Technical Resume Review and Washington DC IT jobs

The Spittle Awards - Conversational, Social Media Spam as a Second Language

2011-01-23T12:17:00.002-05:00

Taking this old blog in another direction, strictly for fun…

Practicing both the art and science of Digital Interactive Marketing (i.e. marketing and advertising using the Internet and its wealth of customer engagement technologies, including social media, online games, website discussions, multimedia interaction etc.), the topic of Spam comes up on a daily basis. It’s a pretty ubiquitous topic for most anyone using the Internet, where information you receive through email, online advertisements, blog comments and other feedback mechanisms contains unwanted messages hoping to lure you into clicking a link, engaging in some kind of “phishing” scam, or otherwise wasting your time and exposing your privacy.

In our business, we spend time and effort not only identifying and stopping spam, but also designing our own messaging and marketing techniques so as not to ourselves appear as spammers. The definition of “Spam” as “unwanted or unsolicited advertising and marketing information” includes not only the actual message content, but the means with which it was delivered and presented. Stupid, blatant advertising pumped into a discussion forum promoting deals and coupons isn’t necessarily spam, but this same advertising cloaked as a brief conversation-starter on a blog is pure spam.

Conversational social media spam is usually easy to spot - from the simply “Excellent Post!” to the more legitimate, but still obviously spammy “There is great information on this page. I am in love with your blog so far.”

If you’re a native, American-English speaker with routine experience reading and posting using social media tools, you probably immediately sensed the strangeness with the conversational blog comments above. “Excellent” is a distinctly east Asian expression assigning far too effusive gravitas to the accompanying message (where native US speakers would probably use terms like “cool” or “nice”), and the absence of conversational contractions (i.e. “I’m” vs. “I am”) is another less obvious but actually very typical flag of AETL spamming. AETL? We assume that offshore spammers may in grade school have learned proper, British English as a Second Language (ESL), and are now practicing in their spamming an unfortunately-derived dialect, “American English as a Third Language”. (See this posting for more quick examples of AETL “flag” words.)

Some of this bad conversational blog spam is simply wrong and easy to filter, using keyphrase lists, standard Bayesian filters or experience-based tools like Akismet. Some just rubs you the wrong way, and is instantly noticed as “trying too hard to fit in” to the American ear – and some of this is (not including that obviously generated by reverse automated translation software) truly comedic, very funny.

Some of our all-time favorites are apparently deserving of what we’ll call our "Spittle Awards". SP from “spam”, “tle” as a juxtaposition of the “English as a Third Language”, and “IT” (as a stretch in artistic liberties taken to create a helpful acronym) possibly indicating regions of the world (seemingly expert in AETL) to which many low-cost information technology jobs have been outsourced. (Well, that’s what this blog was originally created to help with.) Plus “spittle” seems be exactly what this nonsense actually is (vs. “spam”), in terms of online social media dialogue – written spittle, perhaps, vs. hawked.

Here, then, are this month’s candidate “Spittle Awards” for starters – those conversational social media comments that are un-obviously spam though disguised in a very AETL package. You choose who wins!

Entries are judged (by us) on: (A) originality, (B) funniness, (C) trying too hard, (D) creative alignment with the subject or theme of the host post, and (E) superior, expert application of AETL. All comments are accurately reproduced as in the original spat.

1. “Buddy” – “I dont know what to say. This web site is amazing. Thats not truly a actually substantial statement, but its all I could come up with soon after reading this. You know a great deal about this subject. Much making sure that you produced me wish to understand additional about it. Your web site is my stepping stone, my buddy. Many thanks for that heads up on this theme.

2. “Frank” – “You absolutely deserve a spherical of applause in your post and a lot more specifically, your blog in general. Quite good quality material!”

3. “Betty” – “I love your site, but honestly tell you that you need more for him to monitor those who commented with your records”.

Disclaimer – we are huge fans of the show “Outsourced”, an equal-opportunity multi-cultural comic offender on NBC. This posting aspires to its obvious success. We also aspire to offering fame and prizes for the best Spittle (authenticated via its actual posting as a public comment) – probably a t-shirt and accompanying SEO benefits!

