resume tips

Resume is not static and not unique - especially in the consulting business - as consultant. I know it is hard to digest initially. What ever changes that are suggested, try to make it - except I am not too much in favor of out right lies. That said, I always suggested folks to tweak the resume to match the needs of the client. This might mean, shorter resume or looonger resume. Some times you have to remove some projects or areas of expertise in order to make room or highlight other skills that are of interest to the client. You got to make your marketing manager happy to market your skills. Absence of that would make the marketing manger not focus on your resume - which potentially could hurt your prospects in short term.

One of the item that I would recommend removing in your resume is the reference to DOS. I have not had any one convince me that writing DOS in the resume would benefit in getting hired. I have had many people, including myself, feel that writing DOS lowers the level of competence in the candidate. I am not claiming that what I feel/think is correct - however, I put the ownes on you to prove to yourself that writing DOS in your resume adds the value of your resume.

Try to write couple of resumes. I have had more than 5 resumes at any time - when I am actively interviewing. I know my skills are diverse that forces me to have few resumes focusing on couple of selected areas and few that has wide areas coverage. Few small (2 pages - I have not been able to write one page yet..) and few long - 4-5 pages.

Try loading bunch of free ware packages and try them out - you can add in your resume that you have familiarity. Try to contribute code to free ware, if you have chance. This will make it easy to get hired - if some one is looking for such skills. If you can have Linux at home - more free wares work effectively on Linux.

Few areas of recommendation in open source:
1. My SQL - installation and try to use for any of your Database (ODBC/JDBC) projects
2. Apache - administration
3. Perl/PHP/Python
4. FireFox - browser
5. JBoss
6. TomCat

If you want to get in to Release Engineering role there are bunch of areas you can brush up
1. Shell programming - wizard level
2. Make System
3. Apache ANT
4. Mozilla Bonsai/TinderBox(?)

If you want to focus on Test Lead (QA)
1. Learn Bugzilla - install/administer
2. Test Case management systems - Bugzilla Test Runner

Getting Developer Lead role is slightly tricky and the number of openings are few. Of-course the $$ is good/high in that role. In order to get a quick break, I would suggest to focus on individual contributor role - that are inherently more available than managerial roles. With India/China outsourcing in it's peak growth, couple of my friends are telling me that lead roles to manage the India/China team is in demand in the US. I don't know if this is correct - but, sounds logical enough to believe. Even Google and Microsoft are fighting on people resource for getting right candidate for leading the teams...