5 ms·

This is a CV (résumé) creator aimed at academic types with publication lists. I wrote it to scratch my own itch, because it’s a bit of a pain keeping this stuff

This is a CV (résumé) creator aimed at academic types with publication lists. I wrote it to scratch my own itch, because it’s a bit of a pain keeping this stuff organized so that I can pop out an updated CV when I need one. You can maintain a collection of CVs with different information, in different styles, for different purposes. You can enter your publications one at a time, or upload a BibTeX file if you have one. You can export all your data, including your pubs translated into BibTeX, whenever you want. You can control what publications are listed on what CVs, and how. You can share the PDF of your CV using a URL with a hash, that you can “revoke” if needed, or update while keeping the same URL. It’s a bit complicated, because the job that it does is complicated. But I tried to guide the user with help tips where needed. Right now it looks like crap on small screens, but it works. Designed to load fast, with very small downloads. Works without JavaScript, but I use a little to smooth over the interactions. It uses Django, Postgresql, and XeLaTeX, and a little htmx. All criticisms or advice welcome!

ktpsns 6y ago
You really should work impressive examples! If I right-click the mini thumbnails to read them, my browser guides me to https://cvservant.com/static/cvtemplates/thumbs/cyber.png https://cvservant.com/static/cvtemplates/thumbs/cyber.png which is anything but a good academic CV. Furthermore, the overall website looks a bit like 1995, but that's of course a matter of taste. The fees are hidden somewhere in the lengthy text https://cvservant.com/cv/more/ https://cvservant.com/cv/more/ -- this is almost a "dark pattern" and definetly not transparent. Furthermore, sharing CVs is advertised at https://cvservant.com/cv/sharing/ https://cvservant.com/cv/sharing/ but again, I don't see any examples of CVs shared on this site.
- dr_kiszonka 6y ago
  (Disclaimer: I only used the mobile site and haven't registered.) I second the opinion that these CVs don't look like the academic ones used in the US and most parts of the EU. Perhaps this service is tailored more towards some other part of the world. I would focus on the UI, examples, and building a strong user base before charging for the service. You could also add biosketches (as required by different funding agencies). If you do an excellent job at it, you might get acquired by services like Researchgate, Mendeley or maybe Overleaf, if you allowed people to import and edit their documents in LaTex. On the bright side, I would pay for a well-executed SaaS for academic / grant documents management. Good luck with your project!
  - leephillips 6y ago
    Thanks, and thanks for the advice.
- amelius 6y ago
  What do you think of this fellow's resume: https://pjreddie.com/static/Redmon%20Resume.pdf https://pjreddie.com/static/Redmon%20Resume.pdf
  - leephillips 6y ago
    Very brave.
  - ktpsns 6y ago
    Honestly, as a employer, I love it. It's something completely different and fun to read. This makes it outstanding.
cowsandmilk 6y ago
For me, the reason I would have more than one format of CV is for grant applications. Every so often, I need an NIH or NSF biosketch, list my current support, etc. I see nothing here indicating this supports those agencies, just a set of templates without any indication of why I need a lot of different templates. ven though I say it would be useful for grant applications if you had those templates, you will be competing with the government for that use case, NIH created SciENCv, which will generate your NIH and NSF biosketches from a single source of data. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154494/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154494/
- cozzyd 6y ago
  But not NASA biosketches!
syats 6y ago
I like the idea of generating several CVs, the minimalist style very much, and also the the no-email-required policy (but see below). Here are some points I see for improvement: * There is no way to set the order in which publications appear in the CV, default ordering is a bit weird, so this must be customizable. * Latex error messages could maybe be helpful when something goes wrong.. maybe it's some special character I input? * It's nice that it's not tied to an email, but I am a bit reluctant to give money to a place where I could loose access any time. If something goes wrong on your side and you loose my credentials, how will I be able to re-identify? Also, how does this go with GDPR? * Also in this vain.. are answers to secret questions hashed and salted? if they are, maybe this should be stated as the minimalist retro style suggests they are stored plain text. * There are some standards out there that could make your life easier, and also help users interoperate better. I am not an expert, but there is the european CV xml schema[0], as well as the skills and occupations thesaurus[1]. Also, linkedin and such service GDPR::have to offer some export functionality.. it would be nice to be able to import these. * Several national funding agencies have their own lousy CV creation tools, maybe it could be a businesses model to approach them and re-do it for them. Of course, they are interested in other things (e.g. application tracking, scienciometrics, etc), so just thinking out loud here. * There are tools out there that keep track of your publications, and not all allow for bibtex exports. Maybe make crawlers for these? subcontract with the devil (e.g. access scopus)? or make import for the other formats people use for bibliographies (endnote, etc.) * The approach is nice, so it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the pitfalls of other such ventures, namely: * we are stuck with your style decisions regarding templates, we might not like them, they might run out of fashion, or in an attempt to mitigate this you will create millions of templates which are difficult to search for, hell to maintain, and most likely a growing nest of bugs (already my publications won't render with the "awesome" template). * If you want to allow more customization, complexity in the UI will grow (and bugs), and at the end users will be frustrated and just download the data and write their own latex template (or move to another service). * Malicious actors hosting stuff (allowing for uploads without email-verification / captchas) is, imho, playing with fire. The best of lucks! [0] https://europa.eu/europass/en/eportfolio-interoperability https://europa.eu/europass/en/eportfolio-interoperability [1] https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/download https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/download

