4 ms·

Ask HN: Should programming resumes be one page or two pages?

• enkiv2 12y ago
  Go for a single page, unless you have some legitimate reason to have multiple pages. Many HR people will simply throw out resumes if they seem too long, and having a resume that seems 'padded' will not get you respect either. If you have a PhD and a whole page of peer-reviewed published research, you can put that on the second page; otherwise keep to one page and assume that whoever is looking at your resume will google your name if they are interested.
• ModernMech 12y ago
  There might be a couple of issues here. One, how old are your friends? If they've worked in industry for a while, they're going to have a lot more to put on their resumes than you. Coming out of college, even if you've interned at a different tech company every summer, I can't possibly imagine how you'd have enough experience to fill two pages. If your friends haven't really been in the industry too long, my guess is they are like most tech-minded people and don't know really know how to write a resume, which is a subset of knowing how to communicate effectively. Many tech-minded people make the common mistake of trying to convey too much information, especially highly technical information that the hiring manager really isn't that interested in. Tech people like all the dirty details, but everyone else wants you to just get to the point. Here's what I think you should do: write a two page resume. Now cut it down to one page. Condense ideas, cut out fluff, and really distill it to its essential elements. This will be a much more impressive document since you've put a lot more thought into saying only what you need to, and not just everything that comes to mind.
  • Kortaggio 12y ago
    That's a good point. I think it's a combination of (1) My friends in tech are, on aggregate, about 3-5 years older than me and (2) There's still the (probably misguided) advice floating around of "You should write down every language and framework you know so that your resume shows up in a keyword search!" Your advice makes a lot of sense, I'll keep to one page. My feeling is that North American HR people generally expect one page resumes.
    • ModernMech 12y ago
      Your reply made me think of another issue. There is no such thing as "your resume". It's not a single document that you write once and send out to everyone. If you are applying for 100 positions, than you should write 100 resumes. Most people write a general resume which has everything on there they've ever done (which is why they need two pages), but a resume targeted to a specific position at a specific company can be much shorter.
      • Kortaggio 12y ago
        I will be customizing my resume for each company, but I'm thinking about a general version that I post on my website where I don't know who is going to download it a priori.
      • deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]