I have a degree in Computer Science and recently finished a 9 month software development Boot Camp. Been sending out resume and applications to quite a few postings off of LinkedIn but so far getting very little response. I have an interview tomorrow but not sure how legit it is, outside of that I haven’t been called up for any interviews yet. Comrades in the software industry please help me out with any advice you can. I’m willing to relocate to pretty much anywhere as long as I can get employment in this field that will lead to good experience and development.

  • SerLava [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    This is actually general advice for any job seeker:

    If you have any kind of cover letter, put a section like this into it, like a table with only the center line visible, or something like that:

    Your requirement | My Experience

    Your requirement | My Experience

    Your requirement | My Experience

    Your requirement | My Experience

    Your requirement | My Experience

    You can leave off any parts that you don't have a good answer for.

    There are three reasons for this.

    • Firstly, this makes it easy to read and skim. Always good
    • Secondly, you force the hiring manager to connect your experience with their requirement... It implies that your experience is a definitive qualification rather than something they have to read, stop, process, remember their own job requirements, and then connect the two (something a dumb HR person might literally be unable to do).
    • Thirdly, that's SEO baby. When they search for resumes in whatever software they're using, they query a bunch of the same keywords they included in their job description. This way you guarantee that you don't forget a valuable keyword, and your resume now contains various applications, frameworks and shit that you haven't even used. Your resume is basically saying "React? Well I've used jQuery" and getting picked up for the word "React", which might be a nice-to-have.

    It's a lot better than writing the keywords in white 1pt font at the bottom of your resume, which is something a techy person is more likely to catch you doing than the 70 year old looking to hire plumbers.

    • RedDawn [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Thanks for the advice, I’ll try to include something like this in cover letters going forward.