#Third revision. 2 YOE, 500 applications, and almost no responses.

103 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

karmic scaffold
#

I've held two positions within my company- QA for almost two years and dev for the past seven months. I wasn't getting anywhere with my QA experience so I decided to add my dev role as a second position to make sure everyone knows that I became a developer. I've only applied to a handful of jobs with this new revision and haven't gotten anything back.

I wish I had more bullet points for my dev role but I haven't done one thing enough to really merit its own bullet (i.e. I've worked on a lot of little things but I don't really have something to put my name on). I was told that I was overthinking this and just those three bullets are fine but I'm not convinced.

My projects are pretty old and I'm working on a new one. All are hosted on github and my personal website, though I doubt anyone has taken the time to look. My new project is going to be more backend/desktop focused than web with the potential to add an AI/ML feature. It's not in a state where I'd be comfortable publishing it yet.

My last interview was on February 28th, approximately 189 applications ago (I took a month break from applications out of frustration). I've had 9 total interviews since starting the job hunt in October and I've never made it to the second round. That puts my interview rate at 1.7%.

Screenshot_2023-05-18_114409.png
maiden lance
#

First thing with out even reading. The spacing isn’t consistent

karmic scaffold
#

Where?

maiden lance
#

Did you find it?

lethal shore
#

My 2 cents:
copy and paste your resume into a plaintext file. that's what will be visible to ATSs when they parse your resume. you may also catch stray spaces and tabs that would mess up the formatting in word.

#

i'd also probably remove the spaces/tabs that separate your bolded titles and company names from the locations and dates. add commas, pipes, dashes or something else as obvious delimiters instead

lethal shore
#

Are you targeting Java/Spring, C#/.NET, or Python/Django for full-stack/backend roles?

karmic scaffold
#

I'm not really targeting a specific role, just whatever my experience qualifies me for. I would like to find something other than Java so I can be a more versatile developer, but at this point in my career I'm not worried about specializing.

maiden lance
#

Best I can show while on the phone

#

There’s spacing inconsistencies

karmic scaffold
#

...what on earth do those matter?

#

I hardly see how this got me rejected from every single job I've ever applied for.

maiden lance
#

It’s fucking ugly to look at

karmic scaffold
#

It's not ugly

#

I need real feedback about the content of the document. What do you think about my work experience?

maiden lance
#

From your dev bullet points your not showing how you actually made impact

karmic scaffold
#

Oh, this is actually an old version. Lemme get the new one up.

#

Here we go @maiden lance

image.png
maiden lance
#

So on the second bullet point

#

You put modernized the look and feel

#

What are the technical terms you could use

karmic scaffold
#

What I actually did was replace the URL with an updated image but that doesn't sound impressive.

#

I'd been working on that team for seven months but didn't contribute meaningfully to any one aspect of the project.

maiden lance
#

Does UI/UX come to mind?

karmic scaffold
#

I mean, I guess that would work.

#

I was hesitant to say I did UI/UX work because I didn't really do anything.

maiden lance
#

Streamlined customer experience with new features

#

What are these features

#

How did they improved customer experience

#

Was there more engagement with those features

#

We’re they faster

karmic scaffold
#

I added a dropdown list with an actions button to one part of a page.

maiden lance
#

Did they make more money

karmic scaffold
#

I fixed a bug that had it displaying incorrect dates.

echo prairie
#

How brutal do you want me to be with this?

karmic scaffold
#

Honestly I need the feedback, even if you say the whole thing is trash. I'd probably believe you.

echo prairie
#

This is hard to edit on.
Job 1:
1st line: Fluff, obviously you wrote and deployed code.
2nd line: How did you design and implement it, what tools, technologies and results?
3rd line: Duh, software engineers work with engineers. This doesn't tell me anything about what you did in that job.

Job 2:
1st line: Cool, how?
2nd line: I'm kind of meh on this, it's important that you mentored for sure, but just writing / adding tests seems simple. Break off the improved speed part and discuss how, this could be good.
3rd line: How? Why java and how was it maintable for future use as a script?
4th line: Tbh... kind of a red flag on you doing manual testing, how did you turn that effort into automated testing?
5th line: Fluff, don't care get rid of it. Also recognition points doesn't mean anything to anyone who isn't there.

Skills: Not important get rid of it (unless a company specifically asks for it)

The projects seem to have more technical details than the job details themselves. We care about tech details.

#

Oh sorry, I didn't see any edits below, my comments are based on the initial resume posted

karmic scaffold
#

Well, the second job didn't change so that's still valuable.

What should I add instead of the skills section?

echo prairie
#

More experience details or another project?

karmic scaffold
#

I could grab another one of my projects. I'm not sure what else I can add to the first work experience though, since it already encompasses everything I did in that role.

echo prairie
#

You didn't actually implement anything?

karmic scaffold
#

Not really

echo prairie
#

...

karmic scaffold
#

I mean I did implement small pieces but I didn't own any part of the system.

echo prairie
#

Basically my rule of the resume, for the projects: What did you do, how did you do it? How did you test it? How did you make it maintainable? What were the results?

