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Comment by tech_joe | Hacker News Reader

> You have communication problems - the needless tech listing took so much space that you had to make your actual point in a comment, and at the same you left out much more relevant information like what you've been doing recently.

While I thank you for taking the time to critique, I think you are being a bit harsh, particularly considering my post was a brain-dump of skills. It isn't a job application.

Same with your JSON, iOS development comment. Again, a brain dump. You'd be surprised how many people have no clue what JSON is. Same with mobile development. Maybe HN is the wrong crowd for a list containing some of these skills to resonate.

Anyhow, thanks again.

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I want to echo what jstx1 said, but I'll try to expand.

Firstly, I think you sound a little entitled. Maybe that's not how you present yourself, but your post read to me like you feel you're very accomplished and companies are not giving you the recognition you deserve. If that's how you're presenting yourself that's obviously going to be off putting.

Secondly, despite the huge experience dump, you haven't really given me any clue of what you actually do... Like at all.

You could be applying for senior leadership roles given your experience as "CEO" & "VP/Director of Engineering" and with experience in "international business", "sales and marketing", "supply chain management", etc.

But you seem to have experience in manufacturing, so maybe you're looking for some kind of product design / manufacturing role?

You also have experience in web development, so maybe you're looking for a web development role?

You also list experience with embedded systems, so maybe you're for a job as an embedded systems engineer?

You also experience with app development, so maybe you're for a job as an app developer?

I have no doubt you've accomplished a lot, but companies hire people who can help them with specific roles. No company is looking for someone with experience with jQuery and CNC milling, for example. So unfortunately as accomplished as I'm sure you are the vast majority of the experience you listed here is worthless since it's not complimentary. If you had instead listed a several programming languages and frameworks which you worked with over the course of a couple of decades then that would have suggested to me – one, what you do and the roles you're applying for; and two, that you're a very knowledgable software engineer. At which point I'd also be thinking, "hmm, weird this guy can't seem to find work".

Listing a bunch of unassociated roles and experience over your career raises far more questions about how much experience you have with any of the specific skills listed. Keep this in mind when applying for roles and ensure you're tailoring your resume appropriately.

Generally the following are good assumptions to make:

- If you don't get interviews there's something wrong with your profile – either you have the wrong experience, or you're not selling that experience well in your resume.

- If you get interviews and are able to answer technical questions then there's something with your with communication skills. Companies probably don't think you'll be a good company / team fit for some reason. You should try to understand why.

- If you're getting interviews but can't give good answers to technical questions, then your issue is experience.

So what do you actually do? What is your experience in that role? And where are you falling short?

Answering these answers will probably help you understand where you're going wrong and how to better sell yourself. And if you want to share, then I'm happy to give my thoughts.

> Answering these answers will probably help you understand where you're going wrong and how to better sell yourself.

Good feedback. Thanks.

No, not entitled at all. Also, not arrogant (you didn't say or imply that, just adding this myself). I know what I know and can do and where I might be out of my depth. I have no problem at all admitting this in the course of my work. That's how you learn.

I feel I have to repeat what I have posted a couple of times now: My original post isn't intended to be a resume. No attempt whatsoever was made to make it sound good or be the kind of thing I would submit to anyone for a job application. It's just a raw brain dump of skills and knowledge I acquired over four decades.

To your point, yes, I can see that even a well-written version of these skills could be very confusing for what I am going to call single-discipline jobs. You are right, if someone is looking for a web developer or embedded software guy, the fact that I own an industrial CNC machine and can run it is a ridiculous thing to add. I don't think I've done that in applications, yet, I have to admit that I have sent off many cloned applications out of frustration without filtering in/out what relevant bits should and should not be there.

What you are saying is correct. If the skills presented in a resume turn out to be orthogonal to the job, they might as well be excluded or left as material for a conversation in answer to the question "What else have you done?".

I should say I have applied to a range of jobs where the position entails managing multidisciplinary engineering teams. In that case the skills should not be orthogonal at all. Maybe I have to think through the presentation or avoid listing skills and focus on management "stories", again, leaving the details for a conversation.

I can see how more can be confusing and detrimental to getting past the first proverbial filters. That much makes sense. I guess the question is: Where do you draw the line or lines. The first are easy: Job-relevant skills. And, perhaps, from there, and being very selective, add skills that might add context yet not look/feel irrelevant.

Something to think about.

A problem with having been an entrepreneur for decades is that you are not used to applying for jobs. I have hired people for roles from sales, web dev, marketing, hardware and software engineering, etc. In all cases I always had the patience to fully evaluate every person who put a resume in front of me.

I guess I am saying I never really learned to apply for jobs. I know that sounds stupid. Really stupid. 60 years old, and you are realizing you might not know how to apply for a job? Well, my reality is that I never had to apply for jobs when I was in my 20's and 30's. I could (and did) walk out of one job and land another in the same industry the same day without having to apply for it. Small industry. People knew key players. By my mid-30's I launched into entrepreneurship. Didn't have to apply for that job. And that was that. I didn't have to consider applying for a job until about ten years ago. I've been busy with consulting contracts, some as long as two years. So, yeah, maybe the one thing I am getting out of this is that I might not have that skill.

Interesting. Something to work on.

Thanks.

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