A good set of tips for any job-hunting programmer. But speaking as a
Perl-exclusive employer, I can tell you that the Houston market for top-notch
Perl coders is tight enough right now that I hardly bother to filter candidates
by resume any more. I just glance at the resume to check that it mentions Perl
a few times in some non-trivial way, and then I offer an interview. The
candidate codes during the interview, and that's really the best way I can
judge. For me, at least, it's all about the coding. But the big companies do
filter your resume through a hiring manager, and, yes, they're generally
clueless. Also bear in mind that most big companies only do "light scripting"
in Perl, so you have to think about what kind of job you want.
Professional recruiters and hiring managers tend to rely more on degrees,
experience, and other "paper" qualifications (because they have to), and that's
why I don't use them. I've encountered too many instances where a young
candidate with no degree, no professional experience, and a crappy resume would
code circles around other candidates with 20 years' experience. This doesn't
seem to happen so much with C++ and the like. I'm thinking this problem might
be unique to the Perl market, since most places only use Perl for "light
scripting" (automation, QA, etc) -- and not even 20 years of light scripting
will prepare you for "real" Perl coding at a Perl-exclusive company. The Perl
market is bifurcated. So I'm highly aware that my candidates' resumes can
mislead, particularly on Perl skills. I do skim briefly for markers of deeper
knowledge: open source involvement, projects beyond light scripting, specific
CPAN modules mentioned, etc. But this is
still unreliable, and, frankly, there are few enough actual Perl candidates in
(or willing to move to) Houston that I can afford to just interview them all.
Honestly, I pay more attention to the cover letter than the resume (if it's
tailored to my job posting); those are rare, and a good idea.
One last note: any candidate willing to relocate will have a huge advantage in
the market. It's by far the single largest limiting factor I've encountered in
my search. If I accepted telecommuting candidates, then I'd probably have to
hire a recruiter to filter through the great hordes of programmers worldwide
trying to telecommute. If you do want to telecommute, then you might consider
reading that slideshow carefully, because you'll need an optimal resume. Just
my opinion, though. ;-)
Damon Hastings
CTO, BookTrolls, LLC
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/damon-hastings/5/630/309
On Monday, November 10, 2014 8:01 AM, G. Wade Johnson via Houston
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>On Mon, 10 Nov 2014 06:34:22 -0600
>"B. Estrade via Houston" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I just happened to see this on HN.
>>
>> These slides use a Perl-heavy resume as an example and seem to have
>> some very good tips.
>>
>> http://www.slideshare.net/perlcareers/how-to-write-a-developer-cvrsum-that-will-get-you-hired
>
>Thanks for posting this.
>
>I was really expecting this to be bad. As someone who has done
>interviewing and hiring in the past, I've seen some really lousy resume
>advice.
>
>Although this contradicts some of the professional resume advice I've
>seen, I like its handling of programmer-specific resumes better. The
>point about audience may be the most important point of all.
>
>G. Wade
>--
>Results are what you wanted, consequences are what you got.
> -- Michael VanDusen
>
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> $
>
>
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