4 ms·

First, figure out which technologies are best to know in your market, then start learning them AND create a small (but quality) public product that will showcas

First, figure out which technologies are best to know in your market, then start learning them AND create a small (but quality) public product that will showcase what you can do. Having public work on your resume makes a big difference and it's what you should lead with. I know how it can be when everything you're paid to produce is used behind closed doors. It makes it really tough to demonstrate your chops. NotifyWire.com (shutdown, but I can still demo) and PuppyShowdown.com in my portfolio get's me in the door pretty much anywhere I need. It shows you know how to produce a product, it's a conversation piece, it makes everything else on your resume more believable, and it separates you from 99% of other applicants. Regarding time. Don't waste it on your job search. You need less than 2 hours a day to effectively look for a job (that leaves you 8-10 on re-tooling). Just like it takes very little energy to float in water, when people panic they flail about trying desperately to stay on the surface and then drown.

layofflayabout 14y ago
Just went to puppyshowdown, looks nice. What's a good way to list a "personal" site on a resume? Do you put the source code anywhere for employers to peruse? And I mean this in the nicest way, but you know how some things are developed nowadays, how much is original original and how much is using example code? Does that make a difference when explaining your site? How do you host puppyshowdown? For a personal project site I figure I can a) use my VPS, but it's only 512M of memory and I'd probably do a J2EE-based site, b) get a Linode or something, but too expensive for the memory, c) get a static IP at my home internet and leave a computer up, or d) figure out an Amazon EC2 site.
- IanDrake 14y ago
  >Do you put the source code anywhere for employers to peruse? Much of the front end stuff isn't obfuscation (thus open), but the back-end stuff is closed sourced and all done in .NET. I can speak very intelligently to how it's done, the challenges I faced, and the solutions I came up with. If they ask nice, I can show them code as it's all in a private GitHub repo. >and how much is using example code? I take advantage of various libraries, but these are mostly resume builders, like jQuery, KnockoutJS, SugarJS, Massive, etc... The code that make it all work is completely custom. >How do you host puppyshowdown? I have a dedicated server at a hosting company, but a VPS would also work fine...512MB is a bit low though.
- tstegart 14y ago
  There was just an HN post on portfolio sites: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4284663 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4284663. One of the things mentioned in the articles was a portfolio blog, mainly for coders where they talk about the technical stuff they did behind the scenes while showing some pictures of the final products.
decadentcactus 14y ago
How do you, I guess, "bring up" that you created the sites? I have a few sites too that I've made but as well as being unaccustomed to applying for jobs, usually "my list of projects is here" doesn't cut it. And I never know how to bring it up in a cover letter either. Either I'm coming across wrong or (sort of unlikely) they just aren't too great of an example.

layofflayabout 14y ago

Just went to puppyshowdown, looks nice. What's a good way to list a "personal" site on a resume? Do you put the source code anywhere for employers to peruse? And I mean this in the nicest way, but you know how some things are developed nowadays, how much is original original and how much is using example code? Does that make a difference when explaining your site? How do you host puppyshowdown? For a personal project site I figure I can a) use my VPS, but it's only 512M of memory and I'd probably do a J2EE-based site, b) get a Linode or something, but too expensive for the memory, c) get a static IP at my home internet and leave a computer up, or d) figure out an Amazon EC2 site.

IanDrake 14y ago
>Do you put the source code anywhere for employers to peruse? Much of the front end stuff isn't obfuscation (thus open), but the back-end stuff is closed sourced and all done in .NET. I can speak very intelligently to how it's done, the challenges I faced, and the solutions I came up with. If they ask nice, I can show them code as it's all in a private GitHub repo. >and how much is using example code? I take advantage of various libraries, but these are mostly resume builders, like jQuery, KnockoutJS, SugarJS, Massive, etc... The code that make it all work is completely custom. >How do you host puppyshowdown? I have a dedicated server at a hosting company, but a VPS would also work fine...512MB is a bit low though.
tstegart 14y ago
There was just an HN post on portfolio sites: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4284663 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4284663. One of the things mentioned in the articles was a portfolio blog, mainly for coders where they talk about the technical stuff they did behind the scenes while showing some pictures of the final products.

decadentcactus 14y ago

How do you, I guess, "bring up" that you created the sites? I have a few sites too that I've made but as well as being unaccustomed to applying for jobs, usually "my list of projects is here" doesn't cut it. And I never know how to bring it up in a cover letter either. Either I'm coming across wrong or (sort of unlikely) they just aren't too great of an example.