Just add this link to your resume and you'll be fine:
https://www.allegro.cc/members/bamccaig/forums

I am not sure you are correct. Though I have been relatively inactive for the last few months and the archives are hard to find so maybe I would still be fine after all.

My concern here was that 3 years might not be clear that it was a 3 year diploma (maybe the person sucked in college?). In hindsight, maybe you are correct. If for nothing else consistency with the employment history..

I thought that this was considered a necessary feature. Do people in North America agree that having company address is not needed?

My girlfriend thought the same. I figured a programming crowd would appreciate monospace. My girlfriend suggested Ariel instead.

Good catch on the https. I meant to double check that it worked. It's hosted by Blogger.

Perhaps I should update the castopulence Web site instead with more a relevant news section [or hide it completely]? It is most certainly long outdated. So is the projects section for that matter, but then again you found the Myt project interesting (which never got off the ground anyway). I'm not sure what to do...

Fair calls. Although I know that I have seen GNU+Linux in various places. Stallman was responsible for both usages, I think. The + probably makes better sense. Linux is not another word for GNU, or visa-versa. The combination of the two (and others) forms most operating systems based on Linux. I don't imagine people would take offense to "GNU+Linux"?

Do you think so? I know that most people that I have worked with cannot use a command shell to safe their life. Whereas I am quite proficient with one and if a particular job requires its usage I think that might both suit me well and be useful to point out on my resume (odds are it won't be relevant for most local jobs though).

Noted. You are probably correct about those not making me look good. The CDs thing was meant to emphasize my interest in music. Do most people have that many CDs (and simultaneously like them from cover to cover)?

I thought that an objective want another one of those "you should have one" things. I admit that I struggle to come up with a useful one. Is it really OK to have none at all? What about from the North American crowd?

I haven't actually quit either job. I thus far remain employed by the first, though they are the ones that I'm having trouble with and wish to leave. The second was a temporary contracting position which just ended as a result of lay offs due to market shifts (oil market collateral). I figured that I should put them in "most recent to least recent" order and though I technically started at the first long before the second the first never really ended (I was still an employee of them while working full time at the second). The second is probably a much more respectable place so I think it's good to have. I'm not sure if it would look bad though to have it listed first if it was terminated and not my most recent position.

Thank you! For the criticism and luck!

Interesting. LaTex sounds like something that I would be quite interested in, but I haven't had the time to get familiar with it before. I'll try to find the time to experiment with both. I agree that does look quite "modern" and presentable.

Do HR people really care about "Personal Interests?" The only time I think they really matter is if you have a section called "Relevant Personal Interests" and it describes specific hobbies/etc that apply toward the position you're trying to get.

For example, "Owner of FPGA Club for 5 years" when you're trying to get a job relating to FPGAs.

I would not put "debating" top and center of your interests because that sounds like you enjoy debating everything the first chance you get.

I don't know, someone chime in if this is making sense or I'm just mislead.

That is pretty cool. Since I made a thread asking about jobs/resume feedback I've been revamping my portfolio (still isn't live) when I have time (especially after doing a lot of researching into hiring processes in game development). Won't help I'm sure at this point, but there's always tomorrow.

Bam, sadly, I don't have feedback because I'm a n00b (as you like to spell it, hehe) at this whole thing and thus don't have much beyond theory to help you with. I just wish you the best! Try and network too, like Mark Oates mentioned. I know it's all theoretical stuff for me, but from lots of advice given by software developers in general, it's how you set yourself apart.

edit: Also I'd like to note I've read so much contradicting stuff in my research. A lot of things are 50:50 on resumes as far as I know (objectives, personal interests). But something that was never contradictory was the value of networking.

Very useful criticisms. Thanks. I apparently have to run here, but quickly a few replies...

I only included it because James Lohr suggested it in Aaron's thread and since I ride a motorcycle I was hoping that would score me some big points.. It seems unanimous that I should lose that whole section.

It's difficult for me to have an ambitious objective when really I just want out of my current shit job and away from my abusive managers... It's difficult to word that nicely.

