CVs are tedious

I spent quite a while this morning adjusting my CV, putting it into an ATS checker etc and I actually think it was beneficial. It pushed me to put proper content in there which is actually valuable stuff. However, only time will tell whether or not it's any good!
 
Surely you don't want to look like a dunce who's done nothing though by submitting a one pager? Maybe it becomes less important the further you get into your career. For me, I've had the same job for the past 8 years and don't describe my jobs before that in detail as they we're pre-uni. Therefore I feel like I need to put a lot of emphasis on my current job so I don't look like I've been up to nothing.
 
Martynt74 said:
Its do-able. Here's a generic one i found online. Generally condensing it down into only important information.

I find with multiple jobs you can easily repeat various things across each role.

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The issue I have with a CV or resumé like this is that most websites just scan your CV and condense it down into the key facts for the recruiters, so all the efforts spent to make it look fancy like this (and the enormous amount of white space) are wasted and may even make the CV illegible to the software. Also, the dots...I think they would work in theory but when every one is 4 or 5 out of 5, you may as well have not bothered.
 
mid_gen said:
Depends a lot on what your experience is and what the job you're applying for is.

I'm in a skilled technical profession. I don't need to care much about my CV, because the kind of positions I apply for, they're going to scan my CV for 5 seconds, see that I've got a load of relevant experience and then get me in for interview. Just the job titles and time in post are enough, don't need any details.

If you're changing industries or roles, are in relatively unskilled work or roles with thousands of people applying...well yeah you've got to take the time to make the most of every position you've worked in, highlight what you've done that is relevant to the position you're going for. Format it nicely, anything to just stick in the sifter's mind that little bit longer than the hundreds of other CVs.
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That's the opposite position to what I find myself in. I looked at my father-in-law's CV recently. He's 60, and a very experienced highways engineer. My mind is still boggling as to why he has detailed every single position he's done for years - it's about 4 pages long. Perhaps a simplified version didn't work for him. But if you read the job titles they're things like, head of highways for this council, this council, this council etc and I was just thinking, why has he even bothered? Maybe one achievement from each is relevant, but if people keep hiring you for similar positions you're obviously doing something right!

Personally, I'm thinking about changing industry and have only been at one company, so I feel like it's a necessity for me. But I really like your way of doing things. That sounds glorious!
 
mid_gen said:
Take my advice with a pinch of salt, I work in game dev which has a massive skills shortage, so finding work is incredibly easy! Also at 40 I'm in my employable prime, lots of experience, without being consigned to the dustbin yet, it's a privileged position to be in!
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That's great, I'm glad it's going so well for you. I've started learning Java and it's already blowing my mind
 
Scotty123 said:
No more Matlab? Would like to think when I taught you it in your first year of engineering it would serve you well ;). I've not used Matlab in years though. Mostly C++ these days, bit of Python.
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Haha sadly not. I was utterly lost on that module. In all honesty, I felt like we were told "these are commands that are available to you" and not what any of them did!

I scraped through my final project and then someone copied my code so I ended up capped at 40% after a tribunal!!

I've learnt some VBA since then, which is starting to make more sense as I learn JS, but it's incredibly difficult. I'm using freeCodeCamp, which makes it nice and convenient but sometimes things aren't explained quite well enough.
 
dowie said:
Was gonna say, if you've got an engineering degree and already know Matlab then might be worth taking a look at Python (and NumPy) initially and perhaps implementing something familiar there. But I guess if you didn't get on with it then maybe not... (see also perhaps Julia or Swift one or both of which are potentials to take over from it - Python is pretty slow, it's useful in scientific computing, data science etc.. as an easy to use glu language, all the heavy lifting stuff is actually written in other languages).

JS? You mentioned starting to learn Java a few posts up - just checking as those are different things, you don't want to stick down Java on your CV if you've actually been learning JavaScript for example.
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Sorry yeah JavaScript. I haven’t put that in my CV yet as I haven’t got very far with it…it’s really difficult.

Sadly I really didn’t get on with Matlab, and didn’t touch it after I finished that course.

I’m really thinking about trying to change from building services engineering to tech, but I have no real experience and no experience of Scrum Agile frameworks, which will make it much for difficult. I’d even take a small pay cut, but I need to convince a company I’m worth training up first!
 
dowie said:
I wouldn't worry too much about the various agile frameworks etc... lots of companies will have their own ways of doing things anyway that sort of bastardise whatever process they claim to be using. Is there any sort of overlap where you might be able to use your domain knowledge still with some tech/software firm that works in something related to your current role... like I dunno, there must be people programming elevators etc.. or looking after the systems etc... (granted JavaScript probably isn't the right language for that though you can get (some) general programming concepts via learning any language tbh...).
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Honestly, I’m really hoping they see transferable skills in me. I think they’re there, and I’ve obviously got a passion for technology otherwise I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be attempting to learn JS!

VBA is the closest I’ve come. But I’m adaptable and hopefully that will show.

I’m also hoping that they might see some suitability in me, enough to make it worth training me up. There are so many damn jobs in that sector and very few in mine.
 
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