Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

There countless things we do during our careers that are easy to forget yet make us better.  In this episode, we look at counting conferences as professional experience.  We can easily overlook these valuable times spent in an immersive few days.  However, that would be a mistake on our part.  Here are some things to consider as you add conference attendance to your resume or brand. A Known Quantity The value in certifications and degrees is that there is a minimum of information we get from them.  These set a bar of our knowledge or experience.  A conference can do the same thing.  We will at least be exposed to the ideas covered in presentations, and those have a cumulative effect.  Think about how you would view someone that spent four days listening to content about being a better developer.  Do you think you might think of that person as having some ideas on how to be a better developer?  Yes, you would.  There is an experience that comes from attending such events that has a professional value. Performing At A Conference Attending a conference is one thing.  Presenting or speaking is a whole other level.  There is a degree of respect that is attributed to any conference speaker.  This respect may be more than reality dictates.  However, that is not a bad thing for you.  Expertise is an amorphous idea, so do not shy away from situations that can label you as one.  When you contribute to the content, you want to include conferences as professional experience.  There is just too much of an impression that it can make. Non-Obvious Value Of Attendance An item on a resume is helpful.  However, there is far more value than that of attending a conference.  We will be able to network with others.  There will be applications and solutions we will be exposed to.  We might even learn some ways to think outside of the box.  All of these side effects add up to being a better developer.  Therefore, we should take credit for it and list it among our achievements. Episode Challenge: List recent conference experience on your resume or personal website. Read more about advancing your career.

We talked about a personal brand website.  In this episode, we focus on the personal portfolio.  This content is work examples, deliverables, and possibly even applications.  The bonus for this form of delivery is that your reader can experience the content rather than read it.  Let's look at some ways to make this content sing and avoid hitting sour notes. Keep Their Attention We need to start with a warning.  It is easy to provide tons of links in your content on the web.  These may take the user to a website you built or documents they can read.  Whatever the goal, keep the main problem we are solving in mind.  You should keep the reader in the context of being presented with your story.  Links away from your site can distract and splinter this story.  Make use of frames, open other tabs, or even screenshots to keep the user focused on you.  Avoid sending them to other sites where they may never return to you. Reduce Live Examples To Clickable Demos It is very tempting to send readers to the applications and web sites you are proud of.  However, this can distract them from you in light of focusing on those applications.  One way to keep control of the narrative is to use screenshots and a clickable demo or wizard.  Allow the user to click on an image rather than the real application.  This approach not only keeps them focused on where you desire, but it also provides a way for you to narrate their experience.  You can virtually walk them through the application and highlight the features or functions you want to share. The Elusive Side Hustle Many of us struggle with how to present work we do as a side hustle.  This personal portfolio is a perfect platform for that work.  You do not have to tie any of this content to a time frame or employer.  Therefore, you can include (and exclude) whatever makes sense to you.  There is no need to worry about gaps in time or experience.  Make this the story you want to share. Episode Challenge: Add a recent work example to your personal web site or at least your resume. Read more about advancing your career.

