Resume critique
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@IRJ said in Resume critique:
- Proficient in Active Directory - Experienced with AD upgrades, migrations, client deployments and domain trusts
- Strong in Linux Administration - Deployments, upgrades, scripting, and management of all common distributions (RHEL , Fedora, Ubuntu, and others)
- Secure Network Implementation - Managed deployments and configuration for routers , switches, VPN devices, all types of firewalls, and more. (Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper)
What I have done here is demonstrated a wide range of knowledge in a wide range of vendors. The person with this resume snippet may have 95% Cisco experience and only 3% Palo Alto and 2% Juniper. However, they understand the concepts of networking. So I am passing the HR filter of having Palo Alto or Juniper on my resume, but the bulk of my experience is in Cisco.
All of us in IT, know that brand doesnt matter, it is concept. If I know I need to configure SSL VPN and understand the components needed, it doesnt matter how you do it in the CLI or GUI as we are capable of doing that part. It is really the understanding that matters. You can show your stuff in the interview because you passed the HR filter of Palo Alto.
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@WrCombs said in Resume critique:
Windows? I dont Know Windows, but I have a strong understanding/ability to figure out issues within Windows- more than most users-
No, No. You are strong in Windows. Your resume is a chance to sell yourself. The fact that you have less than 2 years experience already tells us and any intentional interviewer that you are not a Microsoft Expert. Nobody is going to throw you into a 50k employee company and say you are in charge of migrating Active Directory.
Sell yourself on your resume. Always say you are strong or proficient on a particular subject if you are going to list it on your resume. If it is something you want to list that aren't knowledgeable in then do some training or perform virtual labs in your own time. You aren't dependent on your company using something to be strong on it.
As @scottalanmiller mentioned certifications are really important because if you look at those bullet points I made in the previous post, you can see that adding a certification to complement each of those bullet points would prove your proficiency or at least have something tangible to show for it.
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I believe you should try to achieve a minimum of one certification each year. You will see a substantial increase in pay throughout your career if you do so. People will talk shit about certs and yes I agree that there are many people that do test dumps and dont know shit but receive certs.
The thing is having no certs will never help you more than having certs. Somebody will always tell you about some one off weirdo that doesnt hire people with certs, but you dont want to work for that guy anyway!
Also, try to make your company pay for certs. I always mention that in interviews before being hired that I like training and its a huge part of compensation for me.
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@wirestyle22 said in Resume critique:
@WrCombs build a home lab and include it on your resume. I created a ton of web servers (nextcloud, rocketchat, nodebb, plex, zabbix, zimbra, bookstack etc) and brought a laptop to show them what they are while providing use cases for each. Who cares if you list something on a piece of paper when you can literally show them what you built and explain it to them.
When you apply at 15 jobs and 3 call you for phone interviews, you then go over their job description. See what products they use. If it is something you have never used before, you spin it up in your lab before the phone interview. If you cannot spin it up in your lab, you watch youtube videos on the product.
That way in the interview when they ask about product X, you can say I dont have alot of experience with it but i do have some lab and testing experience. Then you proceed to lay down all you know about the product. You dont have to mention that you spun it up yesterday and you dont have to get into a deep dive.
Even if they assume that you looked into the product before the interview, it is still a huge edge and shows that you know what the fuck you are doing.
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@IRJ said in Resume critique:
@wirestyle22 said in Resume critique:
@WrCombs build a home lab and include it on your resume. I created a ton of web servers (nextcloud, rocketchat, nodebb, plex, zabbix, zimbra, bookstack etc) and brought a laptop to show them what they are while providing use cases for each. Who cares if you list something on a piece of paper when you can literally show them what you built and explain it to them.
When you apply at 15 jobs and 3 call you for phone interviews, you then go over their job description. See what products they use. If it is something you have never used before, you spin it up in your lab before the phone interview. If you cannot spin it up in your lab, you watch youtube videos on the product.