FT Sr. IT Recruiting Manager Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Senior IT Recruiter -

The responsibilities of a Senior Recruiter will consist of directing and leading the efforts of themselves as well as small teams of Recruiters and Junior Recruiters. The specific team size and make-up will vary from office to office. A Senior Recruiter will have the ability to manage a maximum team size of three individual recruiters or junior recruiters and they will have the ability to back-fill any Account Manager for short periods of time with direct contact and relationships with Client Hiring Managers.

The primary responsibilities of a Senior Recruiter will consist of the direct sourcing and screening of potential candidates for contract, full time placement, and contract to hire openings. Their searches for candidates will include using traditional and creative sourcing methods, including but not limited to our internal database searches, online searches, Internet postings, job/career fairs, local colleges, referrals, user/technical groups, as well as any upcoming re-marketing of existing contractors/consultants. They will be expected to establish lasting and long term relationships with consultants/contractors in their local region and with their assigned Recruiter and Account Managers. They will be responsible for interviewing prospective candidates and determining their qualifications, analyzing their responses, verifying their references, and comparing gathered data to job requirements in an efficient manner such that they can ensure that only quality candidates proceed through the interview process. They will be expected to create processes and programs for motivation and retention of contractors/consultants.

A Senior Recruiter will be capable of negotiating compensation with candidates, extending offers, and facilitating the placement of candidates into client roles. They will be expected to solicit referrals of other top regional talent and update and track candidates.. They will be responsible for increasing the number of qualified applicant resumes on a monthly basis. They will work with their Recruiter and Account Managers as a full service resource on a variety of assigned client relationships in order to identify strategic, as well as immediate IT staffing needs, while adhering to contractor's recruiting methodology and processes. They will be responsible for maintaining working contact with all contractors who are currently on bill, including the tracking of accurate time sheet and expense reporting. They will be expected to refer potential job requirement leads and all potential hiring manager names to their respective Account Managers and Senior Account Managers.

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

FT IT Change Management Lead Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T12:59:00.001-05:00

Change Management Manager - for major Homeland Security program and collaboration initiative.

Key responsibilities
- Defining and deploying an overall approach to gathering, validating and ensuring effective deployment of IT governance policies, processes, etc.

- Support development of policies and processes for IT governance, IT Portfolio Management, CPIC, PPBE, etc.

- Assessing internal and customer organizational training needs using appropriate methodologies

- Managing communication and Change Management planning

- Establishing and facilitating Integrated Program Teams (IPTs) involving SES and GS 14/15 level stakeholders from all major DHS components

- Building and deploying appropriate internal capabilities and Change Management programs

Key Skills
- Proven ability to develop and implement success measures around Change Management strategies and solutions

- Must have substantial experience, training / applied knowledge of methodologies and tools in several of the following IT governance areas: IT Portfolio Management, GAO's IT Investment Management (ITIM) framework/maturity model, Enterprise Architecture, CPIC, IT Strategic Planning, etc

- A minimum of 5 - 7 years of progressively responsible experience in internal consulting business transformation or a Change Management role

- Excellent understanding and experience working in customer facing environments as part of a consulting, implementation or client delivery team

- Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills

- Strong facilitation skills

- Strong influencing and internal selling skills

- Strong project management skills (PMP preferred)

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

FT Microsoft CRM Architect Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T12:54:00.000-05:00

The ideal candidate will be responsible for providing clients with leadership, direction, and technical assistance for Microsoft CRM implementation efforts. Candidate qualities/requirements:

- Demonstrate deep knowledge of Microsoft CRM functional and technical knowledge to client engagements.

- Ability to advise, implement, train, and support Microsoft CRM based on client’s requirements and create/execute test scripts against configuration.

- Provide the team with a good understanding of best practices deploying CRM technologies and product features.

