Show HN: Having fun with my portfolio. | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Having fun with my portfolio.

dougkoellmer.com

13 pointsdougk1612 comments

Just a heads up, but I've worked for at least two companies so far that automatically throw away any applications written in code like that. It's pretty common that people submit resumes like this, and I've never seen anyone hired from it.

I hate to be negative, however I just want to make sure you don't disqualify yourself from jobs you're qualified for :)

If you decide to keep it, I'd make everything that isn't a string (aka, the actual details about you) a light gray that fades into the background. So, anyone scanning it only really sees the important parts.

[EDIT] More critiques:

  - What languages do you write? Java? List the languages, don't just mock business people for no reason. That line is offensive to some people and means nothing to everyone else.
  - At least three of your "Achievements" are negative about yourself (and make you look glib)
  - Have you never had a job nor gone to college?

Agreed. Here's a great podcast talking about resume formatting from both sides: http://5by5.tv/quit/40

Parts of it do read like a resume. But... perhaps since Doug is calling this a portfolio rather than a resume he doesn't need to worry about it being in a format suitable to be submitted as a resume.

You shouldn't submit a resume like this. If you're sending in a resume - you always send it in a 'normal' format; but I always think these are good for your personal website! Shows creativity, that you're passionate about what you do, and if it's complex enough - an extra project to showcase!

+1 to this. There is the 'form' which is a resume, and there is the 'fun' which is something like this. There are several in loops while (! dead) { ... }.

Thanks for the heads up, and the feedback! I didn't mean this as a resume exactly...more like a portfolio that would be linked to from my cover letter and/or resume. It depends on who I assumed this would hit first...if it were the CTO at a small startup, perhaps I would feature this more prominently. A non-developer and I might not link it at all.

I was debating the "humorous" negative parts, but ultimately I like to be myself...if it rubs a company the wrong way, then perhaps we wouldn't be a good fit anyway. However, I'm fortunate enough to be in such a situation...if I were job hunting right out of college I probably wouldn't take the risk.

Could you link other public resumes/portfolios you've seen similar to mine? I of course hoped I was being clever and unique, but that never works out.

Yeah, I feel as though I've seen similar gimmicks in the past.

Not sure if this was intentional but http://www.dougkoellmer.com/ throws a "Error: NOT_FOUND"

Thanks...yea in the process of getting my personal site together, and should probably put up something a little less off-putting in the mean time.

You should make it throw a FileNotFoundException, if you're gonna go with that motif.

Dear Doug,

Thank you for sharing the GitHub. I work with some of the hottest startups in the Bay Area and one has an immediate opening for a rockstar ninja.

Are you available to come in and implement bubble sort on a whiteboard tomorrow, Friday, October 25 at 10:00 am?

Sincerely,

A. Typical Recruiter

I'm there baby! I'll be practicing my bubble sort skills all night!

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