develpreneur podcast

A Mini Resume – Experience Summaries

We have looked at resumes small and large during this season.  However, it is worth our time to examine a mini resume.  This format gets to the point and is a focused sell for a position. We also can create one tightly focused document and use it as a template for others. The Mini Resume It helps to start with a definition and goal.  The purpose of this document is to provide the reader with a page (or maybe two at most) that highlights specific skills and experience.  It is intended more as a marketing tool than a standard resume.  Thus, you might find it useful to “pretty it up” with more formatting and color than you would typically use. ... Read more

develpreneur podcast

Using Your Side Hustle Experience On Your Resume

One of the best ways to build experience and grow your skillset is through a side hustle.  There is nothing wrong with using that side hustle experience in your resume.  On the contrary, it can be the information that puts you over the top for that dream job. Valid Side Hustle Experience There are good and bad uses of this experience.  Flagrant misuse of a title (e.g., CEO of your one-person company) is not helpful.  However, you will gain valid and useful experience and skills as part of these endeavors.  Some of this experience is almost impossible to have outside of a long and deep resume, which makes it that much more valuable.  Technical skills, design, and even client interactions... Read more

Test Design Patterns: Applying Design Patterns To Test Automation

Test Design Patterns: Applying Design Patterns To Test Automation

Welcome to the next episode in our new series “Integrating testing into your development flow”. Today we are going to be looking at “Test Design Patterns: Applying Design Patterns To Test Automation”. In our last presentation, we went over using Selenium in TestNG. Specifically, how to test web applications in TesgNG using Selenium. Along with some hands-on examples with the Selenium IDE and Webdriver. This also included, how the Page Model pattern can be used to build a reusable code base that reduces the overhead of duplicating page elements and actions throughout our tests. In this presentation, we are going to be breaking away from the hands-on approach for a while. By looking at a more abstract view of design... Read more

develpreneur podcast

Resume Extras – Including Bells and Whistles

We have looked at resumes that are too large or too small.  Now we discuss what makes one “just right.”  In this episode, our focus is on resume extras or bells and whistles.  These are items that might make our resume more impressive, or they could just make it gaudy or desperate. Resume Extras That Matter – Complementary Skills There are almost always experiences we have that are close to a need, but not exactly.  For example, writing SQL queries in MySQL instead of Oracle.  These skills fall under a category we call complementary.  They can help you win a job even when you are not an exact match for the job needs.  In a case like this, those bells... Read more

develpreneur podcast

Large Resume Challenges – When Experience Becomes Too Much

This episode delves into a problem that may seem a non-issue.  We look at what to do with a large resume.  The thin resume challenge may seem like a significant obstacle.  However, we can have too much information and end up effectively hiding the most critical data.  That can be a fatal step in landing a job or project, so we need to be aware of how to handle this. A Large Resume From Detailed Experience If you have just listened to the episode on a thin resume, then you might become frustrated.  Some of the things we highlighted in the prior episode will now be turned on their heads.  For example, we looked at expanding a one-liner job experience... Read more

develpreneur podcast

The Short Resume – Getting a Job With Minimal Experience

We all have started our professional life with that most challenging obstacle in front of us, experience.  I think all of us have experienced the challenge of getting experience when every job seems to require it.  This common chicken-or-egg situation is not hopeless.  We can put together a compelling case even when we have minimal experience in specific areas or skills. Minimal Experience or None At All When we have limited or zero experience in the desired area, we have to get creative.  Our best chance of winning these positions is through complementary skills.  Remember that most IT positions are aimed at solving problems.  When you dig into the problem to be solved, you can find some options for getting... Read more