First Resume Critique
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
The theme is a little interesting. I don't dislike it, it's just different. The gripe I do have with it is the lines not joining precisely at the bottom. I'm sure that was the point, but I could hardly concentrate on anything else once I saw it.
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Overall... what happened between when you got your Bachelor's and today? What drove you to obtain your Master's? Was it to get into management, personal reasons, or something else?
I'm not so much critiquing your resume, as you asked, but rather very curious about your situation in the last 6 years and how you got where you are today.
Went from the BS to the MS degree. No time gap there.
I got my degree just before I was introduced to SW, which lead to ML.
I tried to find jobs in IT, but the problem was everybody wanted experience but nobody was willing to give experience. Somebody took a chance and gave me some experience in Tech support for a cable company.
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@nerdydad said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
The theme is a little interesting. I don't dislike it, it's just different. The gripe I do have with it is the lines not joining precisely at the bottom. I'm sure that was the point, but I could hardly concentrate on anything else once I saw it.
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Overall... what happened between when you got your Bachelor's and today? What drove you to obtain your Master's? Was it to get into management, personal reasons, or something else?
I'm not so much critiquing your resume, as you asked, but rather very curious about your situation in the last 6 years and how you got where you are today.
Went from the BS to the MS degree. No time gap there.
I got my degree just before I was introduced to SW, which lead to ML.
I tried to find jobs in IT, but the problem was everybody wanted experience but nobody was willing to give experience. Somebody took a chance and gave me some experience in Tech support for a cable company.
Makes sense. I would continue to maintain a strong rule of 18-24 months per job. Get what you can and then move on. When you move on, do not move on without moving up. Take a look at this rough sketch... sometimes you make a direct lateral movement, other times it might feel like you're taking a slight step back but with a much higher ceiling.
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
@nerdydad said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
The theme is a little interesting. I don't dislike it, it's just different. The gripe I do have with it is the lines not joining precisely at the bottom. I'm sure that was the point, but I could hardly concentrate on anything else once I saw it.
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Overall... what happened between when you got your Bachelor's and today? What drove you to obtain your Master's? Was it to get into management, personal reasons, or something else?
I'm not so much critiquing your resume, as you asked, but rather very curious about your situation in the last 6 years and how you got where you are today.
Went from the BS to the MS degree. No time gap there.
I got my degree just before I was introduced to SW, which lead to ML.
I tried to find jobs in IT, but the problem was everybody wanted experience but nobody was willing to give experience. Somebody took a chance and gave me some experience in Tech support for a cable company.
Makes sense. I would continue to maintain a strong rule of 18-24 months per job. Get what you can and then move on. When you move on, do not move on without moving up. Take a look at this rough sketch... sometimes you make a direct lateral movement, other times it might feel like you're taking a slight step back but with a much higher ceiling.
Sometimes people get stuck and discontinue growth. You should always be moving into a position you might even be slightly unqualified for. The reason being is if you leave a help desk for another help desk position, you aren't advancing your career. You've already learned all there is in a help desk position and hit your ceiling in 2 years. But you might leave a help desk position for a junior sysadmin position, move up in the company to a senior sysadmin position, then hit your ceiling and leave to become a business infrastructure engineer at another company. Rinse and repeat.
Just because you haven't mastered something, doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for it. You might understand concepts and have done certain things in a lab (valid hands on experience).
Bottom line, if you're not moving up then you should be moving on.
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Version #2
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@nerdydad said in First Resume Critique:
Version #2
Try a simple template that adds just enough color to give it a little contrast. Redactions for personal privacy.
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
@nerdydad said in First Resume Critique:
Version #2
Try a simple template that adds just enough color to give it a little contrast. Redactions for personal privacy.
What does the better side of 10 years mean? That introductory paragraph seems weak at best. Also you seem to have barely anything about your skills on your first page of your resume.
Also it seems like there is so much wasted space...
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Why would he have left IT to go into management? If he wanted to do that, he'd presumably have started in management, not IT, and his degree would be an MBA. Management is a different field than IT, you don't naturally move from one to the other without intentionally switching career paths.
Why does the amount of education not fit the title? Education does not promote you up the chain. Someone with a PhD still needs time and experience in junior roles before moving up. It's not like the university process provides experience or training that will move you up in the field.
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
I'm the opposite. My titles don't fit my experience and make me seem more qualified than I am. Titles in general aren't accurate because the people hiring you in your previous jobs didn't understand them and people in the future still don't. I work for an MSP and my title is Network Technician. In no way is that accurate.
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@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Why would he have left IT to go into management? If he wanted to do that, he'd presumably have started in management, not IT, and his degree would be an MBA. Management is a different field than IT, you don't naturally move from one to the other without intentionally switching career paths.
Why does the amount of education not fit the title? Education does not promote you up the chain. Someone with a PhD still needs time and experience in junior roles before moving up. It's not like the university process provides experience or training that will move you up in the field.
And this post is a huge reason for so much trouble. So many companies see advancement only into management as a truly upward position. Of course Scott's right, that ridiculous. I know many people who should never be management, but highly paid technical people is where they belong. generally this means finding another company (of the few) that actually believe and understand this.
