develpreneur podcast

Expired Certifications And Stale Resume Items

Our continued drive to become a better developer will eventually lead to certifications.  Therefore, it will lead to those certifications expiring.  While some authorities do not expire their certs, there is a useful lifespan for any technology.  In this episode, we look at how to handle those expired certifications on a resume or when applying for a position. Expired Certifications Have Value The quick answer would be to drop those expired certifications and ancient skills from your current list.  However, that would be a short-sighted step to take.  The mere fact that you studied for and passed an exam shows value to an employer.  It is proof that you took the initiative to improve yourself as well as showing a... Read more

Why Integration Testing Should Not Be Overlooked

Why Integration Testing Should Not Be Overlooked

Welcome to the next episode in our new series “Integrating testing into your development flow”. Today we are going to be looking at “Why Integration Testing Should Not Be Overlooked”. In our last presentation, we took our tests to the next level by using Selenium with TestNG. For the purpose of creating tests that can interact with web pages using the Selenium WebDriver. Including discussions on, what Selenium is, what tools it offers, and how to set up your environment to use Selenium. Then we walked through using the Selenium IDE to record tests interactively in a browser. Next, we looked at how to convert these recordings into actual TestNG tests. After we had our recorded tests running in TestNG,... Read more

develpreneur podcast

The Focused Resume – Curating Your Experience

We have looked at a focused form of a resume with the mini-resume.  However, we tend to have a lot of excess in our resume as our career goes on.  This excess may be due to a large number of projects, employers, or both.  It may also come from older skills becoming useless in the modern-day.  A focused resume tackles those struggles. The Focused Resume We have looked at a mini-resume that is a marketing flyer for our experience.  The focused resume is similar while being all-inclusive as well.  In this document, we still list all of our skills and experience.  However, we limit the focus and wording to paint a picture of a skill subset. For example, a developer... Read more

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