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I don't understand why there are so many of these Resume generator sites. It seems like college students finally having to put together a resume and figured a

by Johnie 11y ago

I don't understand why there are so many of these Resume generator sites. It seems like college students finally having to put together a resume and figured a resume generator would make a good product without figuring out what they are solving for and without talking doing customer development (recruiters/job seekers). The goal for the resume is to get a job. It is something that you create once and update as needed (I'm still using the same resume file started 8 years ago). It needs to stand out from the crowd; with a generator, all resumes look the same. The templates/examples that are go against some of the basic rules/best practices for resumes (ie too long, too verbose, not easily machine parseable). If you want to solve a problem in this industry, it would be "how do recruiters find the best candidate" and "how do candidates find the best job for their skills". A resume generator solves neither one of those. Otherwise, this is a cool fun, hack though. I think there may be better applications for JSON to template to document technology other than resume generator.

StevePerkins 11y ago
I started this project because most of the generators and templates I saw out there are really geared toward entry and junior-level professionals. I've been working for over 15 years now, and have a ton of job records since I started out in consulting/contracting. So my own needs were to reduce verbosity in my resume. That's why I added extensions to the default schema, that allow you to list older jobs with less detail than more recent work history, etc. Like you, I've been maintaining the same Word document for years now. A pain point for me has been tracking changes over time. Like I said, my work history is pretty extensive... so every couple of years I go back and trim some detail off older listings, to reduce length and prevent my resume from looking like a CV. However, I hate to lose that older content forever, and storing multiple versions of Word binaries and diff'ing them is kinda clunky. Separating the content from the style really helps. Also, earlier in my career I had to maintain two or three different versions of my resume, to target different types of job opportunities. If I were applying for a more front-end focused position, then I had one resume that put more emphasis on JavaScript and HTML experience. For back-end focused positions, I had a version more focused on Java and SQL. At this point in my career I have much clearer vision of my career path, and know what I'm looking for in my job hunting. Also, we're ALL "full-stack" now, right? (just like all companies are "agile"!) However, if you do need to maintain customized versions of your resume content, then being able to branch in git is awesome. Lastly, I just like the ability to switch up the look-and-feel every so often, without a ton of cut-n-paste hassle. These days I spend more time on the other side of the interview table as a hiring manager. You CAN go too far off the deep end with silly resume design, but I'm here to tell you that a little touch of style definitely makes you stand out from the crowd. Even if it is a canned template. 90% of developer resumes today are ugly blobs with no real formatting at all.
k33n 11y ago
So instead of creating a simple tool that solves a specific problem (even if its been solved in other ways) the author should have built a whole startup instead? Go outside.
dezzeus 11y ago
For what concern me (ref to my reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11219018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11219018), I was in need of two thing: - A "cool and easily editable" (as you've pointed out) CV/Résumé (I graduated last month). - A little project to work on as long as I was (also) studying Javascript in my spare time. So I merged these things into a useful (for me) one. The following sharing of the outcomes, is a thing that IMHO one may or may not decide to do. If one (as @StevePerkins says) add "features" that could be useful for others, then I can't see any reason for prevent him/her from sharing it... even if it's just another fish in the sea (furthermore, one can always become the "big fish").

by Johnie 11y ago

StevePerkins 11y ago

I started this project because most of the generators and templates I saw out there are really geared toward entry and junior-level professionals. I've been working for over 15 years now, and have a ton of job records since I started out in consulting/contracting. So my own needs were to reduce verbosity in my resume. That's why I added extensions to the default schema, that allow you to list older jobs with less detail than more recent work history, etc. Like you, I've been maintaining the same Word document for years now. A pain point for me has been tracking changes over time. Like I said, my work history is pretty extensive... so every couple of years I go back and trim some detail off older listings, to reduce length and prevent my resume from looking like a CV. However, I hate to lose that older content forever, and storing multiple versions of Word binaries and diff'ing them is kinda clunky. Separating the content from the style really helps. Also, earlier in my career I had to maintain two or three different versions of my resume, to target different types of job opportunities. If I were applying for a more front-end focused position, then I had one resume that put more emphasis on JavaScript and HTML experience. For back-end focused positions, I had a version more focused on Java and SQL. At this point in my career I have much clearer vision of my career path, and know what I'm looking for in my job hunting. Also, we're ALL "full-stack" now, right? (just like all companies are "agile"!) However, if you do need to maintain customized versions of your resume content, then being able to branch in git is awesome. Lastly, I just like the ability to switch up the look-and-feel every so often, without a ton of cut-n-paste hassle. These days I spend more time on the other side of the interview table as a hiring manager. You CAN go too far off the deep end with silly resume design, but I'm here to tell you that a little touch of style definitely makes you stand out from the crowd. Even if it is a canned template. 90% of developer resumes today are ugly blobs with no real formatting at all.

k33n 11y ago

So instead of creating a simple tool that solves a specific problem (even if its been solved in other ways) the author should have built a whole startup instead? Go outside.

dezzeus 11y ago

For what concern me (ref to my reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11219018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11219018), I was in need of two thing: - A "cool and easily editable" (as you've pointed out) CV/Résumé (I graduated last month). - A little project to work on as long as I was (also) studying Javascript in my spare time. So I merged these things into a useful (for me) one. The following sharing of the outcomes, is a thing that IMHO one may or may not decide to do. If one (as @StevePerkins says) add "features" that could be useful for others, then I can't see any reason for prevent him/her from sharing it... even if it's just another fish in the sea (furthermore, one can always become the "big fish").