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@wirestyle22 said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
I'm the opposite. My titles don't fit my experience and make me seem more qualified than I am. Titles in general aren't accurate because the people hiring you in your previous jobs didn't understand them and people in the future still don't. I work for an MSP and my title is Network Technician. In no way is that accurate.
How is that not correct? Not saying you're wrong, just asking.
Though, I'm guessing some would likely say, being at an MSP, and a general IT support person, you should be titled IT Generalist - though I'm guessing that NJ doesn't recognize that as a title, and someone would likely feel like it was a shit title, so they would try to suppress it, so you can't have it
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I feel like the role description covers all of this. Basically this is all mentioned three times. The words "network administrator" already tell us everything that is then listed out in the bullets.
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@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
I feel like the role description covers all of this. Basically this is all mentioned three times. The words "network administrator" already tell us everything that is then listed out in the bullets.
What would youput there instead?
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@dashrender said in First Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Why would he have left IT to go into management? If he wanted to do that, he'd presumably have started in management, not IT, and his degree would be an MBA. Management is a different field than IT, you don't naturally move from one to the other without intentionally switching career paths.
Why does the amount of education not fit the title? Education does not promote you up the chain. Someone with a PhD still needs time and experience in junior roles before moving up. It's not like the university process provides experience or training that will move you up in the field.
And this post is a huge reason for so much trouble. So many companies see advancement only into management as a truly upward position. Of course Scott's right, that ridiculous. I know many people who should never be management, but highly paid technical people is where they belong. generally this means finding another company (of the few) that actually believe and understand this.
What Dash is describing is literally the Peter Principle.
https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Principle-Things-Always-Wrong/dp/0062092065
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@dashrender said in First Resume Critique:
@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
I feel like the role description covers all of this. Basically this is all mentioned three times. The words "network administrator" already tell us everything that is then listed out in the bullets.
What would youput there instead?
Either nothing, if there is nothing to say, or things we don't know about that were important to mention. Right now, it is just filler. Why have bullets at all? Just a short description and move on.
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@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
You have your Master's, but are currently only a junior sysadmin. Did you go straight into your Bachelor's and right onto your Master's? Did you not work in the field for a couple years with your Bachelor's first? I'm asking because the amount of education doesn't really fit your current title, as in you should be much further along and into some kind of management role having been out of school for around 5 years.
Why would he have left IT to go into management? If he wanted to do that, he'd presumably have started in management, not IT, and his degree would be an MBA. Management is a different field than IT, you don't naturally move from one to the other without intentionally switching career paths.
Why does the amount of education not fit the title? Education does not promote you up the chain. Someone with a PhD still needs time and experience in junior roles before moving up. It's not like the university process provides experience or training that will move you up in the field.
Not to say that a degree will shoot someone up the latter. I was just curious why he didn't get his Bachelor's, work the field for a little while, get an employer to help finance a Master's, obtain that degree, then leverage it to get into a higher role that helps steer the company, rather than work directly with tech. But, some generals like being in the trenches turning wrenches; helps keep them grounded.
More of a question of what he wanted to do, and if he had just zoomed straight through school or worked much through the process. My question might imply he should be at a certain level, but it was just curiosity based on what I have saw others do successfully.
I've known a lot of engineers that moved up into an engineering management position. It's not incredibly common from what I've saw, as you pointed out it is a different route. Some intentionally decline offers because it is the wrong path for them.
In the end, the degree doesn't fit the title, but the experience does.
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@bbigford My thought process at the time was that I was already in school and might as well get my Masters. Bachelor's is for the now, in the trenches turning wrenches, but the Master's was for that Managerial position.
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@nerdydad said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford My thought process at the time was that I was already in school and might as well get my Masters. Bachelor's is for the now, in the trenches turning wrenches, but the Master's was for that Managerial position.
That's not what either of those is for
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@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
In the end, the degree doesn't fit the title, but the experience does.
It exactly fits it. It's a degree for exactly what he is doing. That's where I am confused. No amount of degrees controls how "high" you go in the field. In theory, a higher degree will assist in getting higher, but it doesn't start you higher. It can, in theory, improve the rate at which you move up.
But an MS degree is a pure tech degree, nothing but tech. No management at all. That's an MBA. Masters is the "level" of the degree, not the "type" of degree.
If he wanted to do business or management, he should have gotten a business or management degree for his BS, as well. Both his BS and his MS exactly match what he then did, and is doing, in the field.
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@scottalanmiller said in First Resume Critique:
@bbigford said in First Resume Critique:
In the end, the degree doesn't fit the title, but the experience does.
It exactly fits it. It's a degree for exactly what he is doing. That's where I am confused.
I'm saying I consider the experience to be the determining factor, not the degree. I consider the degree to be a bonus, and a study on theory. But the experience is where I place the title; less experience being a junior sysadmin title. The current experience exactly fits, the Master's in IT is just a bonus to me but doesn't automatically qualify a higher position.