- Ability to work within a business area, both independently and as apart of a development team, to guide and implement technical decisions during all phases of the project

- Prepare and present effective design/configuration/report documentations and progress reports

- Ability to translate business requirements into technical requirements and implement the technical solution

- Define application interfaces, including their transaction and interface volumes and requirements; anticipate and resolve integration issues for technical infrastructures

- Ensure that deliverables are produced within established timeframe, budget and project quality standards, including the coordination of the code/design review process

- Experienced in identifying risk associated with team’s efforts and help to develop contingency plans to address those risks

- Experienced in diagnosing technical performance issues, and recommending solutions is a plus

- Strong analytical, diagnostic and troubleshooting skills and ability to work in a fast-paced environment; attention to details is a must

- A minimum of 5 years of industry experience, and minimum 1 year client-related experience working with related Microsoft CRM applications, including Sales, Service, Marketing, and eBusiness applications

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

FT JEE Sr. Technical Consulting Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

JEE Senior Technical Consultants; needed immediately - "Overall, we are looking for experienced web-based Java developers. Ideally candidates are versed in Object Oriented methodologies and JEE web-based technologies. Candidates should have proven track records of implementing significant features of systems. Experience with highly transactional, high volume, and/or highly available systems is a plus." At least 5+ years of J2EE experience required.

Candidates for front-end development work need to have strong skills in JSP and Servlet programming and ideally with a mixture of skills in Struts, JSF, JSTL, Javascript, HTML, AJAX and Tiles.

Candidates for back-end development need to have the OO skills mentioned above, strong Java programming experience, strong database skills in terms of data modeling, SQL and PL/SQL (e.g. you have worked with Oracle). Ideally candidates have experience with data persistence frameworks and Object Relational mapping tools such as Hibernate or iBatis. Additionally, experience with Weblogic is desirable, including administration skills.

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

FT Lead Data Modeler Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T12:49:00.000-05:00

Lead Data Modeler - Lead database conceptual, logical and physical design using model-driven methods, tools and concepts. Create data and information-flow models for Federal Government research system, leveraging products like ErWin. Do not apply if you are only a "back-end" operations DBA; must have recent experience with "front-end" client interaction, data management and architecture requirements creation, datastore standards and schema design, modeling and simulation.

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

FT IT Infrastructure Program Manager Technical Resumes needed for FT Information Technology consulting positions in Washington, DC metro area

2008-02-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

Full Time IT Infrastructure Program Manager - to manage a very large Federal Department's Portal consolidation efforts from the datacenter/infrastructure perspective - immediate need, salary up to $145K. Program Management experience in Federal Government helpful, IT Infrastructure and Data Center Management very helpful. Greater than 8 yrs. Project Management experience.

--end job description

Submit comments/questions here, or send questions and/or submit resumes to Dadministrator @ hotmail.com .

This is a critical need for an IT consultant(s) in Washington, DC to be filled quickly - all opportunities posted in this blog are IT services consulting positions, and will require US citizenship, will likely be consulting to Federal Government Agencies and Departments, and will be focused on Information Technologies disciplines including CRM (customer relationship management), PMO (program and project management), SOA, ESB, Systems Engineering, IT Governance, Information Management, and deep technical expertise with TIBCO, IBM Websphere and Microsoft technologies. Salaries range from $90-$160K, depending on need, background and experience. Assume all positions in Washington, D.C. area, full-time, with well-regarded and privately-held mid-sized IT consulting and services firm.

Top 13 words to avoid on a US resume

2007-12-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

....or "top 13 reasons why a US-based hiring Manager will instantly chuck your resume in the circular file"....

No doubt there's a lot of guidance and advice out there, but here's the top 13 in my book, that immediately annoy and grate on me when I see them....

1. "Kindly" - don't EVER use this word!

2. "Excellent or Good" - in whose opinion?

3. "It’s" instead of "its" - this just disrespects all English teachers

4. Use of 1st person (I, me, we) - I'm interested FIRST in what you did, not who you are

5. "Ensure" vs. "insure" - very common mistake, can actually cause contract issues

6. Use of “s” instead of “z” (i.e. UK spellings, as in "personalisation") - this just looks weird and doesn't respect the local business environment.

