Advice on Portland - TridenT Edition

[TridenT]

Short of getting a job and finding true love in San Francisco on the way back to Portland, I'm moving to Portland. (I'm staying in Phoenix right now; free place to stay) Some of you know that I've been traveling the country for the past couple months. Well, that's kind of coming to an end. I've driven over 10,000 miles in the past 2 months and I'm moving to Portland because I have friends there. I like my friends and I don't feel good about moving to a city where I know almost no one. (And the people I do know I am not friends with) I am not against this idea in the future but I rather move to a new city with someone or having friends there already. (Which is possible because I plan to fly to other cities for events a lot in the next couple years)

The Situation:

• Resume (tl;dr - 1yr of job experience w/ php/mysql, BS math, just graduated) - http://www.filedropper.com/redactedinforesume
• I'll have ~$8,000 to pay for bills.
• I have a car and some stuff but the stuff will be shipped to wherever I live. It is already paid for (in terms of shipping costs).
• Gotta live in my own apartment.
• Looking for software dev/eng or web dev jobs.

I've wanted to sublet an apartment for ~3 months, rest for a month (I'd have just gotten done being homeless for 3 months and being in school for 6 incredibly grueling years) and practice my skills/finish a project, get a job, and then move to a place that is close to that job. However, Portland is extremely lacking in the sublet section of Craigslist from what I've gathered. So my alternative option, if I really cannot find any reasonable place to sublet and still don't have a job, would be to move to an apartment that is near the Sunset Transit Center along highway 26. There is a blue line max that can take me to downtown or Hillsboro in about 15 minutes. I'd ride my bike to the max, ride the max, and bike the remaining. It seems most of the tech companies are located between Hillsboro and downtown. I could be totally off my rocker and not noticing some great opportunities though...

And that's where you come in. What do you think?

 

[Theb]

What happened to Austin?

 

[SSSnail]

I'm going to save you the trouble - it sucks.

 

[TridenT]

What happened to Austin?

A lot of reasons I am not moving there right now. It's just not the right time for where I am. I have friends in Portland. I don't have friends in Austin. I don't feel like being alone when I have a very easy option to not be alone.

I'm going to save you the trouble - it sucks.

In what way?

 

[SirStev0]

Watch Porlandia?

 

[TridenT]

Watch Porlandia?

I can't speak for the latest two seasons but the first two were dead on... I know what it's like. I've lived in the region for 2+ years and did weekend trips down there frequently for 3.5 years.

 

[drbrock]

I can't speak for the latest two seasons but the first two were dead on... I know what it's like. I've lived in the region for 2+ years and did weekend trips down there frequently for 3.5 years.

I love Portland.

The show is scary dead on. It was a great vibe but I think the culture is starting to change now that it is so popular to move there. I feel like Denver and Portland are the two hot spots for my friends right now. Keep in mind I am coming the armpit of the states called florida. I can honestly say anywhere but Alabama and Mississippi is better than florida. My iPad right now does not even capitalize florida. That is how bad it is lol.

Have fun in Portland.

 

[dainthomas]

The Portland AREA is great, but Portland itself is just as annoying as the show. Give me somewhere like Forest Grove or Newberg and I'd be happy.

 

[TridenT]

I love Portland.

The show is scary dead on. It was a great vibe but I think the culture is starting to change now that it is so popular to move there. I feel like Denver and Portland are the two hot spots for my friends right now. Keep in mind I am coming the armpit of the states called florida. I can honestly say anywhere but Alabama and Mississippi is better than florida. My iPad right now does not even capitalize florida. That is how bad it is lol.

Have fun in Portland.

The culture is changing. Housing is increasingly scarce. More and more outsiders are moving in because it's "hip".

The Portland AREA is great, but Portland itself is just as annoying as the show. Give me somewhere like Forest Grove or Newberg and I'd be happy.

Meh.

Can you guys offer any specific advice about anything I said?

 

[xeemzor]

It's a major red flag to stay at your 1st job for only a year, doubly so if you are moving cities. You are competing against a ton of people way more qualified than you in a very expensive part of the country. I would be surprised if you got offered anything decent for a while. Hope you have great networking skills.

