My Visual Resume
ajaimk.com
ajaimk.com
Specific comments, clockwise from the top left:
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The chart of effort over time
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* The axes are unlabeled, which makes for an unclear chart. Although it seems that the horizontal axis is time, I don't know what the vertical axis is; the name of the chart implies that the vertical axis is "effort", but I'm not sure how to read that (eg, what are the units of effort that you are using here?)
* The third dimension of the chart clearly does not add any informational value, and in my opinion does not add any aesthetic value.
* The grid lines make the words inside the chart harder to read, and do not contribute to an easier understanding of the data.
* I think you were going for a stacked area chart, which would be a pretty good choice for this, but I would clean it up: drop the third dimension, remove the grid lines, clarify the axes and units.
* The scattering of achievements underneath the chart use colors in the stars that match colors in the chart above, but do not seem to have any real connection to the information in the chart. In addition, I think the achievements would be more powerful presented in a separate timeline chart.
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The chart of drivers
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* The meters are a little dark, and hard to read.
* The numbers on each meter go up to 100, which seems to imply a percentage. Ie, 40% driven by money, 70% driven by coffee. But, since the numbers don't total to 100%, my interpretation is wrong, or the chart is misleading. Either way, the meaning of the numbers you are using should be cleared up: what are the units, and what is the relation between the different meters?
* The chart also implies that deadlines are more effective at driving you than money is, which makes me think that if I give you a lot of deadlines, I don't have to pay you very much. Is this your intent?
* Overall, I think the use of meters here does not do well to communicate what I think you are trying to get across: that you are driven by interest in the material, by the importance of delivering a product, and only then by the money. I get that, but it takes awhile to unpack the meaning.
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The tag cloud
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* This is essentially just a bunch of words of various sizes. On a website, I can see the purpose: indicating the relative appearance of the words in twitter posts, or in tags used to describe a set of blog posts, etc. In this context, I think you're trying to communicate the relative strength of your interests on various topics. Not a bad idea. I'd make the difference between the sizes of the words a little stronger, make the big ones bigger, and the small ones smaller. Right now, they are all sort of the same size. The things you want to make more prominent should be really obvious.
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The chart of desired careers
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* I don't know what information the colors are supposed to communicate to me. Maybe you just wanted to use some color in the chart, but it seems like the colors want to be telling me something. But there is no key to the colors, so I end up confused as to the purpose of the colors.
* No units on the chart. Maybe this is, again, a relative measure of your desire. If so, that needs to be a little clearer. At any rate, should I be reading this as your desire for a career in coding is 1/9th your desire for a career in entrepreneurship?
* That's a lot of space taken up to tell me not a whole lot of information.
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The binder clipped note
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* Is this telling me that your resume is licensed under the creative commons, or something else? I am not at all clear what this block is trying to tell me.
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The yellow sticky note
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* No notes here. The information is clear.
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The chart of skills in various categories
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* The categories are never named, leaving the reader to infer the categories from the items in each pie chart. You should list the categories over each pie chart.
* The last pie chart doesn't make any sense to me. Pie charts are for showing relative values between multiple things. A pie chart with 100% of something doesn't tell me anything, unless there is a list of other things that are not in the pie chart. Like, 100% on people and networking skills, 0% on animal training skills, 0% on sewing and crocheting skills. Otherwise, what does that pie chart communicate?
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Conclusion
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Overall, I think the idea is very smart. A3 reports are a great way to communicate a lot of complicated and important information in a confined space, forcing the report writer to analyze and summarize for the benefit of other people.
I'm far less concerned than other people as to the beauty of this resume; A3 reports are not known for their aesthetic merits, and I've seen a lot of ugly but invaluable A3 reports.
This is a solid start, but it needs a lot of work to clean it up, emphasize the important information, and remove the unnecessary graphical cruft. The chart in the upper left (effort over time) is a good anchor for the rest of the resume; cleaned up and simplified, it could be a powerful and clear way to represent your work over the last few years.
I will also tell you from my own experience, that I'm a more than a tad hesitant about college students and recent graduates who are heavy-handed with the "CEO, co-founder, and entrepreneur" titles and interests on their resumes. Not to be too harsh, but since when does a "society", which in most cases is just a loose grouping of people with similar interests, have or need a "CEO".