It was a somewhat unorthodox arrangement, I think. I was full time at "TAT", and I submitted my timesheets to my supervisors at TAT, but they would pay "RBB" and RBB would write my cheques. For all intents and purposes, I was working at "TAT" full- time. RBB did nothing more than sign my cheques (and likely take the bigger slice of the money being paid for me).

It's difficult to be confident about what I do bring to the table. My current employer makes me feel useless... I think I know that's not true, but it's hard to be bold about my abilities when every work day they I am berated and abused and neglected.

My girlfriend believes that I have "pink eye" and should go to the hospital. She also believes that it would be grounds to miss a couple of days of work, which would be too good to be true right now... I'm trying to debate whether I should listen to her and go or whether it's a waste of my time.

Remember, nobody hires someone because they "need a job." In fact, it's the opposite because as soon as you get the job and you're not so desparate, you'll probably leave for the job you do want.

Employers hire someone because they "meet my needs, as an employer."

They've put out a job listing to demonstrate a need. Your entire point behind the resume and interviews is to convince them that you're the perfect fit to meet their need.

So while you're wanting to get out of your job--trust me, I empathize!--you don't want to tell them that. You want them to think you're an ace-in-the-hole and they should thank their lucky stars you walked i their door (without seeming like condescension.) You want them thinking you're moving up because you're a higher caliber person than you were.

Some of my best interviews were for companies I didn't want to work for. I knew I could do better, and it showed in my conversations. They kept calling back!

This, definitely this! Bam, I disagree with you on plenty of things but I am absolutely confident in your abilities as a programmer. Nobody will believe in you if you don't first believe in yourself. Everyone compares up and feels bad. Nobody bothers to compare down and realize all the mistakes they don't make anymore. Look at your old posts and see how far you've come.

Be very careful not to assume the average co-worker is better than you. You're way better than me, and I work at a place where I'm the only programmer who knows what a design pattern even is.

Just out of curiosity, are you interested in relocating for a job? We've only got one opening in engineering at High 5 Games right now -- and it might be beneath you -- but it's in NYC.

I'll just least that link there. (It's not my team ... I actually have no idea which team it's for. But it actually sounds interesting to me. )

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this but it is generally good to tailor a CV to a given job you apply to and to send out a different CV to each company that is slightly different. For example, if the job is a C++ job, you might want to put the most C++ oriented projects and skills first. In that case it might also be useful to list major C++ libraries you have used a lot, maybe even ones you have contributed to.

If the position seems to put a lot of emphasis on Microsoft / web technologies, maybe mention any work involving MVC/MV-VC and how its use had a significant impact in your organization. That sort of bleeds into what the cover letter has, but just keep in mind what you think employer X is going to look for the most when he/she looks at your CV. Being a master in Perl is an asset, but really I need you to be amazing at MVC.

In your case this is tough, but it's always good to sound like you're the hero at your current job. You want to sound like, yeah, I have a ton of job satisfaction with my current work, and I have amazing innovative ideas that have had a significantly positive impact on the organization I currently work for, but now I'm just looking for that next logical step. I want to do that same amazing stuff that no one else can do for YOUR organization because I feel strongly about what you do here and I feel a personal connection to your organization's mission.

If you cannot do that, maybe try to find something significant that the team you work with has achieved, and what role you played in making that a reality.

Make it seem like everywhere you seem to work, good things seem to happen and the organization seems to prosper and benefit from you.

Leading up to the interview, it's all about the picture you paint of yourself. Try to paint yourself as a confident, competent, hard-working, creative individual that is passionate and motivated by his work, and has great creative ideas that will be an asset to company X.

If you do not convey that you are amazing, they simply will not know. We know you are amazing, just make sure you let them know that. Going into reading your CV I was hoping for more than I got. Take things that might not seem amazing to you, but blow them out of proportion a bit to sound amazing.

For example:
Programmer at X
-Developed a payroll system
-Found errors in existing software and corrected them
-Performed Unit Testing

or

Software Engineer at X
-Helped design and develop a system that consolidated 3 systems into a single payroll system that allowed for company-wide direct deposit, detailed reports, and significantly improved the flow of information throughout the organization.
-Performed unit testing to ensure that the software I wrote met our quality standards.
-Met the deadlines and milestones of our AGILE development schedules.

