Subj : Re: CV, work-history, 91C, CompSci?, Applet? (was: Software Job Ma...) To : comp.programming,comp.software-eng From : Chris Hills Date : Fri Sep 09 2005 12:37 am In article , Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t writes >> From: Chris Hills >> There is a LOT more to programing than writing source code in an >> ascii editor. You use Word for CV's and documentation. > >Only if you're programming on a MicroSoft Windows system. If you're >programming on Unix/Linux it might be preferable to write all >documentation in HTML, CRAP. There are several flavours of open office that use the same file formats as MS and acrobat. HTML documentation is little use for a CV as it can not be locked like a PDF for electronic distribution As usual you are taking a sensible point off at a tangent and arguing stupid point Get your CV in to a sensible format. No one can make any sense of it as it is. > especially if you're programming in Java using >JavaDoc. As for CVs, we've already been through that discussion. CVs >are, in the USA, used only for applying for tenured faculty positions, >not for commercial software jobs. And in any case, writing CVs is very >unlikely to be a work task of somebody hired to write software, even in >Europe. You are being argumentative over the use of Cv and resume when you know, as has it has been explained to you several times, that Europeans use the word CV where the US use the word Resume. In fact everyone in the SW industry in Europe has a CV. 98% of them write their own I have helped friends "brush up" theirs. Remember I have run an agency so I know a bit about CV's or resumes. So on what do you base your assertion that it is unlikely that a CV would be written by anyone employed as a programmer? I have not jet met a programmer who does no habitually keep a "recently updated" Cv close to hand. What ever you call it yours is appalling in layout and design. the content may be there but no one seems to be able to make sense of it due to the way it is constructed. >But why are you talking about MicroSoft Word here in comp.programming >and comp.software-eng? Do you consider such topics appropriate for >these newsgroups? This is one of the reasons why you have been un-employed for the last decade and will remain so. Word and Acrobat were mentioned as sensible file formats for your resume. They are as appropriate in this NG as you and your CV are. >> Doing documentation in plain ascii went out over a decade ago. > >Please explain that remark to Sun MicroSystems: > >Do you see any MicroSoft Word there?? Nor plain ASCII either. So your point is? Those fonts, colours and graphics don't look like plain text to me. >> In any event you are not qualified to instruct. > >And yet I've been doing it, successfully. Who employs you to instruct? What formal course do you instruct? At which educational establishment do you instruct? If you have been successfully employed as an instructor (in the last decade) then you are employed. As in paid for your work. >> Also you don't seem to have the tools required to turn out any >> support material. Ie the documentation. >> drawing package or a case tool? > >This is really getting off-topic for these newsgroups, don't you think? No. We are discussing your CV and work experience. >If you want to ask me specific questions such as that, why don't you >join my Yahoo! Group and ask there? Why? You want help you come here. >> >> why has no one hired you in that decade? >> >I'm not privy to the mental processes within the brains of each person >> >who decided not to hire me, so I don't have the information necessary >> >to answer your question. >> This is obtuse and wilful stupidity on you part. You know the reasons >> they gave and you should have been able to pick up a lot from the >> interviews. > >No, I don't know the reasons, although I can guess, but what good are >guesses? Because you don't make the same mistakes twice. It should not be a guess. Most humans ca "read" other human behaviour or body language to some extent. >The person at RSA Data Security who interviewed me seemed >impressed at the fact I had already done work in that area (after >reading the article in Martin Gardner's column), and I was surprised >when I didn't get hired. No explanation was ever given to me. I didn't >get any clue from the interviewer that there was any reason not to hire >me. How well can you read body language? >> >> What work did you go for and (if known) why didn't you get it? >> >I have several megabytes of such information. Please arrange to drop by >> >some time and browse it. >> Idiot. > >Well if you're not willing to look at the megabytes of data that answer >the question you asked, there's no way I can help you get an answer. I don't have the time to trawl through it. You need the help having been unemployed for a decade. I am busy as I am in full time employment plus several side lines. If you want help (as you have asked for it and have the time rather than a job) you can give the answers >One of the programs I wrote on my Macintosh Plus was a utility to scan >all my megabytes of job contacts and extract just the key information >at the top of each section, and concatenate them all into one master >table-of-contents file. That file is only 121k bytes. Perhaps you'd be >willing to browse at that file to see all the companies and agencies I >contacted, and pick a few that arouse your curiosity, and then for each >such, jump directly to the particular file (among the megabytes) that >has the complete record of my contacts with that one company or agency, >and look just at that instead of the whole collection? You can do all that, but not draw any inferences from the information? You should be able to get some patterns from it. BTW what jobs did you have? How did you get them? Why did you loose/end/change them Are there any patterns there? >But I'd guess >from your attitude you aren't willing to look at *any* of the >information about my contacts with companies and agencies in search for >employment, because you just like to ask questions to waste my time. I have little time to spare. I have a full time job. I have been unemployed for 1 day in the last decade (and that was for administration reasons) You have no job and it appears plenty of time to waste. >> >I do not have access to any text format other than ASCII (plain or >> >HTML), and I don't have money to purchase such facilities, so your >> >attempt to harass me in this regard is a waste of your typing effort. >> Then use a public library > >The public library doesn't provide such facilties except for a charge I >can't afford. Good excuse... and that is what it is an excuse. If you keep making excuses and stupid reasons for not answering questions you are not going to get anywhere. Here or in life. But you know that anyway. Stop making excuses. >Most of the rest of your comments are so grossly off-topic that I'm not >even going to cite them here. Take up your questions in another forum. See previous comment. My questions were direct and to you on the subject of this thread. "CV, work history (was SW job market)" We are discussing your CV and attempts to get work >> I see you are not really interested in getting work. If you work you >> would find these tools. > >The tools cost money which I don't have and won't have until after I >have a job. You have the logic backwards: >- Correct: Get job, to get money, to buy stuff. >- Your idea: Fabricate equipment by magic out of thin air, then get job. Yes. that is how I did it a long time ago. A friend helped with a PC to do a Cv... Even now when I have problems I call on friends. (It is a two way street) You are telling me that you don't have one friend in the world with a PC and a word processor on it? Adobe will turn documents in to PDF on line AFAIK SO you could if you wanted to produce a PDF CV/Resume that you could easily mail to lots of potential employers but you won't >I'm in search of a paying job. If you aren't going to help me find >such, then butt out of these discussions. I have been helping. I have given you the experience of 30+ years working. The majority of it in the electronics/computing fields. I have run an agency for embedded software and electronics contractors like you. Even did some permanent staff placements. I have lived through a couple of "recessions" and had to do some odd jobs to make ends meet on some occasions. Last time I found my self out of work on zero notice I set up my own company. It made me almost as much money as my previous salary in the first 6 months. >I have 22+ years experience Does that include the last decade? If so it is 12 years working experience. > writing computer software. If this horrible >recession ever ends, maybe somebody can help me find a paying job. There is no recession. In this industry things change quickly. What is up today is down tomorrow. Some things tend to remain a little more consistent. Also this is a global industry. You have to be adaptable. You do not appear to be adaptable. When employing someone there is a lot more to it than their pure technical skills on paper. There is how they will interact with the team and or the company. How do you get on with people? Not that well or you would have had people help yo with a CV and work in the last decade. IF you have 22 years experience in the industry you must have a large number of helpful contacts. I know I have. -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ /\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ .