Background: I know I am just a beginner developer, but I am hoping to find some type of entry-level “translate design into web page” job. I usually customize the skill section on top to fit keywords in the job description. I’ve gotten a few interviews but in comparison to how many applications I send out, the reply rate is abysmal.
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
Hi there,
Your CV looks good. Things I’d suggest is to add a brief section ( give an overview of yourself and explain the position you are looking for ).
Revise your skills section and tell what you’ve done with each skill or what you can specifically do with them. ( for instance, what you can build etc)
Also, do not forget to justify the text on the word process for each paragraph. You may use resume templates from Canva
What do you mean “brief section”? I already have a summary. I will add a sentence or two about the type of job I want. I imagine that will be a good part to customize for each application.
I definitely think adding proof of each skill is a good idea.
The text is justified. Do you mean everything should be left justified? I think it looks good the way it is, but I would love feedback from other people.
I’d redo the skills section. Instead of centered text, give it some more space and make it more readable by arranging it in two columns, one for coding skills (maybe add icons) and one for “softer” skills like design and Figma (also, you’ve listed Python twice).
The projects section is probably most interesting for a potential employer. Seeing the more-than-overdone ToDo-list and Discord bot at the top might be a negative. The first project listed should be something more individual, something that represents you as a person, and something that you presumably didn’t copy from a tutorial.
I’m by no means an expert on what employers skim a resume for, so that’s just my thoughts.
Looks-wise, totally fine. The skills, remove the repeated Python, but probably ok. You have basic C, C++, PHP and Ruby experience, add that as well (state it’s basic experience though). Summary is totally fine, it is as would be expected from recent graduate. Education might be questioned: possibly not an issue, just be prepared to explain it. Employment history doesn’t really need the line lead entry.
Projects definitely needs work. So this is just my initial impressions, but from the descriptions I know they’re just very basic things:
- JavaScript-based to-do apps are, for recent historical reasons, used as a way to compare frameworks. As a result, I have seen a million and one of them, an interviewer will also have seen a million and one of them. The programming is just a tool: the point of it is not to eg “use DOM manipulation to add and remove tasks” – it’s a JS to-do app, it has to do that. The point of it is to eg “allow someone to prioritise tasks based on Eisenhower’s prioritisation matrix”. I don’t know what that is: you don’t explain it anywhere, and the app itself does a. not explain to the user what it is, and b. doesn’t look like a finished thing. If you want to keep this project up you need to actually make it actually function properly and explain your thinking. This will take some work: the UI is currently not great, there are few clues as to what it’s actually supposed to be.
- Same thing as 1. What’s the bot for? In what way is it not just following a “create your first Discord bot” tutorial (which would be a thing designed to teach you the basics so that you could use that knowledge to create something useful)? There’s no issue having a project that is a bot, but the point of it should not be the bot itself (unless the code itself describes something novel that didn’t previously exist), but rather some purpose the bot fulfils.
- This is an implementation detail of something larger, it’s not really a project.
On your website, hidden behind a tiny wordpress icon on the “contact me” page, is an example of why the projects section isn’t currently great. You have a breakdown of the thought process behind designing a basic site. There are sketches, references, iterations. It’s very rough, but it’s very interesting (eg you’re using PowerPoint for quick prototyping! I was prototyping a site recently, why did I not think to use this instead of faffing on for ages looking at wireframing tools! It’s a great idea). It’s slightly frustrating to see that, then on your résumé it’s just a few generic beginner things from tutorials that are listed, with no real indication of thought process or purpose when I drill in and follow links
@DanCouper
Thank you so much! This is the type of feedback that I was looking for.
I guess I need to improve the quality of my projects over all and then improve how I write about them.
Would you suggest I add a few bullet points in the education section about classes I took (software engineering, database design, and a UI/UX class)?
You comment about my blog actually reminded me that I need to delete the link lol.
On your Linkedin you used the verb dispirit. Should be the adjective disparate.
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