7. "Know" or "knowledgeable" - who's to say? where's the evidence of your "knowledge"?

8. "Ambitious" or "Aggressive" - well, you better be - show me, don't tell me.

9. Don’t use “have” or “possess”….simply list current things, and use action verbs

10. Programme - same as #6

11. CV (vs. resume) - Americans don't use CVs, or even know what one is

12. University Names: If the University is in India – make sure there’s a weblink to check up on it.

13. “There” instead of “their” - immediate trash.

Technical Jobs now available

2007-12-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

Select Technical Jobs now available through this site....See the Technical Jobs link.

Are certifications useful?

2006-11-20T08:51:00.000-05:00

I saw a recent thread in TechRepublic on whether or not technical certifications are useful in a resume. My position is that yes, they are important to list, but (1) within the context of the roles you've described, and (2) at the end of the resume, or otherwise subordinated to information regarding skills and roles. They shouldn't take up too much real estate, overshadow your actual experience, or simply be sold as "here's what you get" (titles with no substance). Too many certifications with respect to one's career can indicate an unbalanced approach to education vs. work, or even too much time in school vs. working.

Obviously, it all depends on what you're applying to, and how you're applying (i.e. online submission vs. mail/in-person), but the point is, be as careful with your list of certifications as you are with your list of skills.

For you newbies out there...

2006-09-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

Here's a recent resume submission from an eager programmer fresh out of US-based "training" at college...short and sweet, but that's the rub. It's uninspiring.

Basic Comments:
- Has this person ever held a job, volunteered, done some research, or anything else to justify the kind-of-low 3.1 GPA in his major (which is typically code-word for "low grades in everything else")
- the objective is pretty uninspiring, how about a promising role in all kinds of Systems or Software Engineering (not just programming), that allows ME to contribute to YOUR success, save the whales, and otherwise provide much more than a "good" opportunity for growth.
- nice classes, but did he actually create anything? projects? a robot? High-score in the gaming community?
- C++ in VB.net....would be nice to see some C#, and basic C training
- Microsoft SQL - what does that mean? SQL Server, Access, etc.? I presume Access, since the OS experience (Windows 9.x/XP) doesn't include server platforms (i.e. WNT, W2K)
- "worked with several....including"; and "certain distributions"....need to list out ALL software/hardware titles, versions, builds, etc.....that's what the auto-resume reviewers are indexing.

Joe Needs a Necktie
Objective
To secure a promising position in Computer Programming that offers challenges and a good opportunity for growth.

Education
May 2006 - Bachelor of Science Computer Science Degree from XXX University, PA (XXX University's Computer Science program is accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology), Major GPA 3.1.

Computer Science Classes
Introduction to Programming
Data Structures
Introduction to Programming II
Artificial Intelligence
Discrete Structures
Computational Models
Computer Architecture
Operating Systems
Programming Languages and Software Engineering
Computer Networking
Database Management Systems
Computer Graphics
Network Security

Computer Experience
·Experienced programmer in C++ in varying development environments including command line development in Linux and Windows, as well as Visual Studio .Net.
·Worked with several other programming and scripting languages including Java, LISP and PHP.
·Experienced with Database Entity-Relationship design and querying in Microsoft SQL and MySQL environments.
·Knowledgeable with operating systems including Windows 9x, Windows XP, and certain Linux distributions.

References Available upon Request

You've got a fly in your Soup

2006-09-19T06:39:00.000-04:00

In today's Washington Post, a brief article revealing a survey for OfficeTeam, an administrative staffing company..150 executives and managers. All it takes is one tiny typographical error on your resume, and you're out. A few said maybe two misspellings or typos would send the resume to the circular file. With technical resumes, it's all too easy to make a spelling or grammar error, especially with the variety of acronyms, company names and technologies typically included. Do not let this happen to you....have your resume read and re-read by many people, and/or use a professional service like www.technicalresume.net!

