Slashdot Mirror
Of NDAs and Resumes?
TheFuzzy asks: "I was just updating my resume, and came to the sudden realization that over half of the projects I've worked on in the last 3 years are under ironclad non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and I can't list them. This leaves me with either a slacker's resume, or makes me insert vague statements like "advised 3 Fortune 500 companies on database performance issues" which sounds rather fictional. Attempts to get clearance from these clients to use them as references get forwarded to their legal departments, never to return. Have other Slashdot readers encountered this issue? How did you deal with it? Is it particular to the database field, or is it common for other specialties as well?"
I've been consulting for about 20 years, and before that I did classified work for one of those customers, so I've dealt with the same problem extensively. It's really not that big a problem.
First, it's not an unknown issue for the people reading your resume -- they know about NDAs, and probably are under one themselves. So they'll understand, in general at least.
Second, being in an NDA doesn't mean you can't say anything. Quantifiy what you did in terms that will matter to a potential employer ("improved transaction rate to 500 tps, a 75 percent improvement") without associating the information with an identifiable employer ("In a project under non-disclosure for a Fortune 50 firm"). List the firms you've worked for as "Consulting clients include" so that people know who you've worked for in general, without making that association. Or, if the very fact that you worked with a firm is under NDA (betcha it isn't), then list the company that was paying you your paycheck, and say "Working for Big Deal Consulting, Inc.; Consulted to Fortune 50 clients...."
(Notice, by the way, that if you were working independently, the fact that you were working for a client is public record; you deposited the checks which had a name and account number on them. Even if you were working for a DoD agency, the check says DoD, or "Maryland Procurement Office", or something.)
Third, be prepared to talk about the tasks you did in the interview. Again, what you did as an engineer isn't all that sensitive -- it's the association between the specfifics of the problem and the company that's sensitive.