Creating the Ultimate Developer CV
Creating and Maintaining a CV (Curriculum Vitae) or Resume is one of the crappy things about being a developer. Unless you are a lifer (stay at a single company for life) you will have the arduous task of writing and maintaining one. Time to create the Ultimate Developer CV.
One of the nice things about being a developer as opposed to some other marketing or business career is that you don’t need to write a lot of crap and bullshit your way to make prospective employers like you. You can portray yourself as simple as possible and usually this is what employers in our field (Non-corporate, open source type) like.
The First Step to Creating the Ultimate Developer CV is a Template
A template? No…that’s the first step everywhere. Well maybe so but I’m talking about something different we will be using what we as developers like…JSON.
In particular a JSON based standard for Resumes and CV’s called JSONResume.
Now this is sounding like the ultimate developer CV isn’t it…
Lets start Creating our JSON Resume
We’ll use NPM to install the node package (How to Install Node and Npm)
sudo npm install -g resume-cliNow Initialise a Sample CV
resume initYou can rename this file:
mv jane-resume.json pat-cv.jsonOptional: You can register your ultimate developer CV like http://registry.jsonresume.org/thomasdavis like vanity plates with
resume registerNow lets create out Ultimate Developer CV in JSON
The initialised sample is given, it gives a detailed over view of the kinds of things you want in your cv, open this file and edit it according to your details, skills and background. Otherwise you can use the awesome (ultimate) web interface for creating your ultimate developer CV…actually that is recommended. Update: Actually it is not recommended, it is too buggy at this stage.
{
"name": "Jane Q. Fullstacker",
"meta": {
"format": "FRESH@0.1.0",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"info": {
"label": "Senior Developer",
"characterClass": "Programmer",
"brief": "**Full-stack software developer with 6+ years industry experience** specializing in scalable cloud architectures for this, that, and the other. A native of southern CA, Jane enjoys hiking, mystery novels, and the company of Rufus, her two-year-old beagle.",
"image": "jane_doe.png",
"quote": "Be the change you want to see in the world."
},
"contact": {
"website": "http://janef.me/blog",
"phone": "1-650-999-7777",
"email": "jdoe@onecoolstartup.io",
"other": [
{
"label": "Home Phone",
"flavor": "phone",
"value": "1-650-999-4321"
},
{
"label": "Work Phone",
"flavor": "phone",
"value": "1-650-777-1234"
},
{
"label": "Personal Email",
"flavor": "email",
"value": "jane@janef.me"
}
]
},
"location": {
"address": "Jane Fullstacker\n123 Somewhere Rd.\nMountain View, CA 94035",
"city": "Mountain View",
"region": "CA",
"code": "94035",
"country": "US"
},
"social": [
{
"label": "GitHub",
"network": "GitHub",
"user": "janef-was-here",
"url": "https://github.com/janef-was-here"
},
{
"label": "Twitter",
"network": "Twitter",
"user": "janef-was-here",
"url": "https://twitter.com/janef-was-here"
}
],
"employment": {
"summary": "7+ years industry IT and software development experience.",
"history": [
{
"employer": "One Cool Startup",
"url": "https://onecool.io/does-not-exist",
"position": "Head Code Ninja",
"summary": "Development team manager for [OneCoolApp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware) and OneCoolWebsite, a free social network tiddlywink generator and lifestyle portal with over 200,000 users.",
"start": "2013-09",
"current": true,
"keywords": ["Agile","PM","Amazon Web Services","AWS"],
"highlights": ["Managed a 5-person development team", "Accomplishment 2", "Etc."]
},
{
"employer": "Veridian Dynamics",
"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Off_Ted#Plot",
"position": "Principal Developer",
"summary": "Developer on numerous projects culminating in technical lead role for the [Jabberwocky project](http://betteroffted.wikia.com/wiki/Jabberwocky) and promotion to principal developer.",
"start": "2011-07",
"end": "2013-08",
"keywords": ["C++","C","Linux"],
"highlights": ["Managed a 5-person development team", "Accomplishment 2", "Etc."]
},
{
"employer": "Stark Industries",
"position": "IT Administrator",
"summary": "Junior programmer with heavy code responsibilities. Promoted to intermediate role after 6 months.",
"start": "2008-10",
"end": "2011-06",
"keywords": ["Novell","Active Directory","Linux","Windows"],
"highlights": ["Promoted to intermediate developer after 6 months", "Accomplishment 2", "Etc."]
},
{
"employer": "Dunder Mifflin",
"position": "Intern",
"summary": "Performed IT administration and deployments for Dunder Mifflin.",
"start": "2008-06",
"end": "2008-09",
"keywords": ["Novell","Active Directory","Linux","Windows"],
"highlights": ["Supervised roll-out of Dunder Mifflin Infinity website.", "Performed mission-critical system backups and ", "Etc."]