 

[Leros]

It's a major red flag to stay at your 1st job for only a year, doubly so if you are moving cities. You are competing against a ton of people way more qualified than you in a very expensive part of the country. I would be surprised if you got offered anything decent for a while. Hope you have great networking skills.

The software industry is a lot more flexible about stuff like this. If he's any good at it, it won't cause any problems for him.

 

[eldorado99]

Are you because of toothpaste?

 

[TridenT]

It's a major red flag to stay at your 1st job for only a year, doubly so if you are moving cities. You are competing against a ton of people way more qualified than you in a very expensive part of the country. I would be surprised if you got offered anything decent for a while. Hope you have great networking skills.

How is that a red flag? I think it's obvious from the resume if you look at when I graduated and when I left the job why I left... I was working at the job while I was in college. College was done and I was done with Seattle.

 

[xeemzor]

How is that a red flag? I think it's obvious from the resume if you look at when I graduated and when I left the job why I left... I was working at the job while I was in college. College was done and I was done with Seattle.

Why didn't you assume a role with higher responsibility when you graduated? What did you do while you were there? Nothing on your resume really makes you stand out. You have no obvious specialty.

BTW that resume is terrible and would never pass screening here. For example, no one cares about classwork or object sections. Make sure that you tailor your resume for each job and use the appropriate keywords from the job description.

 

[TridenT]

Why didn't you assume a role with higher responsibility when you graduated? What did you do while you were there? Nothing on your resume really makes you stand out. You have no obvious specialty.

BTW that resume is terrible and would never pass screening here. For example, no one cares about classwork or object sections. Make sure that you tailor your resume for each job and use the appropriate keywords from the job description.

I didn't want to live in Seattle, that's why. It was likely feasible for me to get a job in Seattle because I knew a lot of people there but I hate Seattle. Beyond that, there were none available. Budget was limited and they had to lay off people while I was there. There weren't any new hires.

How is it terrible? It's at the bottom because it's the least important material and a page is standard. There would be almost nothing on there if I removed it. There's not much else to elaborate on with any of those jobs either unless it starts to get overly verbose. I could just print in big bold: "HIRE ME, NEW GRAD. I'M ADEPT. NBD."

 

[xeemzor]

I didn't want to live in Seattle, that's why. It was likely feasible for me to get a job in Seattle because I knew a lot of people there but I hate Seattle. Beyond that, there were none available. Budget was limited and they had to lay off people while I was there. There weren't any new hires.

How is it terrible? It's at the bottom because it's the least important material and a page is standard. There would be almost nothing on there if I removed it. There's not much else to elaborate on with any of those jobs either unless it starts to get overly verbose. I could just print in big bold: "HIRE ME, NEW GRAD. I'M ADEPT. NBD."

Why didn't you stay in a place you knew you could get a job for at least a few years to build experience? Leaving and making your employment prospects harder because you "don't want to live in Seattle" is a pretty stupid reason. Without a change in your line of thinking very soon you will run into a lot of difficulty. Take a hard look at yourself and understand what it means to be an adult and responsible for yourself.

Your resume is terrible because every new grad takes the same courses as you. You want stuff that makes you stand out. Do you have absolutely nothing else to add to your resume that would be more relevant to a potential employer? You also need clean up the wording quite a bit.

 

[Leros]

Hmm just took a look at your resume. I think not having internships might hurt you a bit. Do you have any personal projects that you can link to? I personally think it's kinda dumb, but links to GitHub projects are the new cool thing that recruiters are looking for.

Is your resume on Indeed or LinkedIn? I get a decent number of recruiters contacting me through those channels.

 

[TridenT]

Why didn't you stay in a place you knew you could get a job for at least a few years to build experience? Leaving and making your employment prospects harder because you "don't want to live in Seattle" is a pretty stupid reason. Without a change in your line of thinking very soon you will run into a lot of difficulty. Take a hard look at yourself and understand what it means to be an adult and responsible for yourself.

Your resume is terrible because every new grad takes the same courses as you. You want stuff that makes you stand out. Do you have absolutely nothing else to add to your resume that would be more relevant to a potential employer? You also need clean up the wording quite a bit.

