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OS Projects and Your Resume? 80

Posted by Cliff from the tooting-your-own-horn...tastefully dept.
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?"
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OS Projects and Your Resume? More

OS Projects and Your Resume?

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  • Hobbies and Interest (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CounterZer0 ( 199086 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:04PM (#5386957) Homepage
    If you resume contains a 'hobbies and interests' section, add them there. They aren't education related, and they aren't *jobs*, so don't place them in the main body of your resume.

    A Cover letter would probably be the best spot overall though.

  • Free Beer (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:07PM (#5386981)
    Since OS projects are like free beer, why not give some to your potential employer? That is a sure-fire way to get employed.
    • maybe at a competing company -

      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)

    by rw2 ( 17419 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:11PM (#5387016) Homepage
    I added a "Community" section to my resume and put things like that there. Similar to a 'hobbies' section, but community expresses it better. Would running the local Unix security SIG be a hobby? Not really.

    My resume [objenv.com]

  • Resume Construction (Score:4, Informative)

    by reyalsnogard ( 595701 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:21PM (#5387107)
    What better way to underline your passion for technology than to mention your extracurricular involvement w/ it?

    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)

      by rw2 ( 17419 )
      With resumes, size does matter and the shorter, "the better."

      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)

        by SuiteSisterMary ( 123932 ) <slebrunNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @01:28PM (#5387678) Journal

        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.

        • Not that I'm anyone whose opinion is worth anything, but that sounds like the best advice I've seen in this thread.

          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)

            by SuiteSisterMary ( 123932 ) <slebrunNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @02:47PM (#5388326) Journal

            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.

            • I agree with most of your advice except the hobbies section. The reader of your resume is just as likely to hate your hobby as love it and many business people believe a hobby section is inappropriate and may use it as an excuse to eliminate you.
            • Speaking as somebody who's hired, who's been hired, and who's been rejected, I'll tell you this.

              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.

              • All going to show that advice that works perfectly for one hiring manager is going to not work with another.

                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.

                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.'

                • All going to show that advice that works perfectly for one hiring manager is going to not work with another.

                  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.
                  • 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.

                    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.

            • 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.

              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.

              • 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.

        • 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.

          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)

    by vorwerk ( 543034 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:21PM (#5387109)
    Here's what I do, and I've had a fair bit of success with my resume:

    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
    • While I myself have a 'special skills' section on my resume - I think that putting it at the top would definetly be overkill. Chances are that employers will want to see work experience first and foremost, if it were me putting this stuff on my CV, I'd add it there somehow.

  • I'll for for having a projects section (Score:5, Insightful)

    by leifw ( 98495 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:25PM (#5387151)
    I added a projects section to my resume after my work experience section in which I list OS projects and various other things I've done in a non-work related fashion.

    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)

    by AmbushBug ( 71207 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:29PM (#5387188)
    This is work experience just like any other job. The fact that you didn't get paid for it or that it was volunteer doesn't make any difference to someone looking at your resume. The point of the resume is to show what *related* work you have done in the past. So if you are applying for a software related position, your OS work is definately relevent work experience and should be listed with all your other work experience.
  • I would like to contribute to Open Source Projects and support the community in this fashion. I am a Developer I and I don't have a great deal of experience, and I am not familiar with the way Open Source projects progress.

    I have looked a little at Sourceforge, but am really unsure where exactly to begin. Any ideas?
    • Find a project you're interested in.
      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)

    by pmz ( 462998 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:34PM (#5387222) Homepage
    One thing I've learned is that no two people on the planet will give the same advice regarding resumes. Their effectiveness is so dependent on the personality of the person reading them that all you have on your side is hope and luck. The most important thing you can do is to express your projects somewhere on the resume or cover letter and hope that it catches an eye or scanning machine or two.

    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).
    • 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).

      I would think that everybody would do this, if they're actually trying to get a job.

      • Like anything else it's a cost/benefit question. You can spend a lot of time researching a company but what you find won't necessarily help you get an interview. There's a difference between a company's public face and the individual reading your resume.

    • Re:Resumes are hard (Score:2, Interesting)

      by JGski ( 537049 )
      Not only that, resumes really need to target specific jobs (yes, a different resume for each job is best if you want to maximize you chances - no two resumes the same). Call it optimization or call it marketing spin or kissing up - the only outcome that matters is whether you get the job you want or not.

      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.

    • One thing I've learned is that no two people on the planet will give the same advice regarding resumes.

      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.
      • I think you have one of the most impressive resumes I've ever seen, both in style and in content. If you don't mind, I may borrow from it (that is, the style, not the content).

        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...
        • Heh, the first GPLed resume. 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.
          • "Heh, the first GPLed resume. Funny."