Having Very Excellent Skills, for the 20th Century

2006-09-12T15:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a resume that's (1) somewhat stuck in a 5-yr old time warp from a technology perspective, but perhaps not from a patterns and methods perspective, and (2) just abysmal in capitalization, grammar, sentence patterns....typical of ESL with no review. Just 10 minutes of repair would improve this resume 100%! I've included only the top technical reference section, to look at:

Having good Skills
Professional Summary

• 5+ years in requirement analysis, design, OO programming, development, testing and implementation of Internet/Intranet/E-Commerce, Stand-alone, Client/Server and MVC architecture applications
• 2 years of experience using Web logic Application Servers.
• 3 years of experience using Tomcat webserver.
• 3 years of experience with Jakarta Struts Framework, MVC and J2EE Framework.
• Experienced in process, validate, parse, and extract data from XML files using DOM and SAX parsers.
• Having good Server Side experience using EJB, JSP, RMI, Struts.
• Hands-on experience with J2EE Architecture, Application servers and Web servers and a wide variety of development tools ( Web logic 8.1/7.1, Tomcat 4.0/5.0)
• Having experience with Eclipse, Exadel, and Editplus for Java.
• Experience in implementing J2EE Design Patterns.
• Good experience in implementing different Patterns like Session façade, DAO, Factory, Front view Controller and MVC Struts Framework
• Having good experience SQL Statements for implementation of Projects.
• Excellent database experience using SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle 9i, MS-Access.
• Having Experience in using the CVS (source control)
• Good team player with excellent communication, technical, multi tasking and interpersonal skills.
• Quick adaptability and systematic approach towards work are my assets.
• Ability of analyzing and decomposing a given problem quickly, fast learning and Mixed-Language Programming.

Qualification: XXXXX

Technical Skills

Languages Java2.0, C, C++
RDBMS Oracle 8 / 8i / 7.8 and My SQL.
Distributed Applications EJB 1.1/2.0, RMI and CORBA
Web Servers Java Web Server, Apache Tomcat4.0/5.0, IIS4.0.
Application Servers Web logic 7.0/8.0
Application Development Tools Eclipse, exadel, editplus, SQL Plus, MS-office 98/2000,Jdeveloper 10.1.3
Web Technologies Servlets, Jsp, RMI, CORBA, EJB, Struts, HTML, XML, DTD, SAX, DOM, XSLT.
Scripting Languages Java Script.
Database Oracle, SQL, PL\SQL.
Operating Systems Ms-Dos, Windows-95/98, Windows NT 4.0, UNIX

And Here's my initial comments/reaction:
 “Having” – what sort of word/grammar is that?
 What’s the difference between “having”, “good” and “excellent” experience – I’m only really interested in the “excellent”
 A “wide variety of development tools” – then no actual development tools listed
 Java 2.0? Perhaps he meant 1.2, plus what about 1.3-1.5?
 What’s the difference between the “RDBMS” and “Database” rows?
 Isn’t PL/SQL a scripting language?
 “Web Technologies” – are RMI/CORBA technologies really “web”?
 What exactly is “Java Web Server”, does he mean Sun One?
 Lots of misspellings, capitalization errors, etc.
 Seems to be stuck back in 1999, with Oracle 8, Java 2, MS-office 2000 (a development tool?)

First Computer Job?

2006-09-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

If you are preparing your IT resume for your first IT/Computer-related job, you might check out this site for some helpful tips and information. The site is helpful for obtaining entry-level positions, includes additional resume tips, information on training and other useful tidbits. After you review the material, create your first-draft resume, send it to us for final review and editing, and you'll be on your way to a great IT career!

Technical Experience in your College Application

2006-08-25T09:35:00.000-04:00

Here's a subject that just came up to me in conversation. What if Susie/Johnny has considerable IT talent and job experience, in High School, and wants to convincingly parlay that into worthwhile recognition and usefulness on his/her upcoming college application?

My first reaction is to be sure to get your story straight....are you going to college specifically for computer-related classes and experiences? Are you simply trying to get into a very prestigious Engineering or Science & Technology school? Are you looking for work-study opportunities supporting campus IT infrastructure? Is it all just another extra-curricular activity or hobby, or did you truly accomplish something unique, valuable or otherwise useful in your community (online or off)?