All of us should have a personal branding website of some sort.  This goal can be achieved through a blog site, a web site that displays our portfolio, or a page on LinkedIn.  Whichever approach we take, there is the information we should include the stuff we can avoid.  This site tells our story and should do so in the way we want to tell it.  When you create this material, do not be shy or humble.  This content should impress all who read it.  Your career may depend on it. Theft Is The Highest Form Of Flattery The Internet is full of stolen ideas.  Take a look at popular sites, and you will see the same designs over and over.  Do not be afraid to do more of the same.  When you build your personal branding website, it is best to start by finding an example that you like.  There are sites you can use as a basis or themes and skins that may be what you want. For example, I have multiple sites that follow under this category of showing off content.  Each of those started with a Wordpress theme, and then I customized as needed.  This approach has sometimes made it easy for me to spin up a site quickly while also leaving me free to stray far and wide from the original theme. Entertain and Sell We often talk about keeping a focus on the problem to be solved.  In this case, the problem is getting the reader to understand your skills and experience properly.  Thousands of sites solve this problem very well.  Spend some time browsing for great ways to display content and then build on that.  The problem we are solving is very personal to you.  Your experience, skills,  and career goals are very different from everyone else.  Emphasize your uniqueness and try to get your personality to show through. We can achieve this by writing a blog or presentation videos.  However, there is no need to go that far.  Add descriptive text about your experience and work examples.  This content is an opportunity to give the reader a feel for your personality and character.  Those are critical for positions where chemistry is one of the goals in building a team.  Spoiler alert, chemistry should always be a substantial part of the decision process when building a team. Solve The Problem and Tell a Story While keeping your eye on the core problem we are solving, find a way to make your content flow.  You can do this through your content itself.  However, you can also use white space and formatting to drive your story.  Make use of traditional styling like headers, bold and italics where applicable.  You can also make use of colors and highlighting to encourage the reader down the path you desire.  Focus on the skills and experience you want to repeat.  After all, this is our personal branding website, so it should present the side of you that you like the best. Episode Challenge: Create or Review your personal web site. Read more about advancing your career.

A frustrating part of my education was a need to show my work.  I always wanted to get to the answer, and showing work slowed me down.  However, work examples are an important part of our application process for a job or project.  Potential employers can learn a lot from the deliverables we have produced.  Therefore, we must present that content in a way that is easy to read and promotes our personal brand Show Off Your Skills The first thing to consider in building portfolio material is what you want to say.  There is a story around your career, so own that narrative.  Select complex problems solved and the technologies you enjoy to craft that story.  We produce a lot of content in our jobs, so trim down your portfolio to the best of it.  It goes without saying that you can skip the work you were not happy with.  There is no need to hide the fact that you made mistakes.  On the other hand, you can avoid leading with those mistakes.  Own it, do not flaunt it. Show Your Ability To Follow Processes An area of work that we often fail to display is our ability to follow standards and processes.  It is ok (and maybe helpful) to include things like a typical status report or personal design document. Do not forget to include some unit tests you have written.  These items may not be "sexy," but they do show you to be a professional developer that knows how to create software. Generated Code and Frameworks Less is often more with work examples.  Do no provide thousands or millions of lines of code just to show off big projects.  This concern includes generated and framework code that often appears in open source projects.  Focus on what you have done, not the work you built on or source code that was generated for you.  That extra code is just more to sift through even when you provide proper attribution to the author. Episode Challenge: Take a look at your personal GitHub account and review how it looks to the public. If you do not have a public account then create one and start on your personal repository. Read more about advancing your career.

Our continued drive to become a better developer will eventually lead to certifications.  Therefore, it will lead to those certifications expiring.  While some authorities do not expire their certs, there is a useful lifespan for any technology.  In this episode, we look at how to handle those expired certifications on a resume or when applying for a position. Expired Certifications Have Value The quick answer would be to drop those expired certifications and ancient skills from your current list.  However, that would be a short-sighted step to take.  The mere fact that you studied for and passed an exam shows value to an employer.  It is proof that you took the initiative to improve yourself as well as showing a baseline in some technology or skill.  A series of expired qualifications may even show a long-term pattern of going the extra mile and staying current in your abilities. A Result Of a Search Of course, we always have the bonus of these older skills, potentially getting us to show up on a search.  You may not want to go back to old expertise or technology, but it never hurts to ask.  The same skills may also tell a story that you are well-rounded in your skills and experience.  That could lead one to think you are better at general development and problem-solving or maybe make you more memorable. Migration and Upgrade Value One of the best things that can come from listing those old skills and certs is an "in" for an upgrade or migration project.  Those ancient skills are rarely dead in the professional world; they just become less common among your peers.  That alone can make you a unique find for a prospective employer. Episode Challenge: Review your listed certifications and verify the information states what is current or expired.  Maybe update those. Read more about advancing your career.