}
]
},
"education": {
"summary": "",
"level": "degree",
"degree": "BSCS",
"history": [
{
"institution": "Cornell University",
"url": "https://www.cornell.edu/",
"start": "2005-09",
"end": "2008-05",
"grade": "3.5",
"summary": "A multiline summary of the education.",
"curriculum": ["Course 1", "Course 2", "Course 2"]
},
{
"institution": "Medfield College",
"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medfield_College",
"start": "2003-09",
"end": "2005-06",
"grade": "3.2",
"summary": "A multiline summary of the education.",
"curriculum": ["Course 1", "Course 2", "Course 2"]
}
]
},
"service": {
"summary": "Active US Army Reserve member and Technology for Tots technical consultant and volunteer coordinator.",
"history": [
{
"flavor": "volunteer",
"position": "Technical Consultant",
"organization": "Technology for Tots",
"url": "http://technology-for-tots.org",
"start": "2003-11",
"end": "2005-06",
"summary": "Summary of this volunteer stint.",
"highlights": ["Accomplishment 1", "Accomplishment 2", "etc"]
},
{
"flavor": "military",
"position": "NCO",
"organization": "US Army Reserves",
"url": "http://www.usar.army.mil/",
"start": "1999-11",
"end": "2003-06",
"summary": "Summary of this military stint.",
"highlights": ["Accomplishment 1", "Accomplishment 2", "etc"]
}
]
},
"skills": {
"sets": [
{
"name": "Web Development",
"level": "advanced",
"skills": [
"JavaScript", "HTML 5", "CSS", "LAMP", "MVC", "REST"
]
},
{
"name": "JavaScript",
"level": "master",
"skills": [
"Node.js", "Angular.js", "jQuery", "Bootstrap", "React.js", "Backbone.js"
]
},
{
"name": "Database",
"level": "intermediate",
"skills": [
"MySQL", "PostgreSQL", "NoSQL", "ORM", "Hibernate"
]
},
{
"name": "Cloud",
"level": "intermediate",
"skills": [
"AWS", "EC2", "RDS", "S3", "Azure", "Dropbox"
]
},
{
"name": "Project",
"level": "beginner",
"skills": [
"Agile", "TFS", "Unified Process", "MS Project"
]
}
],
"list": [
{
"name": "C++",
"id": "1",
"summary": "Optional summary of your experience with the skill.",
"level": "9",
"years": 7,
"proof": "http://myblog.com/interesting-cplusplus-post"
},
{
"name": "Ruby",
"id": "2",
"summary": "Optional summary of your experience with the skill.",
"level": "9",
"years": 7,
"proof": "http://myblog.com/interesting-cplusplus-post"
},
{
"name": "Xcode",
"summary": "Xcode 6 development.",
"level": "5",
"years": "3"
},
{
"name": "Linux",
"summary": "Optional summary of your experience with the skill.",
"level": "advanced",
"years": "4+"
},
{
"name": "Agile",
"summary": "Optional summary of your experience with the skill.",
"level": "B+",
"years": 2
}
]
},
"samples": [
{
"title": "Asteroids",
"summary": "A browser-based space shooter built on Three.js.",
"url": "http://janef.me/asteroids",
"date": "2014-09"
},
{
"title": "Rememberpedia",
"summary": "A website to help you remember things.",
"url": "https://rememberpedia.com",
"date": "2015-07"
}
],
"writing": [
{
"title": "Teach Yourself GORFF in 21 Days",
"flavor": "book",
"date": "2008",
"publisher": {
"name": "Amazon",
"url": "https://www.amazon.com"
},
"url": "http://url.to.publication.com/blah",
"author": [ "Jane Fullstacker", "John Smith" ],
"summary": "A primer on the programming language of GORFF, whose for loops are coterminous with all of time and space."
},
{
"title": "Building User Interfaces with Electron and Atom",
"flavor": "article",
"date": "2011",
"publisher": {
"name": "Code Project",
"url": "http://codeproject.com"
},
"url": "http://codeproject.com/build-ui-electron-atom.aspx"
},
{
"title": "Jane Fullstacker's Blog",
"flavor": "blog",
"date": "2011",
"publisher": {
"name": "self",
"url": "http://janef.me"
},
"url": "http://janef.me"
}
],
"reading": [
{
"title": "Code Complete",
"flavor": "book",
"url": "http://www.cc2e.com/Default.aspx",
"author": "Steve McConnell"
},
{
"title": "r/programming",
"flavor": "website",
"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/"
},
{
"title": "Hacker News / YCombinator",
"flavor": "website",
"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/"
},
{
"title": "Coding Horror",
"flavor": "blog",
"url": "http://www.codinghorror.com",
"author": "Jeff Atwood"
}
],
"speaking": [
{
"title": "Data Warehousing Evolved: DARMA 2.0",
"role": "Speaker",
"event": "OPENSTART 2013 Developer's Conference",
"location": "Portland, OR",
"date": "2012",
"highlights": [
"Won 'Best Presentation on an Emerging Technical Field' prize."