With your "storyline" and objectives in line, now it's time to illustrate you activities and acumen in a way that (1) clearly and accurately showcases the storyline, and (2) provides the best possible support in your objectives.

- Your activities should clearly show progress, learning and helpfulness to others

- Your IT experience should either be in industry-relevant areas, or particulary challenging ones.

- All your IT verbage must be absolutely accurate, with company names, copyrights, etc.

- Use hyperlinks only as a last resort - you don't want readers to navigate away from your story, don't want them to misinterpret things, and don't want them to get far off-topic or otherwise distracted from the world you're describing

- Be sure to indicate examples of teaching, teamwork, collaboration, ownership - i.e. anything that indicates responsibility to and for others

- Don't be hesitant to describe activities and capabilities with respect to avatars and a virtual world - but make sure to be solidly grounded in the real on, demonstrating how your virtual activities truly benefit real-life people and events.

- Unless you're gaming experience has a technical creation or business angle, try to avoid coming across as a real expert in "using" games, vs. creating or selling them.

Treat your college application IT information just like it might be treated on a resume, though modified to fit the overall context of the application!

If you need help, contact us at Dadministrator at hotmail.com. Your college application with IT relevance IS a Technical Resume!

Get at least a quick review.....

2006-08-24T20:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a scenario just in from the recruiting wars...you're an in-demand technical contractor, have submitted your resume to Dice, and are now speaking with a "tier 2" recruiting company who's shopping you to a "tier 1" recruiter, who's got several good matching opportunities with clients for you. You don't know about any of these "tiers", all you know is you're speaking with someone who's got a possible job offer. The problem is, once the "tier 2" company submits to the "tier 1", the "tier 1" may not find your resume good enough to submit to their client, and they'll go ahead and submit someone else in their "stable". Typically, the client needs are urgent, and the candidates move through so fast, that there's no time or initiative on the part of the recruiting organizations to do much resume tweaking or rewriting; they just try to sell over and around whatever keywords happen to be there. But you lose your edge, and, you lose out to someone with a better resume regardless of the efforts and salesmanship on the part of the person you're speaking with.

Get that resume tweaked, fixed, given the once-over, spiffed-up, buffed-out, whatever...and do it quick! Technicalresume.net is a quick and easy way to get timely, competent help, so your resume makes the great impression it should, all the way up the recruiting food chain.

R0004: Legacy Systems Engineer

2006-08-12T13:05:00.000-04:00

"Supervised Year 2000 Conversion Effort" - well, we know what kind of skills were in demand for that....

R0004 - Legacy Systems Engineer turned Independent Contractor/Business Owner

This resume, however, shows a very well-developed Systems Engineering background, albeit legacy (though complex) skillsets....moving into an "Independent period" (read: "re-tooling", perhaps staying home with the kids, etc.), then starting a related small business. The resume is very well-written and organized, though could use a little more highlighting of current technologies and buzzwords.

On the other hand, what's this person applying for? Seems like he/she could do a lot of things, plus they've already got existing work and a business. Probably want to add a blurb to reconcile this, like "seeking contract positions in xxx work to supplement existing activities"...be clear and honest, here.

More employers filling jobs simply through Resume searches

2006-08-12T07:54:00.000-04:00

From our network of technical recruiters and contacts, it seems the trend is growing fast, and supported by commentary from such sites as www.justtechjobs.com - Many recruiters and employers fill jobs exclusively through a growing number of resume search services, boards, databases and postings on social network sites such as www.linkedin.com and (would you believe it?) www.myspace.com. This means a growing percentage of jobs aren't ever posted; they find you!.

What does that mean to you? It means you need to better manage your Resume as "online content" - keeping it accurate, updated, available, highly-regarded and relevant. It also means your resume can quickly become an advertisement for incompetence, bad communication skills or just plain carelessness. Think of it as a big web page advertisement - needs to look great and sell effectively.