We have looked at a focused form of a resume with the mini-resume.  However, we tend to have a lot of excess in our resume as our career goes on.  This excess may be due to a large number of projects, employers, or both.  It may also come from older skills becoming useless in the modern-day.  A focused resume tackles those struggles. The Focused Resume We have looked at a mini-resume that is a marketing flyer for our experience.  The focused resume is similar while being all-inclusive as well.  In this document, we still list all of our skills and experience.  However, we limit the focus and wording to paint a picture of a skill subset. For example, a developer might need a C# and a Java focused resume.  Someone focused on QA might have an automation targeted resume and one on test creation.  We might want to split out our experience to front-end and back-end or design and implementation.  The possibilities are only limited by the categories of jobs you might pursue. Full and Sparse In One Document One way to create this form of resume is to have one-line entries for some jobs or projects while providing more details for others.  This obstacle is something we saw with substantial resumes in general.  We want to avoid getting deep in the weeds for the experience that does not relate to the current role.  Our database skills and work may be impressive.  However, that can muddy the waters when we apply to be a development manager.  That is the problem we are trying to solve in this case.  We want to present a focused story (and resume) that shows how our career has led us to this point. Not an Origin Story While we want to show how our career has led us here, we can keep it concise.  There is no need to show all of the little events that brought us here.  Stick to the main thread of work related to this new job you are applying for.  Remember, the goal is to provide a clear story pointed at this new job.  If you add too many ancillary details, it can distract from that goal. Episode Challenge: Create a focused resume (a new copy of your current resume) for your next area of focus. Read more about advancing your career.

We have looked at resumes small and large during this season.  However, it is worth our time to examine a mini resume.  This format gets to the point and is a focused sell for a position. We also can create one tightly focused document and use it as a template for others. The Mini Resume It helps to start with a definition and goal.  The purpose of this document is to provide the reader with a page (or maybe two at most) that highlights specific skills and experience.  It is intended more as a marketing tool than a standard resume.  Thus, you might find it useful to "pretty it up" with more formatting and color than you would typically use.  These additions can help make it more appealing and a quick way to convince a decision-maker of your suitability for the position. Experience and Solving Problems We do not want to forget to list out the skills we have.  However, the goal with a mini resume is to highlight the experience you have gained.  Achieve this goal by providing project and role summaries.  It is easy for this information to become dry and dull, so liven it up.  Think of a flyer format rather than a standard resume.  Ideally, this is a PDF document you can link to or attach to all sorts of applications.  You can even throw it on your LinkedIn page or personal website.  This document should be a way to show off your value to an employer. Make It About You The essential outcome of this exercise is a document that "brags" about you in your voice.  We often find it hard to talk ourselves up specifically.  Thus, do it in written form.  You can even include quotes and references from others.  Check out a boutique consulting company web site or the back of a hardcover book to see the kinds of language and quotes often used.  Do not be afraid to emphasize how good you are at your job.  A hard sell is sometimes the only one that works. Episode Challenge: Build a Mini Resume that would help you land your ideal job. Read more about advancing your career.

One of the best ways to build experience and grow your skillset is through a side hustle.  There is nothing wrong with using that side hustle experience in your resume.  On the contrary, it can be the information that puts you over the top for that dream job. Valid Side Hustle Experience There are good and bad uses of this experience.  Flagrant misuse of a title (e.g., CEO of your one-person company) is not helpful.  However, you will gain valid and useful experience and skills as part of these endeavors.  Some of this experience is almost impossible to have outside of a long and deep resume, which makes it that much more valuable.  Technical skills, design, and even client interactions are often examples of side hustle experience that is perfectly valid on a resume. Think Like A Normal Job There are all types of tasks and roles you take on as part of a development team.  These could be downplayed as you being part of a team.  On the other hand, you did gain experience from it.  A side hustle is no different in this aspect.  You did the work, whether it was for a fortune 100 company or as a favor to a family member.  The process will understandably be different.  Nevertheless, there are skills required to get it done, and those can flesh out a resume. Add A Finishing Touch One of the best ways to gain from side hustle experience is to try to do it using best practices.  This is not always possible in the real world, but sometimes our side hustle can be framed in a way that allows us to take steps we often would have to skip.  Instead of cutting corners because it is a personal project, step up the quality and process.  Your resume will thank you. Read more about advancing your career.