I had one friend for a total of about one year out of the 3.5 years I lived in Seattle. Can you imagine maybe why I didn't like it? I'm sure there's a few threads on here with me complaining about it. It was miserable and the people were terrible. Although Portland is ~165 miles away, it is a much different place for me. (Like any place, it is who you know that will likely decide your experience) The people I meet in Portland are just generally more open to hanging out than the people I met in Seattle. (And I've met and introduced myself to thousands in each...)

Maybe every CS student has taken some of the ones I elaborated on. But I can definitely say that not every CS student has taken the courses I have. (Since I have a BS in math...) You would have to double major in order for that to be true. I consider it a strength since many people I know who have gone on with their CS degrees wish they took more math in college but that's pretty irrelevant for entry level positions. Seems like for that shit to matter I'd have to be doing work that requires a PhD.

There's not much else I could add to my resume that I consider solid. Anything else I add would be on the level of someone who organizes large WoW raids. (Could be interesting or useful to those who know about it. Irrelevant to those who don't.) For instance, I teach, organize, and DJ dances. I started a dance club at my college. I've been traveling across the country for the past two months almost exclusively to check out other dance scenes and interact with people there. To people who have traveled alone and have to constantly introduce themselves to new people, they might find that interesting. I have done plenty of public speaking in class and elsewhere. Again, I teach... dance... of all things... There's no hiding behind slides, I have to show with my words and body my enthusiasm and passion for something and get that stirred up in others... whatever. It's kind of irrelevant to entry level software jobs though. If I was applying for organizational positions then maybe that would be a nice-to-know.

 

[Leros]

Your objective comes off as pretty weak to me. I honestly would have thrown out your resume having not read past the objective.

The objective needs to be more general. You don't have much real world experience so you're likely not going to find your dream job. You may also not know what your dream job is yet so you should interview around.

Also... you never mention that you want a software developer job.

To contribute to an innovative team. To harness new technologies and methods of design. To apply my mathematical background.

"To contribute to an innovative team." This sounds kinda fluffy and you don't mention what kind of job you want. Also, at this point, I'm starting to get worried that you're going to be unhappy unless I'm some hip startup.

"To harness new technologies and methods of design." This is alright, although I still worry that you only want to work with new technologies. Once again, I'm not a startup using frameworks invented last year. I'm worried you might be unhappy here where we use established technologies.

"To apply my mathematical background." My job isn't going to let you apply your math background. I'm going to stop reading and throw out your resume.

You can combine your first two points into something like "To obtain a software development role. To work in a team environment and to learn many technologies." Needs work, but I hope you get the idea.

 

[TridenT]

Your objective comes off as pretty weak to me. I honestly would have thrown out your resume having not read past the objective.

The objective needs to be more general. You don't have much real world experience so you're likely not going to find your dream job. You may also not know what your dream job is yet so you should interview around.

Also... you never mention that you want a software developer job.

"To contribute to an innovative team." This sounds kinda fluffy and you don't mention what kind of job you want. Also, at this point, I'm starting to get worried that you're going to be unhappy unless I'm some hip startup.

"To harness new technologies and methods of design." This is alright, although I still worry that you only want to work with new technologies. Once again, I'm not a startup using frameworks invented last year. I'm worried you might be unhappy here where we use established technologies.

"To apply my mathematical background." My job isn't going to let you apply your math background. I'm going to stop reading and throw out your resume.

You can combine your first two points into something like "To obtain a software development role. To work in a team environment and to learn many technologies." Needs work, but I hope you get the idea.

Well, should I just remove the objective then?

Honestly, it's looking a lot like you guys just want a blank page because nothing I say is going to make it look good.

And opinions on resumes vary by everyone. The first sentence in the objective is what my boss recommended. So, whatev.

Unless I sit down with my future employers and talk to them about everything I've done and what they want to see then I have no way to write a great resume.

And to be quite frank, a lot of that resume my past boss looked over and thought was good enough.

 

[Printer Bandit]

do you have parents? if so, go back home and live with them to save money.

 

[Chrono]

I went to Portland for vacation this past late June and loved it! Weather was awesome... if it was a tech hub I'd be living there already.

 

[TridenT]

do you have parents? if so, go back home and live with them to save money.

Complicated and staying with them isn't an option.

I went to Portland for vacation this past late June and loved it! Weather was awesome... if it was a tech hub I'd be living there already.

Summer is nice... the rest of the year is different. It's the same way in Seattle.

