Subj : Re: How much should I charge for fixed-price software contract? To : comp.programming From : Richard Heathfield Date : Fri Aug 19 2005 10:02 am Reply-To: sorry.spammers@not.even.this.one.invalid NNTP-Posting-Host: host86-130-34-227.range86-130.btcentralplus.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-Trace: nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com 1124442168 22961 86.130.34.227 (19 Aug 2005 09:02:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news-complaints@lists.btinternet.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:02:48 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: KNode/0.7.1 Xref: newsmst01b.news.prodigy.com comp.programming:222530 Chris Sonnack wrote: > Someone else suggested sending an HTML file with a .doc extension. > > [shrug] Might work (and I may even be off base about the willingness > to accept *tendered* HTML). I will say that *I* would never trust my > resume to someone's personal HTML renderer, line wrapping, settings, > etc. I was never that concerned about the exact appearance of my CV. Basically, it's in several sections, each of which is either a header or a table. Any browser ought to be able to render it decently, even lynx. > If I send a printed resume, Word doc or PDF, I **know** how it's going > to look, and that's very important to me in this case. Fair enough. I couldn't give two hoots, as long as it's neat and tidy and in the right order. > [...] It's TOO portable. Too prone to mis-rendering. Does that matter? If someone is so scared of not being thought adequate to the job being advertised that they go into control freak mode and decide they need the exact appearance on the page to be Just So, then they will send you a PDF file, which you accept. If someone doesn't care quite so much, they will maybe send you a Word file. But are you really claiming you will /reject/ a CV simply because it's presented in a format that its author thinks will be intelligently interpreted by any decent browser, and trusts you to have a decent browser around without insisting that it's, say, IE5 or better? > And, in this case, portability just isn't an issue. Every PC in the > entire company is guarenteed to have certain tools available. I don't see how that's relevant - and I would be very surprised if every PC in your entire company didn't have access to a browser of some kind. > If > applying to some other company, I'd find out what they prefered and > that's what I'd give them. Or you might decide that it's too much like hard work. For example, if they wanted your CV to be painted on banana leaves from Botswana, one letter per leaf, and sewn together with your own hair, then you might just decide that the company is too brain-damaged to even consider working for. In the same way, I would not want to work for /your/ company. We all have our limits. >> I am not overly concerned with the existence of a large amount of >> extraneous material on the Web, since searching is rapid nowadays and in >> any case one man's extraneous is another man's vital. > > Indeed, and I agree. But this isn't about you or me (who are far more > savvy about such matters). It's about corporate managers and corporate > perceptions (who ain't). I wouldn't want to work for a non-savvy corporate manager who was daft enough to refuse CVs from bright people just because he has an aversion to HTML format. -- Richard Heathfield "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999 http://www.cpax.org.uk mail: rjh at above domain .