OS Projects and Your Resume?

DavonZ asks: "Being that many readers of Slashdot may have contributed to Open Source projects, I thought this the best place to ask this question: What is the best way to outline our side projects into our resumes? I did the conversion of the C700 from Japanese to English, review hardware for nvmax.com, run MaxProjects which ports applications to the Sharp Zaurus, founded the Embedded Linux Developers Group and still maintain a full-time job with a semiconductor. How to I add these into my resume? I have been told not to; to only enter them into my cover letter. Others have told me to add a projects section. I have even been told that I shouldn't mention my projects at all. Which is the best approach? What are other Slashdot readers doing?"

Comments

Resume Construction

[reyalsnogard]

What better way to underline your passion for technology than to mention your extracurricular involvement w/ it?

If your resume is strong as-is, and nets you the important first interview, you could manage by just mentioning your volunteer activities in a cover letter. With resumes, size does matter and the shorter, "the better."
Otherwise, like some readers have already suggested, paste the information into a broadened "Experience" category or, if you prefer, an aptly named "Community" or "Projects" category.

HTH.

Re:Resume Construction

[SuiteSisterMary]

Speaking as somebody who's hired, who's been hired, and who's been rejected, I'll tell you this.

Very often: Your resume should be two pages. It should be catchy. It will be scanned for approximately 30 seconds, if even. It will be automatically discarded for a spelling mistake, formatting error, or other stupid little mistake.

It serves one purpose, and one purpose only; to get you into an interview. Therefore, put onto those two pages what will get you into that interview. If it's for a security related position, and you've done some security SIG work, put it on there. If it's not, don't put it on there. Don't do anything cute (I heard of one woman that always stapled a package of cup-a-noodle soup to her resumes, with a little 'sit back, relax, have some soup, and enjoy the resume' note. The response? 'I don't have time for this' and into the trash can.) No wierd fonts, no water marks, no designs on the paper.

Speaking of paper, use good, heavy, textured white or creme coloured paper. For a variety of reasons, from 'it soaks up the ink better' to 'it feels more solid' it's going to look nicer. You're selling yourself, as a product, basicially; pay some attention to packaging.

Similarly, ALWAYS put some hobbies/interests. When it comes down to two equally skilled/appropriate individuals, the fact that you share some hobbies with your boss is going to be enough to nudge you over the edge. After all, you work with people, not skill sets.

That having been said, when putting up a blanket online resume, it's going to be big. But if that's what you're printing and submitting, you're going to get tossed out.

my suggestion

[vorwerk]

Here's what I do, and I've had a fair bit of success with my resume:

Put a "Special Skills" section at the top of your resume. In this section, list a few software/hardware/personal skills that stand out. Here, you can also list one or two of your open source contributions, but don't go into too much detail and make sure that you choose only your best contributions. (You want to be succint, but still get the message across.)

Other alternative: you can list one or two of your contributions in your "Activities and Interests" section, near the end of your resume.

-kris

Stand out.

[cybermace5]

Employers are interested in what you can do.

You know your kung-foo well enough to do what you have done, in your "spare" time. I think independent projects help prove that you really do have the skills, and weren't just a tagalong on some work-related project.

Anything you can do to make your resume look better, makes you more formidable as my opponent. ;-)

When you do get an interview, the immediate supervisors and potential co-workers are usually the most interested in your projects. I've had interviews where the bulk of the interview questions involved independent projects.

However, I haven't had too many interviews recently...so maybe employers are more interested in the number of years you worked for someone.

Re:Resumes are hard

[lewp]

I use this. It has features that let you include/exclude certain content to target different people. If you needed more flexibility than that, you could always write your own XSL stylesheet.