The first one is more concise, but it is kind of boring. The second one shows me that you were part of an important project that had an impact on the organization and indirectly increased profits. The whole point of software is to reap financial benefit. I also mention AGILE development in the second one which surprisingly, a lot of people are not familiar with that. In the second one I also mention quality standards which shows that I'm not used to just doing things however I like; I'm used to doing things the standard way the organization does it.

Excellent feed back from Matthew. I had my resume RE-written by a pro for about 300.

In this world of capitalize you should never think of your employment as a mirage. you must think of job as a relationship with a girl. You stay with the girl too see a good future can be made however you are always checking out other girls that could be better for your future. Marriage is the only time you stop look at other girls and focuse on rasing your offspring

check out my example

AGILE development dose not really have much to do with team work.
It more of a mechanize to enable fast "customer" focused delivery.
basically your customer tells you what they want. the developer and customer breaks it up into deliverable based on importance and functionality.
example (x, c,r ,t,d) customer says they would really like x as the first deliverable. the developer would say ok that fine however we will need to impalement r first because x is not functional without r.
in the development you having meeting to talk about and document progress and any setback or changes as well as update any time lines. some of us are using this AGILE approach in game development with out even knowing.

basic manage change with a clear understanding between all party of the goal and time lines

Thanks a lot, Sam! That is very helpful. I was not aware of that page.

You're absolutely correct, but the OP resume was written generically without a specific job in mind. I had intended to just drop one off at the various businesses that I knew had programming needs and hope for a phone call. It's difficult to write a specific resume for such an unspecified job.

Anyway, I managed to hack up a cover letter for one of the job postings. It has a resume on the second page too, but it's not significantly different from my current one. This particular job posting seems to be a pretty good fit for me. The only downside is that it's for an "intern" and a 1-year contract so I'm not sure if the pay will be able to match even what I'm making now (which is already poor), let alone if I'd have a job in a year... But even so, if the work is interesting again, and the team is cooperative, then I'd be willing to move...

Tell me what you guys think of this... The job posting is here...

I'm working on another cover letter and resume pair for another job posting by the same company for a mobile developer, but since I lack experience with mobile development I'm having trouble. I'm also having trouble rewriting parts that may be relevant, or even just parts that may make me sound good. It's hard to put them into different words and I'm not sure if it's necessary. Certainly some people would mind... It's hard to make applicable changes to the resume because I lack the specific mobile experience that was asked for... The closest I have is developing Web and Windows applications to run on Windows-based tablet devices.

Doesn't hurt to apply to jobs, so if anything sounds interesting, go for it. But if the job is labeled as "intern," then they probably don't want to spend much (if any) money.

Don't leave a job to work for a startup that doesn't have good financing; you'll be out of a job after they run out of money (which will happen sooner than they will admit). And before that, they will work you as hard as they can with the promise of better things coming soon.

So don't be embarrassed to ask about their financial status if it's a startup. How are they funded? What needs to happen for them to get more funding? Ask about who owns and runs the company, etc. Startups can be fun to work for (particularly if you like to solve problems), but they can also be chaotic messes.

I think your cover letter is generally good, but I think you get a bit verbose on a few topics.

Something like this is more brief and doesn't get into details I don't care about (getting laid off):

Less language about "taught myself", like:

However, if you are applying for a job in a language that you lack experience, it is great to tie that into it:

And this phrase sounds confrontational:

That whole paragraph is kind of rambles on without fitting nicely with the rest of the letter. But I think there's some good stuff in there if you can work out the transitions and soften the language a bit.

In general, you don't want to come off as the typical opinionated, arrogant programmer as a first impression. i.e., It's okay to say you are a strong believer in version control, but you shouldn't get into why you feel that Git is superior over some other similar solution. The former shows that you are professional; the latter just shows that you might be hard to work with. Over time, you'll have the opportunities to bring your personal perspective to the table. (And the interviewer may ask you pointed questions, to which you can give honest answers to.)

But you definitely do want to show that you have applicable skills, that you are passionate about your career, that you work well as a team, and that you also can be trusted to lead projects / be self-motivated.