            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?

  • Couldn't Open Source programming be considered contract labor, for release under the applicable license? If you contribute to the Linux Kernel your work is GPL and you did that work knowing it would be GPL. I don't see why it shouldn't be credited under Work Experience. As for compensation the attribution of contributed modules should fall under fixed rate compensation, in this case whuffie [d351gn.com]: The new new economy.

  • Stand out. (Score:3, Informative)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:40PM (#5387260) Homepage Journal
    Employers are interested in what you can do.

    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.
  • The rest of us are still waiting to get our hands on a C700, you insenstive clod.

  • General Resume advice (Score:3, Insightful)

    by datastew ( 529152 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:42PM (#5387273)

    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.

    • Absolutely. The whole point of a resume is to get an interview. If there is something you can add to a resume that increases the probability of getting an interview, add it. If you can subtract something to increase the probability, subtract it.

      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.
    • I've been in a hiring position and seen resumes that do that. I'm also very active in the *local* FOSS community.

      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)

    by GeckoX ( 259575 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @12:52PM (#5387387)
    Your average response here is going to be from an unemployed technozealot of some sort telling you what to do with your resume to get a job, that they don't have.

    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.
  • I use a section called "Affiliations" in which society and association memberships, user-group contributions and open-source work is documented.

    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)

    by boldingl ( 525344 )
    put it in there! for employers, this is a further chance to "try before you buy" - they get to see some projects that you've worked on, rathern than just hear about them. I contribute to several projects, and have details of these on my CV. At every single interview, without exception, I have been asked more details about the Open Source projects that I work on. All have been intrigued to learn more. At the end of the day, it is something that will make you well remembered and stick in an employers mind, which is going to make it much more likely that you will get an interview, or the job.

  • Don't forget. . . (Score:3, Funny)

    by polyphemus-blinder ( 540915 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @01:21PM (#5387610)
    to mention that you got a story posted on /.
    :)
  • Obviously, if you're a Java web programmer who substantially contributed to Jakarta Struts and you're interviewing for a job that asks for Struts experience, then yeah, you want to highlight that in a big way.

    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.

  • Having been on the hiring end of things, I'd definately say you should put it in. How you do it is up to you.

    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?"
  • For sure. It's a good screening tool. If a company is afraid of you because you work on open source projects you don't want to work there.
    • Not to mention they can't say 'We never would have called you for the second interview if we knew you wouldn't sign our statement on Intellectual "Property" which says we own everything you do even at home.'

      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)

    by lindsayt ( 210755 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @01:56PM (#5387912)
    Generally, I think all relevant experience should go on a resume, including this kind of avocational programming and project work.

    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...

  • be honst on your resume (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CEHT ( 164909 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @01:59PM (#5387938) Homepage
    One advice is be honst on your resume. It doesn't matter if you put your opensource experiences under Voluteering or Community sections.

    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.
    • Speaking of kernel hacks...

      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.
  • If you want to fit it into a "standard resume", add it into the Volunteer Work section of your resume.
  • Do you really want to work for a place with management that would say, "This applicant did not format his resume properly. He has included accomplishments that defy our traditional categorizations!"? Go ahead and put them on there, either in some "other" category or wherever you think they best belong. However, don't pad with trivial accomplishments; just put your best ones.
    • Sadly and horribly untrue.

      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.
  • my opinion is: write several different versions of resume, the one with your open source projects is for the OS as_ kissers. And if applying for MS jobs in M$, tell them you can use MS IDEs(.NET specially) like brushing your teeth. good luck!
  • My resume has sections for paid work and for volunteer work. If I made any contributions to open-source software, I'd probably stick it under volunteer. Once I was part of two or more projects, I'd add another section.

  • 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.
    • 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.

      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 long resumes that are packed with useful information are better than short resumes that are difficult to decode.
        • I should have said long resumes that are packed with useful information are better than short resumes that are difficult to decode.

          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 /. posts - except they were looking for cash rather than karma. (whimper)

  • Job with a semiconductor? (Score:3, Funny)

    by DasBub ( 139460 ) <dasbub&dasbub,com> on Thursday February 27, 2003 @01:16AM (#5393372) Homepage
    and still maintain a full-time job with a semiconductor.

    Tell us, what sort of job do you have with a dwarfish locomotive employee?
  • I've always used the heading "Softography" to list any software I have developed myself.
  • I wrote and marketed the first native provider for MySQL on the .NET platform. I've gotten a big hit out of this when I go for new clients. Of course this is a commercial product for me so it's not open source, but MySQL is open source so I think that there is some value here.

    Interested parties can check out www.einfodesigns.com [einfodesigns.com] though I would add that this is a shameless plug. :)

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