Get some actual experience under your belt and list some bona-fide measurable accomplishments on your resume (this is generic advice, not just targeted at you). There are many people who are legends in their own mind, but if you list bottom-line things you have actually done, that will come through on your resume. There is no benefit, IMO, to over-hyping glorified titles.
Much of the data on here tells me very little. You appear to have more OSX skills than linux skills, but relative to what? Linus Torvalds, or my grandmother?
I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like over the same period of time you put as much effort into "Firewall" as you did "classes". Were you a slacker in class, or are you good at managing your time such that you could handle both.
The resume format may be considered stale and dated, but from a hiring perspective I can tell you that it the best way to try and make impartial comparisons of people in regards to work experience, education, and other factors. This format is highly devoid of content that I could use to make a decision about your applicability for a job, which is not a good idea for a resume.
In the end, I end up being more frustrated with resumes like this. I think using certain bits (like the pie charts) in a regular resume would yield better results in terms of usability.
Actually, I don't want to see a tag cloud on your resume in particular. On your blog, it shows the jumble of stuff you write about. But your resume should not look like a haphazard jumble - it should be customized and laser focused to get a particular job.
But dont worry Ajai, just wait a day or two and everyone else will start copying you.
I think you should look into making a program that can generate this type of resume, I'm sure Visual CV or another company would show some interest in acquiring that kind of work.
If he does it, hopefully his bold statement reflects the real him — it's not just an experiment. It's a great strategy when executed well.
I am not a fan of graphical resumes because I resent the time it takes to decode what the person is trying to say, but that's very much a personal bias. It is a good example of its type. The top left graph of how the op is spending college time was very good, and the most informative aspect.
I really don't like when vague feelings and rough estimates are presented like they are serious comparable measuers. I don't think this resume is an appropriate way to present information that a resume is expected to present.
I think the Pie chart section is actually fairly informative, a rare feat for pie charts.
(And some of the charts, eg. the pie chart, make absolutely no sense.)
It's just very messy also. What would you think if someone sent in one of these?
In terms of design quality, this execution seems a bit amateurish due to all the colors and typography.
The gold standard for personal information graphics is Nicholas Felton who publishes an annual report of his life at http://feltron.com
Content: 4
If you could find a way to answer the reader's questions immediately using your presentation, you'd have a great resume.
As it stands, it's not easy to find out what I want to know. But one thing's for sure: you will not be easily forgotten.
I see that your interests are in UI and you found out the perfect one that has not been altered in almost a century. All kudos for initiating the focus on this topic. Just remember that people really do not want to figure out your resume. They just want to quickly compare (main purpose of CVs/resumes), and if that quickly isn't there, you might only end up quickly in the trash unfortunately.
However, I am also thinking of how to re-implement the CV/resume so that it reflects the creative capabilities of people on www.aleveo.com. In this case, I want it dynamic and involving ideas and public ratings. Currently I am playing with timelines and weighted image scaling for ideas to reach a functional form.
If you are interested drop in the idea of visual resume on aleveo.com?
Anyway I encourage you to explore it further, finding balance between written and visual form.
Cheers!
I'd definitely spend the time to figure the whole thing out if I got a resume like this on my desk.
I dislike the big chart on the top left. It's difficult to read and there's the disorganized star array underneath that gives me a headache. (Not to mention the content, are you applying to grad school?)
(The tag cloud is contrived right? (ie not from any data))
The "Skills" section is by far the most inspiring.
Great point.
In my comment I was suggesting that the idea was inspiring to personally reuse or suggest :)
http://dizzia.deviantart.com/art/Curriculum-Vitae-PDF-690509...
The idea of a "visual resume" is really good especially if you are targeting a data visualization job
2. Stepwise refinement is an acceptable development process, even here on hn. What you perceive as "lack of taste", I see as one of the steps.
3. OP is obviously experimenting, seeking feedback, and deploying it. Your feedback adds little. After spending so much time with boring corporate drones, I love posts like this where someone actually has the balls to push the envelope. Cut him a break.
4. If you only learn one thing about anything, I suggest you go back a try to learn something else. Enquiring hackers want to know.