out. (Score:3, Informative)
You know your kung-foo well enough to do what you have done, in your "spare" time. I think independent projects help prove that you really do have the skills, and weren't just a tagalong on some work-related project.
Anything you can do to make your resume look better, makes you more formidable as my opponent.
When you do get an interview, the immediate supervisors and potential co-workers are usually the most interested in your projects. I've had interviews where the bulk of the interview questions involved independent projects.
However, I haven't had too many interviews recently...so maybe employers are more interested in the number of years you worked for someone.
What are other /. users doing? (Score:1)
General Resume advice (Score:3, Insightful)
One thing I try to keep in mind is that the main purpose of my resume is to get me an interview.
Bearing that in mind, one tactic would be to put on the resume something general about contributing to FOSS. Then, they have to actually contact you to find out the specifics. This also helps keep the resume brief, which is a good thing.
Re:General Resume advice (Score:1)
If you learn something from a community project and use that to solve an on-the-job problem, include how you solved the problem in the employment section. If you learn a marketable skill from community project, include it in the experience section (but don't tie it to a company).
If a community project does not either map to a direct job benefit or provide a skill for a future job, leave it off. Unless you know a company receiving the resume actively recruits people who have participated in community projects.
Couple of points:
* We are in a down economy. Starting salaries are below what they were two years ago (33-50% in Dallas, TX for example). Companies won't pay more then what they need, and may refuse a "overqualified" candidate. Will mentioning a community project help or hinder in this regard?
* Tailor each resume submission for the job. Add things that address job requirements and delete things that don't.
* Most staffing agencies rewrite candidate resumes. If you have been sent out on an interview by a staffing firm, ask for the resume they submitted before you go. This helps you a) prepare for the interview and b) see what items were deleted from your original submission.
Re:General Resume advice (Score:2)
So when somebody listed a "active in the FOSS community" line and I don't recognize them (and can't find any posts from them on any of the local LUG lists achives), it makes the rest of their resume suspect.
Of course, if they'd said "participating in a FOSS project based in Brazil", I'd pretty much have to call him to get the details
Moral? Wording is important.
Note that... (Score:3, Insightful)
Your best bet is to make a resume that is the best representation of the work you are capable of. If you read it, and it looks like it describes you and you'd give yourself a job then get it out there and see what happens. You'll find out pretty quickly whether it's working or not, and if not make some adjustments and go at it again.
IMHO, people spend WAY too much time worrying about how to write the perfect resume when they'd already have a job if they'd put that energy directly into finding jobs and applying for them.
Affiliations (Score:2)
It covers many different aspects of involvement without requiring several sections. I describe my level of involvement in each entry in the section.
try before you buy... (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't forget. . . (Score:3, Funny)
:)
Factor in status and relevance (Score:2)
After that, though, do try to keep in mind that anybody can start any kind of open source project at any time, so you need to ask yourself how you're going to appear to your potential boss. Really now, are all your projects serious efforts that could be career-level if somebody would just pay you? Or are some of them more like hobbies? Don't just say to yourself, "Hey, I want credit for everything I can get credit for", and don't just say "Am I proud of these things?" Ask, "Is my potential employer going to be blown away by this stuff, and see the obvious connection to the job I'm trying to get?"
Nobody out there is going to say "all open source good. You do open source? You good." The people out there that "get" open source in the biz world also get that for every killer project like an apache, tomcat, ant, sendmail, etc... there are a million others that are really just glory grabs or some kiddie someplace that said "Dood I have an idea and want to be the first one to say that so i get all the credit...I just don't want to do any of the work...."
See what I'm saying? I don't know anything about your projects, so I'm not trying to put them into either category. Just suggesting that you take a serious look at them and ask if your potential employers are really going to care.
Of course you should (Score:1)
Think about what kind of company you want to work for. If they don't see this as an asset, then you're not missing anything. The difference between canidates for us can be tipped by "other" work. It shows a true interest in your work, not just "showing up for a paycheck". You're also actively encouraged to continue after your hired... experience only makes you more valuable and productive.
It's this atmosphere that keeps me at my job... hrm, "how to retain good employees?"
