4 ms·

Not saying you are wrong, but when does management even know exactly which specific X caused how much increase in revenue, let alone a software developer.

keiferski 3y ago
It's not about saying you directly caused the specific increase in revenue, it's more about highlighting the value you can bring to a future organization – at least so you can talk about it in an interview. Remember, this game is not about determining if that increase was purely attributable to your work, it's about convincing an employer that you can add value. For example: you coded and launched a new feature, and that feature brought in 20% more users over the following year. Sure, there were probably other factors that helped, but when you can point at specific things and back them up with metrics, it's 100% better than just listing a bunch of skills and jobs.
- D13Fd 3y ago
  Not only that, it shows that you understand and care about what matters (the success of the company).
- lurking15 3y ago
  Sure that's ideal but honestly I've worked on a bunch of stuff at several different companies but have yet to land in a place where I was able to collect these sorts of statistics that everyone is always going on about putting in your resume.
  - keiferski 3y ago
    If you don't have specific data, you can still frame your work in a way that is more compelling than, "I can code in Python and I worked at XYZ company for 3 years." Whatever value you were adding, put that first, even if it's just "built new products that increased company's sales and helped expand to X new markets."
  - Volundr 3y ago
    Numbers are ideal, and I'd think carefully on if there is a metric you can tie to a data point, but it doesn't have to be all about numbers. Example: maybe you streamlined a common app flow making it significantly easier for users to accomplish a task, or implemented accessibility best practices across your product making it usable by a wider range of people. Both of these have more pop if there is a statistic you can cite with them, but even without they speak to impact not just "worked on Python web application".
  - ownagefool 3y ago
    I have £19m to £75m revenue in approx 20 months bootstrapped start-up CTO on my CV. In the UK market folks aren't particularly receptive to that sort of thing.
    - lurking15 3y ago
      In that case, I wonder if that makes you seem overqualified?
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - ownagefool 3y ago
        I think it's a combination of the market and assumptions. - Some think I'm no longer technical enough because I've done managerial stuff, despite recent work being hands on. - Some think I'm not managerial enough because I still do technical stuff. - Some think I've somehow failed because the specific role was only ~20 months ( it was actually equity shenanigans ) - Some think I'm too senior and won't stick around ( despite the role being top of the market pay wise ) Mostly, I don't really know, because when going through the front door, they typically don't respond, and in actual fact the only leads I get are the ones that contact me. But I think our specific culture focuses on reasons to say no, rather than reasons to say yes, and the current market only helps compound this, even if the outcome is worse. Of course, I might just be shit, but they also likely don't know that by not speaking with me. :)
- Scarblac 3y ago
  > For example: you coded and launched a new feature, and that feature brought in 20% more users over the following year. Even if I did, it was probably someone else's idea, someone else decided it would be worth adding to the product, someone else made a UX and UI design, I wrote the code, someone else tested it, maybe there were some iterations of those. It's all team work. Someone claiming such a increase as their personal achievement is spouting BS and would not get an invitation here.
  - keiferski 3y ago
    It was a simplified example. Obviously on a real world resume you would say “was a part of a team that did X.”
    - Paul-Craft 3y ago
      Oh. You were "part of a team?" But what did you do? What? You mean your team added 20% more users with this feature, not you? SMH.
      - keiferski 3y ago
        Yeah, that’s not how real people actually communicate in real life, so your criticism is pretty baseless here.
sage76 3y ago
It's about signaling to hiring managers that you are willing to play along with their bullshit. None of the companies I worked at disclosed to the engineers what features led to what results. So I made shit up and nobody called me out on it.

keiferski 3y ago

It's not about saying you directly caused the specific increase in revenue, it's more about highlighting the value you can bring to a future organization – at least so you can talk about it in an interview. Remember, this game is not about determining if that increase was purely attributable to your work, it's about convincing an employer that you can add value. For example: you coded and launched a new feature, and that feature brought in 20% more users over the following year. Sure, there were probably other factors that helped, but when you can point at specific things and back them up with metrics, it's 100% better than just listing a bunch of skills and jobs.

D13Fd 3y ago
Not only that, it shows that you understand and care about what matters (the success of the company).
lurking15 3y ago
Sure that's ideal but honestly I've worked on a bunch of stuff at several different companies but have yet to land in a place where I was able to collect these sorts of statistics that everyone is always going on about putting in your resume.
- keiferski 3y ago
  If you don't have specific data, you can still frame your work in a way that is more compelling than, "I can code in Python and I worked at XYZ company for 3 years." Whatever value you were adding, put that first, even if it's just "built new products that increased company's sales and helped expand to X new markets."
- Volundr 3y ago
  Numbers are ideal, and I'd think carefully on if there is a metric you can tie to a data point, but it doesn't have to be all about numbers. Example: maybe you streamlined a common app flow making it significantly easier for users to accomplish a task, or implemented accessibility best practices across your product making it usable by a wider range of people. Both of these have more pop if there is a statistic you can cite with them, but even without they speak to impact not just "worked on Python web application".
- ownagefool 3y ago
  I have £19m to £75m revenue in approx 20 months bootstrapped start-up CTO on my CV. In the UK market folks aren't particularly receptive to that sort of thing.
  - lurking15 3y ago
    In that case, I wonder if that makes you seem overqualified?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - ownagefool 3y ago
      I think it's a combination of the market and assumptions. - Some think I'm no longer technical enough because I've done managerial stuff, despite recent work being hands on. - Some think I'm not managerial enough because I still do technical stuff. - Some think I've somehow failed because the specific role was only ~20 months ( it was actually equity shenanigans ) - Some think I'm too senior and won't stick around ( despite the role being top of the market pay wise ) Mostly, I don't really know, because when going through the front door, they typically don't respond, and in actual fact the only leads I get are the ones that contact me. But I think our specific culture focuses on reasons to say no, rather than reasons to say yes, and the current market only helps compound this, even if the outcome is worse. Of course, I might just be shit, but they also likely don't know that by not speaking with me. :)
Scarblac 3y ago
> For example: you coded and launched a new feature, and that feature brought in 20% more users over the following year. Even if I did, it was probably someone else's idea, someone else decided it would be worth adding to the product, someone else made a UX and UI design, I wrote the code, someone else tested it, maybe there were some iterations of those. It's all team work. Someone claiming such a increase as their personal achievement is spouting BS and would not get an invitation here.
- keiferski 3y ago
  It was a simplified example. Obviously on a real world resume you would say “was a part of a team that did X.”
  - Paul-Craft 3y ago
    Oh. You were "part of a team?" But what did you do? What? You mean your team added 20% more users with this feature, not you? SMH.
    - keiferski 3y ago
      Yeah, that’s not how real people actually communicate in real life, so your criticism is pretty baseless here.

sage76 3y ago

It's about signaling to hiring managers that you are willing to play along with their bullshit. None of the companies I worked at disclosed to the engineers what features led to what results. So I made shit up and nobody called me out on it.