From: toad@cellar.org (Tony Shepps)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: Advice from a hiring manager on resumes
Keywords: Advice
Date: 23 Nov 92 18:25:22 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

afisher@netcom.com (Alan Fisher) writes:
> I can't believe people write every language and system that they have ever
> touched and glanced at in the hopes that somebody somewhere might look at it
> and immediately pick up the phone and call them.  Either you are the Jack of
> all and master of none   or   you just couldn't stick to one thing long
> enough to be proficient in it.
>
> Also, I assume that if you know one or two languages, and you are any good,
> you will be able to pick up anything new that comes along.

New that comes along, yes, but most hiring managers make the mistake (well,
in my opinion, it's a mistake) of hiring software engineers based on
precisely how many years of (for example) C programming they have done.

A good programmer with no years of experience in the language of choice
will outperform a poor programmer with 5 years of very relevant experience
after about 6 weeks on the job.

That's why I would never put something on my resume like the following:
 
> Most Proficient Languages: C (3 Years), C++ (1 Year).
> Most Proficient Development Environments:  Windows SDK (3 Years),  
> 		X-Windows (1 Year)
> Most Proficient Systems:  IBM-PC (4 Years), Sun Sparcstation (2 Years).

I find it completely outrageous that programmers are hired based on their
experience with different languages and tools.  As someone here once said,
a good carpenter could build a solid house using a screwdriver as a hammer;
a bad carpenter couldn't build a bird house with a nail driver.

See, I take all this personally.  I spent a year doing Fortran programming
on a near-obsolete mini-computer.  I stuck with the job because I thought
all along that the honorable approach would be to help the company improve
its product even though it had a poor capital budget and lacked the
resources to do a port.  I never dreamed that this was a terrible career
move and that I should have bolted for a place with a great budget, doing
the latest work with the latest tools.  (Note: your experiences may vary
according to your location.  My location is greater Philly.)

>                                     The problem is that every resume
> looks like every other -- i.e. everyone has experience with everything --
> so I am faced with calling tens of people to find out who really has
> got some experience and who has heard of something and put it on the
> resume as something he/she knows about]

I hope the long-term solution will be to use a new, different criterion
for judging candidates.  The resume, as a criterion, is sorely lacking.

I wonder if managers would wind up with a better set of candidates simply
by judging them solely on the quality of their resumes with respect to
format, grammar, and spelling.  At least they'd be assured that the people
they interview are truly concerned about the quality of their own product.

--
Tony Shepps toad@cellar.org
Preferred address: toad%cellar@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com
Public access and thoughtful conversation:  The Cellar BBS  +1 215 654 9184 
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc