Author: avelarder

Software Engineer and DevOps Enthusiast, looking for things that need a fix.

How to create a resume that make sense?

This articule will cover the scenario of an Software Engineer that has been performing multiple roles for a company throughout the years. How to represent all the activities in a way that actually make sense to the person who is reading the resume or cover letter.

Based on my experiencie working for a large IT Services Company, over the years I was acumulating experiencie working with different customers and their development teams in different roles: developer, technical lead, software architect, scrum master and even as a devops enabler. All this experience is great and I think we can represent it with any hussle on the paper. But, what about the activities that a senior member needs to perform for the actually employer company? For instance, Team Leader, Project Leader, Portfolio Manager, Engagement Manager, Agile Coach, Coach, Trainner, etc.

Inmediately, some questions come in mind:

  • If I am working for my customer as a contractor 8 hours a day, 5 days a weeks and sometimes more. Can I mention that I work for them or should I mention the employer only?
  • In parallel, I have been performing additional task for the actual employer company, how can I include this?
  • How can I represent both things in a document that actually make sense to the reader?

Well, thinking on a solution to represent my working experience, the environment as well as the activities performed by me I started looking a sample CV. As usual, that first time I did it was to open the browser and search in google images. Lot of really nice templates I found but still nothing that I can actually use.

Another thing was bothering me, I wanted to keep the document short in just a single page. Even though I have 15 years of total experiencie in Software Development, I don’t think the first job I did 15 years ago is relevant now because even the technologies that I was using at that time are no longer available or changed completely in today’s world.

Nowadays, having a profile picture on the resume is expected, not mandatory though. Also, including a short description of the thing you are good at it, your interests, how your skills can contribute in the organization you are trying to get in, etc. Having all these in consideration I came up with a Microsoft Word Template, that I think cover most of the points. Please do not hesitate to comment on things that I might be mising.

The idea behind this design is to represent both worlds, “the employee” on the right as well as “the contractor” on the left sections. The timeline is just a way to lead the eye over the activities, the role, the company as well as a description of the environment and the tools that were used.

I already shared this version of my resume for a job opportunity and the feedback I got was: “It was really clear”. So, if you think this design actually make sense to you, feel free to download a copy. It’s fully customizable. By the way, if you are looking to create your first resume with a really good template, you do it online from resume.io.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

AZ-204 my experience with PSI

I just passed the exam, after 50 minutes of battling against all PSI Proctor requirements. I was finally able to start the exam. The whole experience took me around 2.5 hours. If you are reading this, please launch the PSI application 30 minutes before the exam begins, it will save you a lot of struggle specially with the webcam.

Here are a few tips:

  • Have a clean desktop. In my case I was using a Windows PC with a monitor, keyboard, mouse and mouse pad. They asked me to get rid of the mouse pad.
  • Get your ID ready, they need to get an evidence of your ID, first name, last name, expiration date and more. This is the step that I struggled the most because I had to show my ID Card, Passport and Driver’s License so many times that I was about to drop the process.
  • Do not try to attempt the exam using a webcam without autofocus. In my case, it was a Kinect v2 HD. Too late I discovered the device is not able to take macro photos. PSI people (proctor and support executive) couldn’t read my name from the snapshots. Get a good webcam or use a laptop with webcam, if you have one.
  • But just in case you face the same issue as I did, get a glass of water handy. You can put it in front of the lens as a sort of magnifier. It worked for me.
  • Remove any picture frames, posters, clean the whiteboard if there’s one. A simple white background is ideal.

Well, at some point I was able to start the exam with no distractions or roadblocks, the exam included 5 sections. The first and second sections, as far as I can tell, are a miscellaneous stage with 31 random questions. The next three are Scenario-specific type of questions. Please make sure you read all the information given as a Case Study, that will help you answer tricky questions or discard possible wrong answers. You cannot go back to previous sections. Once you reach the end of a section, make sure to tackle down any question tagged for review. When you are ready then click the End Section button and continue with the next one.

How to prepare for the exam?

There are several options, but you need to complete most of them to have a clear idea of the concepts, features and limitation of the different Azure resources and services (Event Hub, Storage Queues, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Web app, Containers, Virtual Machines and so on).

In my case, I’ve supplemented two years of working experience with:

Bonus tip

Make sure No One passes behind you and get recorded on the video, same applies for the voice recording. You could be immediately disqualified.