ktpsns 6y ago

You really should work impressive examples! If I right-click the mini thumbnails to read them, my browser guides me to https://cvservant.com/static/cvtemplates/thumbs/cyber.png https://cvservant.com/static/cvtemplates/thumbs/cyber.png which is anything but a good academic CV. Furthermore, the overall website looks a bit like 1995, but that's of course a matter of taste. The fees are hidden somewhere in the lengthy text https://cvservant.com/cv/more/ https://cvservant.com/cv/more/ -- this is almost a "dark pattern" and definetly not transparent. Furthermore, sharing CVs is advertised at https://cvservant.com/cv/sharing/ https://cvservant.com/cv/sharing/ but again, I don't see any examples of CVs shared on this site.

dr_kiszonka 6y ago
(Disclaimer: I only used the mobile site and haven't registered.) I second the opinion that these CVs don't look like the academic ones used in the US and most parts of the EU. Perhaps this service is tailored more towards some other part of the world. I would focus on the UI, examples, and building a strong user base before charging for the service. You could also add biosketches (as required by different funding agencies). If you do an excellent job at it, you might get acquired by services like Researchgate, Mendeley or maybe Overleaf, if you allowed people to import and edit their documents in LaTex. On the bright side, I would pay for a well-executed SaaS for academic / grant documents management. Good luck with your project!
- leephillips 6y ago
  Thanks, and thanks for the advice.
amelius 6y ago
What do you think of this fellow's resume: https://pjreddie.com/static/Redmon%20Resume.pdf https://pjreddie.com/static/Redmon%20Resume.pdf
- leephillips 6y ago
  Very brave.
- ktpsns 6y ago
  Honestly, as a employer, I love it. It's something completely different and fun to read. This makes it outstanding.

cowsandmilk 6y ago

For me, the reason I would have more than one format of CV is for grant applications. Every so often, I need an NIH or NSF biosketch, list my current support, etc. I see nothing here indicating this supports those agencies, just a set of templates without any indication of why I need a lot of different templates. ven though I say it would be useful for grant applications if you had those templates, you will be competing with the government for that use case, NIH created SciENCv, which will generate your NIH and NSF biosketches from a single source of data. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154494/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154494/

cozzyd 6y ago
But not NASA biosketches!

syats 6y ago

I like the idea of generating several CVs, the minimalist style very much, and also the the no-email-required policy (but see below). Here are some points I see for improvement: * There is no way to set the order in which publications appear in the CV, default ordering is a bit weird, so this must be customizable. * Latex error messages could maybe be helpful when something goes wrong.. maybe it's some special character I input? * It's nice that it's not tied to an email, but I am a bit reluctant to give money to a place where I could loose access any time. If something goes wrong on your side and you loose my credentials, how will I be able to re-identify? Also, how does this go with GDPR? * Also in this vain.. are answers to secret questions hashed and salted? if they are, maybe this should be stated as the minimalist retro style suggests they are stored plain text. * There are some standards out there that could make your life easier, and also help users interoperate better. I am not an expert, but there is the european CV xml schema[0], as well as the skills and occupations thesaurus[1]. Also, linkedin and such service GDPR::have to offer some export functionality.. it would be nice to be able to import these. * Several national funding agencies have their own lousy CV creation tools, maybe it could be a businesses model to approach them and re-do it for them. Of course, they are interested in other things (e.g. application tracking, scienciometrics, etc), so just thinking out loud here. * There are tools out there that keep track of your publications, and not all allow for bibtex exports. Maybe make crawlers for these? subcontract with the devil (e.g. access scopus)? or make import for the other formats people use for bibliographies (endnote, etc.) * The approach is nice, so it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the pitfalls of other such ventures, namely: * we are stuck with your style decisions regarding templates, we might not like them, they might run out of fashion, or in an attempt to mitigate this you will create millions of templates which are difficult to search for, hell to maintain, and most likely a growing nest of bugs (already my publications won't render with the "awesome" template). * If you want to allow more customization, complexity in the UI will grow (and bugs), and at the end users will be frustrated and just download the data and write their own latex template (or move to another service). * Malicious actors hosting stuff (allowing for uploads without email-verification / captchas) is, imho, playing with fire. The best of lucks! [0] https://europa.eu/europass/en/eportfolio-interoperability https://europa.eu/europass/en/eportfolio-interoperability [1] https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/download https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/download