Not sure how to write a resume. I have no practical experience and no degree

Recently I was noticed by someone who could land me a job, after talking to them they liked me and they asked for a resume. They said the company they work for would need a resume. I have never written a resume for a tech job. My past experience has been in truck driving and I do not have a college degree.

I made a post 2 weeks ago about lack of confidence to apply for a job here: Lack of confidence to look for a job

I get nervous just thinking about writing a resume because on paper I look like I am applying to the wrong place. A couple of resume guides emphasize focusing on education and any relevant experience. Any advice or opinions would be appreciated, if you have an example of a resume that would match my situation, I would really benefit from seeing it.

3 Likes

Well, if you don’t have the experience, then there is not much you can do. There is not some magic resume format to hide that.

Just write a resume. Give yourself permission to write a bad one. Write it and post it here and ask for for feedback. But there is nothing we can tell you until we see what you are working with. It’s like calling the auto repair shop and asking them to fix your car over the phone.

Just write a resume. It’s going to be thin, but a thin resume is better than no resume. Just start using to to apply for jobs. Get the experience.

In the meantime, work to build you resume. Learn. Build projects. Build up your experience and keep updating your resume.

But no matter how many ways you ask, there is no magic advice we can give you that can give you a great resume. Even if the format is great, the content will be lacking.

So write a bad resume and we can comment on the format. And then work on building up the content.

3 Likes

@ksjazzguitar
You are right, except I am asking for advice on how to build a car :smiley:
Here is my portfolio page: codedave.me, if that says anything.

1 Like

@rmdawson71
Good to know that something like that exists. Thank you.

Google things like “web developer resume” and look at examples.

Sign up at https://resume.github.io/, it’ll start to build a resume for your based on your projects, and use that data to get you rolling. It’ll still be good to show you were professionally employed for a while though too, but don’t emphasize too much about the truck driving (maybe one or two bullet points maximum)

3 Likes

@iandouglas
Haha, it called me an advanced github user! :smiley:

@ArielLeslie
Thank you, seems so obvious now.

You can use templates as a guide http://modeloscurriculumvitae.com/en in that web you will be able to download them in word format. Hope this can help you.

1 Like

Hey I was wondering how did you make out with your resume and job search? I too have no history in the IT field; I spent 14 years as a carpenter. I’ve earned the Front End Certificate from FCC and am currently looking for sources of learning React.js outside of FCC, while trying to find work and haven’t a clue where to start with resume and portfolio. Needless to say my confidence in this is shot! I was wondering if you could offer some advice based on your experience.

Have you contacted any recruiters, specifically for the IT industry, and asked them for recommendations as far as how to write your resume and what jobs to apply for?

Although I have over 16 years experience in the IT industry as a Web Developer - I am always needing to get more experience in technologies I’ve not used before to remain competitive. For example, I have never done anything in ReactJS.

I kind of got my start in the IT industry by first working as Help Desk / Phone Support for various companies. Phone work with customers discussing computer or software problems is a great way to start your career and will begin to give you experience in the IT industry. No, it won’t be what you want to do for the rest of your life, but get a few years experience doing that and then apply for a programming job. Something to think about.

Back then, several of the companies I worked for did not have any software running to record each phone call. Since I was interested in computer programming but had no experience - I thought, “Well, I am already on the phones taking calls. I am sure my manager would love to be able to gather statistics on our calls. Maybe he would be interested in letting me write a simple application to allow for data entry and then save that information to a .CSV file.” So - I put together a mock-up of the app and my idea and presented it to my manager. Bless his heart, he liked the idea and actually provided me time each day to work on the call log application. Once it was ready about 20 people at my call center were using the application (yes, including myself!). Can you imagine how cool that was? To be sitting beside people using MY application that I wrote. MY idea???

That was like 20 years ago. But, it gave me my start.

No matter what your profession, you can take a few hours at home each night working on some sort of project that will allow you to showcase your skills in development.

You can participate in git hub projects. I found a bug in Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code editor a few months ago that became part of their bug fix 'sprint" and is now part of the product. Just a cosmetic bug, nothing grandiose. But the point is it shows participation in the IT community as a volunteer (much like this site does). This is key in accumulating some experience you can begin to add to your resume.

1 Like

If you need help with a resume, you can check this writing service - https://resume101.org As for me, I can say that this is an excellent site, I was helped

Honestly I can’t believe how many people write resumes and advise to focus on that. And the pure thought of paying someone else to present you is bonkers to me.

It’s 2018 and your resume is your online presence. And I don’t mean that you have to have 10k stars on github, but a small portfolio of projects that interest you, a twitter profile where you converse with other programmers and at least a landing page will get you very far. I work in London’s startups for few years now and CV/Resume is the last thing that we ever were looking at. You’ve got LinkedIn for that!

Having said that, if you wish to be working at a big corporation and you’re planning to go through all the cogs of HR machine, a good resume can work, but I don’t believe in that system and it never has done me any good.

All jobs I’ve ever had were through networking or applying via social media - having conversations with people and making connections will give you a 10x more chance to be noticed. You’re a person with initiative that way, and not another pdf document in someone’s inbox. People literally spend 5-7 seconds looking at a resume before clicking ‘next’.

This guy had it well cracked: https://medium.freecodecamp.org/5-key-learnings-from-the-post-bootcamp-job-search-9a07468d2331

2 Likes