We have looked at resumes that are too large or too small.  Now we discuss what makes one "just right."  In this episode, our focus is on resume extras or bells and whistles.  These are items that might make our resume more impressive, or they could just make it gaudy or desperate. Resume Extras That Matter - Complementary Skills There are almost always experiences we have that are close to a need, but not exactly.  For example, writing SQL queries in MySQL instead of Oracle.  These skills fall under a category we call complementary.  They can help you win a job even when you are not an exact match for the job needs.  In a case like this, those bells and whistles are necessary.  They can help you win the desired position.  Therefore, we want to include resume extras that can add color to our experience via complementary skills and expertise. Do Not Ignore The Process There is a broad range of tasks that the typical developer will do in their career that are not technical.  These include task planning, estimation, documentation, team discussions, and much more.  While the topics may be technical, we often ignore them as part of our descriptions.  These bells and whistles are worth mentioning.  You do not have to go deep into the explanation.  However, these items can provide depth to the image of your experience that is being created.  We can keep a bell or whistle if it gives a little more background Avoid Duplicates One of the more common resume extras is repeated data.  When you go beyond the most shallow description of an experience, you will often repeat yourself.  For example, you might mention unit testing code at one customer and then at another.  It is useful to provide some extra information to show you know about the testing process.  However, avoid doing it for both jobs.  Sometimes a mention is enough to spark a conversation if the reader wants to. Read more about advancing your career.

This episode delves into a problem that may seem a non-issue.  We look at what to do with a large resume.  The thin resume challenge may seem like a significant obstacle.  However, we can have too much information and end up effectively hiding the most critical data.  That can be a fatal step in landing a job or project, so we need to be aware of how to handle this. A Large Resume From Detailed Experience If you have just listened to the episode on a thin resume, then you might become frustrated.  Some of the things we highlighted in the prior episode will now be turned on their heads.  For example, we looked at expanding a one-liner job experience to a paragraph. ABC Consulting Junior Developer Jan 15, 2015 - Dec 31, 2017 becomes ABC Consulting Junior Developer Jan 15, 2015 - Dec 31, 2017 Job Focus: Java developer (jdk 8) for a web application and it included database development and integration. This was for an e-commerce site that was primarily B2B that generated 50mil in sales annually across around 450k orders. Fulfillment and invoicing was included. The above is an excellent approach for calling out your essential skills and relevant experience.  The problem is that when you do this for even a few jobs, it creates a long resume quickly.  We may need to move from the second example back to the one-liner example in some cases. Be Specific With Experience It is a rare case where we should go all the way down to a single line entry.  The exception would be jobs that have roughly aged out of your sphere.  Your Visual Basic (not .NET) experience may be useless other than a vague mention or that DOS application you wrote last century.  The better approach is to curate your experience to the reader.  There are going to be things you have done that are critical for a job, nice to know, or completely irrelevant.  It is best if you can review the requirements for the desired position and then craft your resume, so it includes the critical job information, a touch of the nice-to-haves, and ignores the irrelevant. This task may seem like a lot of work.  However, it is easy to do.  You will be able to tell from a post (hopefully) the type of applicant that is desired, and you can whittle down your resume to those skills and complementary experience.  It may even help to have resume versions focused on the types of jobs you look for (DB developer, Lead/Manager, Web Developer, Java Developer, etc.). Maintain Data Where Possible The one thing you want to maintain when paring down your resume is the specific experience.  There will be cases where it helps to mention that Python script you wrote or your Oracle database knowledge.  Fortunately, these can be simple mentions.  A list of skills and environments is a perfect way to cover this data quickly while avoiding clutter. Read more about advancing your career.