Get it quickly reviewed here!

Great Java Candidate

2006-08-11T13:47:00.000-04:00

Full Resume: R0003 at: www.technicalresume.net

"Self Starter, highly motivated in problem-solving and learning skills as well as a keen interest in the emerging technologies." Don't we all...

This one's got the works, Hibernate, Swing, Spring, all the App servers, plus all the good productivity/CM tools like ClearCase, TOAD, Rational, Test Director...I especially like the bold of the individual technologies and tools, plus they're all spelled and capitalized right! Don't find many Vignette alumni around these days, either. Couple of issues:

1 - all those bulleted lists that basically support usage/knowledge of a tool or technology - perhaps condense into a short paragraph, if not already included in a summary technology list...we'd like to know a little more of what your functional/team roles were, plus you wouldn't have to use words like "extensively" and "developed" 50 times!

2 - the long list of technologies under 'Environment' doesn't seem to match the list of things you did in that environment, plus the "long list" seems to be quite a grab bag and not necessarily relevant - you could probably summarize the environment description a bit...

3 - little bombs keep popping up regarding "non-americanized" English and grammar issues; this isn't really a problem, probably, for getting the job done - but as a hiring manager for an American firm, I'd probably like to see that extra care taken with the resume....don't use "keen", ever, and make sure your singular/plurals match!

4 - although it may be tough to validate, most reviewers like to know where the education was received (even if it was in East JBIP!), plus not clear on "post-graduate diploma" vs. "Masters".

5 - is anyone still "highly experienced" on AS/400? Give him a raise!

All in all, a pretty decent resume, but 30% too much content.

Too many projects and acronyms

2006-08-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Here's a resume submitted for review, that would probably work well with resume keyword scanners, but the reader would be hard-pressed to keep reading after the first "world tour" entries!

Full Resume: R0002 at: www.technicalresume.net

Certificate Girl (Extract)

EXPERIENCE SUMMARY
Over 9 years of hands-on experience in all phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Extensive experience in Systems Analysis and Design using (UML), Development (C, C++, Smalltalk, Oracle, and Java), User Interface Design, Software Quality Assurance and Software Testing of Client/Server, UNIX and Web based applications and Project Management. >(yeah, but no Project Management roles described....)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
World Tour from October 2005 – May 2006.

XXXXX, April 2002 – August 2005, Programmer

The XXXXX Migration was a long term programme (world tour, remember!), being implemented as a six phased approach to migrate applications and functionality from the XXXXX (Wanganui Computer) to open systems such as XXXXX and Lotus Notes. Commenced in April 2002 through to July 2005, the strategy proposed in six phases, was developed in VisualAge Smalltalk, Wepshere, C, C++, JavaScript, HTML, Java and VAGen languages to meet the user requirements.

EDUCATION (go ahead, Google those "education centers"...who the heck knows what they are!)
- Associates Degree, Information Systems Technology, Programming Specialization, Northern Virginia Community College, XXXXX. GPA: 3.8
- Certificate training in Project Management, ISEC, USA.
- Certificate training in Developing a Web Site, Learning Tree, USA.
- Completed the 10-week Boot Camp training in Object Oriented Analysis, Design and Development using Smalltalk, ObjectShare, USA.
- Certificate training in DB2, which included Relational Databases, DB2 Databases, Accessing DB2 data and maintaining DB2 data.
- Certificate training in Joint Application Design (JAD)
- Certificate training in .Net, India.
- Diploma in C++ programming language, Informatics Computer Institute, India.
- Diploma in C programming language, Informatics Computer Institute, India.
- Advanced studies in Oracle 7.1 with Developers 2000, Aptech Computer Institute, India.
- Diploma in advanced learning courses in MS-Office, Windows 95, India Education Center, India.
- Diploma in Business Oriented Software Applications, India Education Center, India.

Technical Resume Reviews

2006-08-03T13:57:00.000-04:00

This is a straightforward, honest appraisal forum for your technical resume. Simply send your resume to us, and we'll post a redacted copy for comment - including our own.