Include it (Score:2)
Re:Include it (Score:2)
Might as well get it out up front that you create copyrighted works on your own time and they belong exclusively to you. They will certainly spot it during an interview and ask about it when it is listed on the resume.
Plus I have learned over the years that people who just do computer stuff 9 to 5 and don't want to deal with it at home just aren't as valuable as people who love it and live it. All good managers know this.
Watch out for Intellectual Property issues (Score:3, Insightful)
My only concern is that by alerting your potential employer to such projects you might find Intellectual Property issues - they might claim that such work is their IP and not yours, and/or they might write this into your contract.
This may seem overly paranoid, and it's a judgment call you'll have to make. I work for a University so IP is not really a concern, but when my wife worked in the corporate world there was some concern about off-time work that was substantially similar to her corporate work, and the definition of *substantially similar* can be pretty sketchy...
Re:Watch out for Intellectual Property issues (Score:2)
be honst on your resume (Score:3, Insightful)
From my experience as a project admin in two projects at sourceforge.net, I know there are a lot of people who join opensource projects just to get the names on their resume. So, what the project does is not that important. (For example, people can submit just one Linux kernel hack and claim themselves kernel developers on their resumes. Unethical, but possible.) The important thing is to be honst and state clearly what you have contributed (learned) to (from) the project(s). And if you have a very good relationship with the project admin, why not ask him/her to be your reference on your resume.
Re:be honst on your resume (Score:2)
I submitted a very small patch to the kernel, and Dave Jones accepted it, and it eventually got added to the kernel.
Anyway, a few months later I got a job at a large company, doing research. One of the things I mentioned in the interview was this kernel patch - but I did tell them it was small.
A few months after working there, there was a linux conference, and so me and my boss went to it. Dave Jones is one of the speakers and actually starts talking about my patch! So I turn to my boss and tell him excitedly that that was my work. Then DJ says "of course, the fix was trivial..".. sigh.. oh well.
I told DJ afterwards, and he found it amusing anyway.
Volunteer Work (Score:1)
Don't worry too much about resume "style" (Score:2)
Re:Don't worry too much about resume "style" (Score:2)
You make your resume exactly following traditional formats, and you make it easy to read and pick out the important points.
Why? Because you don't care about HR after you start working at a company. The resume is supposed to get you the interview, not filter out companies you wouldn't want to work for. The interview is where you talk to the management and co-workers, and get the idea of what the company is like. HR people are very likely clueless to what anything on your resume means, and can't be bothered to sift through a confusing resume.
Do as I say, not as I do! My resume is sorely in need of major work.
Re (Score:1)
Different work sections (Score:2)
Those who aren't interested want a short resume. (Score:2)
In general, people who are not interested in you want a short resume.
Someone who is actually interested, who is thinking of spending $80,000 per year in salary and expenses to hire you, will want to know as much as possible about you.
Re:Those who aren't interested want a short resume (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone who is actually interested, who is thinking of spending $80,000 per year in salary and expenses to hire you, will want to know as much as possible about you.
Not true... It says volumes when you can focus a broad range of skills and experience into a couple pages - and sell the business angle too. Surprisingly few techies get the latter. I've seen way to many four plus page CV's that go all the way back to some junior high internship. I've actually seen folks list logo. Argh!
The thing to be afraid of is the short interview... because they will want to know as much as possible about you. Just not on the CV.
I should have said... (Score:2)
Re:I should have said... (Score:1)
Amen. The shop I work actually did some hiring and a deluge of resumes poured in. After HR did some preliminary filtering and a couple others did some phone screening, it came down to sorting through some very qualified candidates. Content is king, but extra points were given for those who appear to have solid communication skills. There were some hideous CV's sent in - almost like reading
Re: Attractiveness is the goal, not size. (Score:2)
Job with a semiconductor? (Score:3, Funny)
Tell us, what sort of job do you have with a dwarfish locomotive employee?
Softography... (Score:1)
I did a MySQL .NET provider (Score:1)
Interested parties can check out www.einfodesigns.com [einfodesigns.com] though I would add that this is a shameless plug.