Subj : Re: How much should I charge for fixed-price software contract? To : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp From : rem642b Date : Mon Aug 15 2005 11:18 pm > From: Tim X > Your resume is completely incorrect - its too long Let me check it right now: http://members.tripod.com/~MaasInfo/SeekJob/Resume.98B.txt That's 60 lines of text. You're correct, it's too long too many lines. How many lines is the maximum for a resume? > its badly formatted It looks formatted pretty well given the one-page restriction and plain ASCII text, but perhaps you have some specific changes you'd like? > and lots of it is totally irrelevent in the current market. What specifically? I'd be glad to cut out parts that the majority of people in this newsgroup consider so grossly worthless that I shouldn't include them even though I spent a lot of time doing those things and it would really be dishonest to exclude them, but if dishonesty by omission is necessary to get a job I'm willing to bend. So which items specifically should I delete? > You need to do a well formatted CV No, I most definitely do not want a CV for applying for non-academic jobs doing software development. http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/curriculumvitae/a/curriculumvitae.htm http://www.careers.ucr.edu/students/graduates/cvsample.html http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurograduate.com%2Fplan2.html http://www.quintcareers.com/curriculum_vitae.html http://www.careers.ucr.edu/Students/Graduates/CV/ I want a resume, not a CV, because a resume, not a CV, is what is asked by *all* job ads I've seen in this area. > clearly labelled in sections with brief but informative text. It's already that. What are you complaining about?? > Employment Histor (from most recent to oldest) My most recent employment is more than ten years ago. I've gotten good advice *not* to make my lack of recent employment a major attraction in my resume, or it'd be tossed before any of the good stuff would ever be seen. I've also been advised very strongly not to include any employment more than ten years ago, and to only summarize anything between five and ten years ago, not list it individually. > Programming Lnaguages > (Usually, you would only include languages you have used commercially) I've never used any programming language commercially, except 2.5 weeks of Think C 9n 1992. > if you only listed all your experience with assembler on PDPs etc, > then its unlikely you would be considered except in the very unlikely > case where some company had an old PDP-10 and just happened to need an > assembly programmer. However, if on the other hand you presented > yourself as someone with a proven track record of workinig in > assembler, someone with a good grasp of low level hardware programming > and someone capable oflearning, then possibly you would be thought of > when that job comes up workinig on developing software for that new > chip xxxxxx. Well there was one resume I wrote that didn't say any specifics at all, no PDP-10 or 6502 or 8080 or 68000 or IBM-1620 or IBM-1130, only the number/variety of different things I did to emphasize how I've learned so many different languages/environments/applicationAreas that surely I can easily learn five or ten more on a new job. http://members.tripod.com/~MaasInfo/SeekJob/Resume.942.txt It's only 57 lines, three lines shorter than the other. Maybe you'd like it better? > forget all about that stuff regarding decoding URI elements > etc - thats just trivial stuff, a real no brainer for which you can > usually find pre-existing libraries/modules to do all the work > anyway. I agree. That's why for C and C++ I used Google to find a free set of code to do the form-contents-decoding, not part of a large library, but just a standalone piece of already-debugged (almost, I had to fix a few bugs before they'd work on this system) that would be small enough that I could show it as part of my demo of how to do CGI/C and CGI/C++ software. I made sure the C code was pure C, no cheating by using stuff that the Gnu C/C++ compiler or Visual-C++ compiler could fake in C program even though it wasn't valid ANSI C but was actually C++. Also I made sure the C++ code was true C++ code in both standard and style, not C code that got minimal transformation to run under C++ environment but which was actually C at heart and only sham of C++. > you are almost guaranteed never to get any ral work consulting > because you have no recent proven track record and no track record in > current technologies. I tried looking for regular employment for years, but lots of people told me that was impossible, that I need to get some short-term contract work, and then with that proven track record some company might risk hiring me on the longer term, in fact one of the short-term contracts might develop into a long-term job. So you see I get so much contradictory advice that I really have to ignore most of it, and accept only that which doesn't contract a lot of other advice I also get. > Your technical commercial experience is outdated My only technical commercial experience, except for 2.5 weeks in 1992, is within the past 2.2 years. How can you say such recent experience is outdated? Are Visual Basic, C, C++, and Java, all outdated, in your opinion? > Unless you can convince an employer that you have something which the > others don't and its something the employer considers valuable, you > have no hope. I have a lot of good talent and skills, valuable to an employer, that most others don't have. Maybe you can help me convince an employer to recognize that? > I have to wonder why you haven't been trying to get more specific > programming jobs that relate to what seems to have been one of your > strength areas. Your question is based on a false premise. I **have** been trying to get programming jobs in areas where I have expertise (educational software, information retrieval/access, etc.), but I've never been able to find anyone interested in my skills in those areas. The closest I ever came was when my former boss referred me to a company that did educational software for children, and took me on a tour of what they were doing, but none of it was actually educational where it actually makes sure a child learns something, it was all play-explore stuff which is fine for spending idle time getting familiar with some stuff that looks interesting but is totally insufficient at making sure the child ever really learned anything. It's like a computer version of the child watching Sesame Street all day. Yeah, the child eventually picks up a few things here and there, but there's no competance at anything. So anyway I was told they aren't interested in any software that actually teaches the child anything, only in making sure the child enjoys the experience of playing with the computer games, so none of my experience is of any value there. > why not look for jobs with companies doing software which has a > strong mathematical basis - modelling, communications, signal > processing etc. I have no experience in the kind of modeling you're talking about, nor in any signal processing whatsoever. The only communications jobs I've seen required specific experience managing/configuring TCP/IP stacks, which I've never done. > Why are you even bothering trying to compete in an area which is > flooded with programmers (Java/Web) Because Java is my second-best language, my best being Lisp, and there are no jobs whatsoever in Lisp, whereas 2.5 years ago I actually saw a job ad for Java that I would have qualified for a year later. So I'm only one year away from a chance at a Java job, whereas twenty years away from any other kind of job. > Play to your strengths! Show me one job opening that matches my strenghths in Lisp programming or computer-assisted instruction. .