By sqlzone
via xsqlsoftware.blogspot.com
Published: Aug 14 2008 / 19:48
I got this resume the other day – there was a big section that listed technologies that this guy seemingly had experience with, and the list was long… really long, C#, VB.NET, C++, WCF, WPF, WF, Visual FoxPro, PHP, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, Access, T-SQL, PL/SQL, XML, UML, Erwin, Ajax, Flash, J2EE, Spring, Struts, JSP, JMS, JMX, LDAP, SSO, BEA ALUI etc., you name it. I had a hard time recalling any names or acronyms that were missing from his list and believe me, being a manager type, I know acronyms and names...
Comments
zynasis replied ago:
guess what, alot of people actually do have lists like that and are actually experienced in each
bclapper replied ago:
Being a manager-type, you know acronyms and names, but being a programmer-type (for a long time, perhaps longer than you've been a manager), I can say that (a) that's not even close to a comprehensive list of all current acronyms, and (b) it's entirely possible for a candidate to have all those things under his belt, especially since many of them are related.
Granted, when hiring, one often has the unenviable task of going through stacks of resumes, and snap judgments are sometimes unavoidable. But a snap judgment based primarily on the list of acronyms on the guy's resume seems arbitrary and, well, not entirely rational. Having done my share of resume-winnowing and interviewing, I certainly have my share of resume red flags, but that particular one isn't one of them.
As a technical guy, your overfocus on those acronyms makes me wonder about *your* judgment.
Rob Signorelli replied ago:
What is often the case, though, is that the laundry list of abbreviations doesn't represent the applicant's strengths. It represents anything they've ever seen or touched ever, regardless of how truly comfortable they are with that particular technology. For instance, you tend to get things like "one time I made a basic calculator application in MFC using C++" and that somehow translates to both MFC and C++ ending up on that list regardless of the fact that the knowledge was minimal at the time of using it and it hasn't been touched in a decade.
I agree that there are some people who truly do have the skill sets that they claim but experience has shown me that more often than not, they're very familiar with
Rob Signorelli replied ago:
What is often the case, though, is that the laundry list of abbreviations doesn't represent the applicant's strengths. It represents anything they've ever seen or touched ever, regardless of how truly comfortable they are with that particular technology. For instance, you tend to get things like "one time I made a basic calculator application in MFC using C++" and that somehow translates to both MFC and C++ ending up on that list regardless of the fact that the knowledge was minimal at the time of using it and it hasn't been touched in a decade.
I agree that there are some people who truly do have the skill sets that they claim but experience has shown me that more often than not, they're very familiar with less than 5 of those items and the rest are things that they saw one time in their careers, barely scratched the surface and never touched again.
dmitryx replied ago:
i think this 'manager-type' guy just envy. =)
mknutty replied ago:
Some people are actually good at this (programming/etc) and it doesn't take them 10 years to learn one thing.
eelmore replied ago:
Voted down for being a pointy haired manager. I'll not stand for this douche-baggery!
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