That way in the interview when they ask about product X, you can say I dont have alot of experience with it but i do have some lab and testing experience. Then you proceed to lay down all you know about the product. You dont have to mention that you spun it up yesterday and you dont have to get into a deep dive.
Even if they assume that you looked into the product before the interview, it is still a huge edge and shows that you know what the fuck you are doing.
To expand on this too, don't just look at where they are but where they could be. Excellent example is automation. Most businesses in my experience do not automate at all and it is very beneficial from a time management standpoint, even if it does require a lot of time to initially create.
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@WrCombs said in Resume critique:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume critique:
So lets ask ourselves, what IS missing.....
- Certifications. You aren't listing any. Presumably because you don't have any. If that is correct, pick one and go get it. Start "filling in the gaps." You control how much stuff you have to put on your resume and you alone. You can make it full or empty, it's up to you.
correct, I dont have any. I've been working on the networking+ cert though.
In theory that should be fast. Make it a priority, because it isn't the kind of material that you should be lingering on. Make it a two week goal. We have some of the videos for it posted here. Go watch them and comment and ask questions, start now. Do ~10 a day. Do enough to make real progress, but not so many that you get overwhelmed. Make it a daily thing. It's YouTube, it moves really quickly. Ask questions to clarify and make sure that you understand the material.
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@wirestyle22 said in Resume critique:
@WrCombs build a home lab and include it on your resume. I created a ton of web servers (nextcloud, rocketchat, nodebb, plex, zabbix, zimbra, bookstack etc) and brought a laptop to show them what they are while providing use cases for each. Who cares if you list something on a piece of paper when you can literally show them what you built and explain it to them.
This is HUGE. We look for this on resumes and always ask in interviews. Build a lab and do projects, one after another. Find the next skill missing from your resume and go learn it. Make "updating your resume with awesome new stuff" a constant project. Look at your resume, determine the next gap, and go fill it.
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@IRJ said in Resume critique:
As @scottalanmiller mentioned certifications are really important because if you look at those bullet points I made in the previous post, you can see that adding a certification to complement each of those bullet points would prove your proficiency or at least have something tangible to show for it.
They also demonstrate effort and commitment. The material you should already know, but certs help demonstrate that. And they help to show that you know it is specific ways that your experience might not have reflected.
But by actually getting the cert it shows that you are willing to put time and effort into showing and growing. It's not like college, it doesn't have this huge "time and money wasted" risk to offset. Certs are cheap and fast (mostly) so having some only is demonstrating some knowledge, and some commitment to your craft. Lacking them suggests a certain laissez-faire attitude that makes it look like you fell into IT and only do it because it was the job that opened up.
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@IRJ said in Resume critique:
That way in the interview when they ask about product X, you can say I dont have alot of experience with it but i do have some lab and testing experience
And saying "i have very little experience" but knowing the products well, being able to talk intelligently about them, potentially knowing more about them than the interviewers, etc.
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Also, it's not only about what you already know. A part of it is showing how well you can adapt and learn new or similar things.
It's rare that a candidate has total experience and competence in every single aspect of what the employer is looking for or what the company currently uses or plans to use. In fact, it may be impossible due to the high diversity. Maybe in a more focused role, but that's not what we are talking about here.
Know what I mean?
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@IRJ said in Resume critique:
Bad resume skills look like this:
- Customer Service Oriented
- Microsoft Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10
- System and Network Troubleshooting
- Network Configuration
- Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, and Fedora
- Active Directory
- Server Migrations
- VPN
- Cisco Switches
Good Resume Skills would look like this:
- Proficient in Active Directory - Experienced with AD upgrades, migrations, client deployments and domain trusts
- Strong in Linux Administration - Deployments, upgrades, scripting, and management of all common distributions (RHEL , Fedora, Ubuntu, and others)
- Secure Network Implementation - Managed deployments and configuration for routers , switches, VPN devices, all types of firewalls, and more. (Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper)
I love this format. Going to apply it to my soon-to-be-updated resume. Thanks.