#

Go through each of the things you did in those jobs and try to answer those questions

#

And if you're a jr eng, it doesn't really matter if you own the system. We don't really expect you to

karmic scaffold
#

I think the biggest thing I did at my job was to add a dropdown menu to a form. I copied it from another part of the project. Tested by just looking at it and making sure the button worked. I'm not responsible for maintaining it but it's a react component so it's pretty easy anyway. I don't know the results because I'm not in contact with the end users.

#

A lot to show for seven months :/

echo prairie
karmic scaffold
#

Because I was told to do it.

#

Uhh... a better answer I guess is because all the other forms looked alike and this one had to be consistent.

echo prairie
#

Do you have any mentors?

karmic scaffold
#

No

echo prairie
#

Sounds like you need one

karmic scaffold
#

I had coworkers I could ask things, but nobody specifically assigned to me.

#

I don't know that my company has mentors?

echo prairie
#

Just find a coworker who's at your level + 1, someone who you like their style and how they work and ask them if they could mentor you

karmic scaffold
#

I'll have to get to know my new team first but that sounds good... they're all QA engineers and testers though.

#

As far as levels we don't have those but I can probably find someone who is a lead or something.

echo prairie
#

I wouldn't even get a lead mentor, just someone who's able to work on projects without a whole lot of outside guidance.

simple gyro
#

Can you describe your 1:1's with your manager?

karmic scaffold
karmic scaffold
simple gyro
#

how long have you been in the role?

karmic scaffold
#

A few weeks. My manager is going to set up 1:1s soon.

#

Although I didn't have 1:1s in my last role of seven months.

simple gyro
#

That's also on you as well as the manager. You need to be actively seeking out conversations with your manager, and using that time to talk about other things than just project updates.

karmic scaffold
#

My current manager doesn't seem to care about where I want my career to go but I'll know more after talking to them I guess.

#

My first manager was great, very supportive.

#

Second manager was never around.

simple gyro
#

how do you know he doesn't care if you've never even talked to them explicitly about it?

karmic scaffold
#

I told them in chat that I didn't want to be a tester and they said I couldn't move.

echo prairie
echo prairie
simple gyro
#

So here's the thing... if a new hire would tell me, they don't want to do the job they were hired for within their first few weeks, they would be on the fast track to PIP... - Framing up the fact you want to pivot from QA to Dev is important. Approach it this way: - Hey <manager>, what can I do as part of the testing role, to improve on my coding skills given on the mid/long term, I'm looking to switch to Dev. - Your message needs to be how you're gonna do amazing in your role, while also learning

karmic scaffold
# simple gyro So here's the thing... if a new hire would tell me, they don't want to do the jo...

I've worked for the company for more than two years. I was on QA for about a year and seven months, and had just completed a major automation milestone, before I asked to be moved. That happened within a few weeks and I worked on a dev team for seven months. I was picked for a "special assignment" which turned out to be the QA role I'm in now.

So it's not like I've just been hired and I'm already complaining, though I guess my new manager has just met me.

#

From my perspective it feels like I've been demoted and sent back to where I was.

lethal shore
# simple gyro So here's the thing... if a new hire would tell me, they don't want to do the jo...

Just want to chime in that I 100% agree with this.
Balancing your needs, as well as expectations from your manager and team is important, but so is knowing how to say things in a way that gives you leverage towards your own goals.
I've been learning this the super painful way right now and trust me, communicating what you want and setting an action plan for how to achieve it, is probably the #1 most valuable skill you'll have in any job, aside from teamwork and others.

lethal shore
karmic scaffold
lethal shore
#

Hm. Ok. If they pigeonholed you (which sounds like they did), and you told your manager and that still hasn't resolved anything. Maybe it's time to move on.

#

Whoops

#

sorry.

karmic scaffold
#

Maybe it's time to move on.

Yeah I started thinking that in October.

lethal shore
#

Course you have. Otherwise you wouldn't have posted on here. Haha. My bad

lethal shore
karmic scaffold
#

My reasons back then were childish and kneejerk reactions to RTO, but over time I've really looked at where I've been and what I've done for this company and realized there's no future with them remote or otherwise.

lethal shore
#

Yep. Same with me.
It's worse when you work in an office space and culture that doesn't help or support your needs. I mean, physically in the office itself

#

Just an FYI:
open concept is the worst office layout imaginable

karmic scaffold
#

My office is open concept.

#

We have 3/4 cubes so if anyone is standing up you can see them. I think the idea was that two people could stand up and talk to each other about the work without either needing to leave their desk area.

lethal shore
#

And is it effective?

#

Because in my office, the is no form of divider

karmic scaffold
#

I mean if you sat with your team I suppose it would be. I do not.

I do have some privacy on three sides though and depending on how loud the person across the hall is it can be a pretty quiet space.

#

If the person next to you is standing up and you're sitting you can see them though.

lethal shore
#

It's almost like they stuck four desks together and put some weird cubby divider thing to separate two desks apart without actually doing it

#

Hm. Sort of wish I had that setup

#

Have you copied and pasted your resume from the word doc to a plaintext file to see how it's seen to ATSs?

karmic scaffold
#

Most of the time the "autofill with resume" button gets 90% correct info.

lethal shore
#

Are you in a position where you'd be able to comfortably quit, even as the market is bad right now?