]
}
],
"recognition": [
{
"flavor": "award",
"from": "Google",
"title": "Honorable Mention",
"event": "Summer of Code",
"date": "2012"
},
{
"flavor": "honor",
"from": "Cornell University",
"title": "Summa cum laude",
"event": "graduation",
"date": "2012"
}
],
"references": [
{
"name": "John Davidson",
"flavor": "professional",
"private": true,
"contact": [
{
"label": "Mobile",
"flavor": "phone",
"value": "9-(999)-999-9999"
},
{
"label": "Work email",
"flavor": "email",
"value": "jdavidson@veridiandynamics.com"
}
]
}
],
"testimonials": [
{
"name": "John Davidson",
"flavor": "professional",
"quote": "Jane is awesome! I'd hire her again in a heartbeat.",
"private": true
},
{
"name": "Elias Fullstacker",
"flavor": "technical",
"quote": "I worked with Jane on Jabberwocky and can vouch for her awesome technical capabilities and attention to detail. Insta-hire."
},
{
"name": "Dana Nevins",
"flavor": "personal",
"quote": "I've known Jane personally and professionally for almost ten years. She is one in a million."
}
],
"languages": [
{
"language": "English",
"level": "Native"
},
{
"language": "Spanish",
"level": "Moderate",
"years": 10
}
],
"extracurricular": [
{
"title": "Bay Area Crew Club",
"activity": "",
"location": "San Francisco, CA",
"start": "2014-05"
},
{
"title": "Organizer / Manager",
"activity": "JavaScript Game Development Meetup",
"location": "Austin, TX",
"start": "2011-03",
"end": "2014-01",
"highlights": [
"Monthly speaker on creative JavaScript development.",
"Founded group and oversaw growth to 500+ members."
]
}
],
"governance": [
{
"flavor": "board",
"role": "Member",
"organization": "The Mommies Network",
"url": "http://themommiesnetwork.org",
"start": "2008-02",
"end": "2010-01",
"summary": "Since 2008 I've been a full-time member of the board of directors for TMN."
},
{
"flavor": "committee",
"role": "Academic Contributor",
"organization": "Khronos Group",
"url": "https://www.khronos.org",
"start": "2015-01",
"highlights": [
"Participated in GORFF standardization process (Draft 2)."
]
}
],
"interests": [
{
"name": "reading",
"summary": "Jane is a fan of mystery novels and courtroom dramas including Agatha Christie and John Grisham.",
"keywords": [ "mystery", "Agatha Christie", "John Grisham" ]
},
{
"name": "hiking",
"summary": "Jane enjoys hiking, light mountain climbing, and has four summits under her belt!"
},
{
"name": "yoga"
}
]
}
Ok so you get the idea…
Publishing your Ultimate Developer CV
You can publish your resume to jsonresume.org with:
resume publishto get the pdf version use:
resume export resume.pdfThis will also validate the CV making sure your format is correct, you can fix it with the schema but sometimes you will have to check their sample resumes.
But you can get sooo.. much more…
Hacking You Ultimate Developer CV
You can use this awesome github repo: hackmyresume to hack your CV…ie. make it the ultimate developer CV.
The documentation on the repo is awesome so it will do better than I do..
Installing:
sudo npm install -g hackmyresumeYou will need wkhtmltopdf:
Install with sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf or with brew brew install Caskroom/cask/wkhtmltopdf.
While you are doing that install a Latex Environment because some heavy compsci guys like that sort of thing:
brew install Caskroom/cask/mactexBut to get your resume into all the basic formats use:
hackmyresume BUILD resume.json TO out/resume.allYou can also pass the theme in with -t with the following prebuilt themes:
positive, modern, compact, minimist, and hello-world
You can also validate you ultimate developer CV with hackmyresume:
hackmyresume VALIDATE resume.jsonLast 2 Steps in Creating the Ultimate Developer CV
Version Control
Use git to version control your cv:
git init
echo "out/" > .gitignore
git add .
git commit -m "Created CV"
Double Check it is looking good
Always go through your CV and make sure everything is as expected for your Ultimate Developer CV.
Ideally you want to work for the company you are applying for so adding additional info like motivation for the job might be good.
All the best.