Is this a better objective/summary: "My goal is to become a full-time software developer. Ideal work would require that I am constantly learning and evolving to face new challenges."[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Zenmervolt]

• Resume (tl;dr - 1yr of job experience w/ php/mysql, BS math, just graduated) - http://www.filedropper.com/redactedinforesume

What do you think?

I think you need to have someone help you revise your resume.

First off, get rid of the "objective" section. No hiring manager ever looks at that. If you just can't bring yourself to get rid of it, at least re-write it so that it's a single flowing sentence instead of three choppy and repetitive fragments.

Second, "class of" in the education section is unusual. The standard is to simply put the year of graduation after the degree title.

Third, it's a good idea to list any extracurricular awards, activities, or honors (e.g. dean's list, officership in any clubs, etc) along with education when you're just starting out.

Fourth, you should not change tense between experience items (the UW Undergrad Programmer position and the Social Media Coordinator position are both in past tense, while the UW Medical Center position is in a mix of present and past tense). The only exception is when you are still working at a job. A job that you are still at should be in present tense (but this should also be the first job listed).

Fifth, the bullet points for the UW Medical Center position and the Social Media Coordinator position are much too long. You need to split those into multiple bullet points.

Sixth, at the very least there should be a carriage return between each major section. You do this at first, but stop after "Professional Experience" which makes the bulk of the resume appear to be a wall of text that is not pleasant to sift through. Additionally, while the whitespace between sections at the beginning is nice, it is not consistent (there is more space between "Contact Information" and "Objective" than there is between "Objective" and "Education", for example). This make it look like you are not detail oriented and is a bad message to send to recruiters.

Finally, the "Classwork" section needs to be re-worked. Right now it just looks like a wall of text with no reason for existing other than to trip keyword searches. There has to be a better way to organize that.

Hope that helps.

ZV

 

[TridenT]

I think you need to have someone help you revise your resume.

First off, get rid of the "objective" section. No hiring manager ever looks at that. If you just can't bring yourself to get rid of it, at least re-write it so that it's a single flowing sentence instead of three choppy and repetitive fragments.

Second, "class of" in the education section is unusual. The standard is to simply put the year of graduation after the degree title.

Third, it's a good idea to list any extracurricular awards, activities, or honors (e.g. dean's list, officership in any clubs, etc) along with education when you're just starting out.

Fourth, you should not change tense between experience items (the UW Undergrad Programmer position and the Social Media Coordinator position are both in past tense, while the UW Medical Center position is in a mix of present and past tense). The only exception is when you are still working at a job. A job that you are still at should be in present tense (but this should also be the first job listed).

Fifth, the bullet points for the UW Medical Center position and the Social Media Coordinator position are much too long. You need to split those into multiple bullet points.

Sixth, at the very least there should be a carriage return between each major section. You do this at first, but stop after "Professional Experience" which makes the bulk of the resume appear to be a wall of text that is not pleasant to sift through. Additionally, while the whitespace between sections at the beginning is nice, it is not consistent (there is more space between "Contact Information" and "Objective" than there is between "Objective" and "Education", for example). This make it look like you are not detail oriented and is a bad message to send to recruiters.

Finally, the "Classwork" section needs to be re-worked. Right now it just looks like a wall of text with no reason for existing other than to trip keyword searches. There has to be a better way to organize that.

Hope that helps.

ZV

Thanks for help.

Well, it would be nice but I don't have anyone who could do that.

I could remove it. My last revision is: "I am a recent college graduate looking for a full-time software development job in Portland, Oregon. Ideal work would require that I am constantly learning and evolving to face new challenges. Some of my strengths are having a strong mathematical background, ability to improvise, performance under pressure, and contagious enthusiasm."

The resume is based off of someone I know. I can change it but it didn't seem like an issue... It looks ugly your way with the format I had.

I don't have much... I can add an engineer contest win I had with a team, that I was president and founder of a club (it didn't go anywhere due to budget constraints but that's something I can bring up when asked), was Dean's list before UW... but I can't remember much else. I've done more and been in more clubs but no big leadership roles in those. (It would take too long on the resume to explain what I did, at least) Dance is a major activity that I do (if it wasn't obvious from the volunteer activity...) and is a huge part of my life. (It basically dictates who I meet and what friends I make. I've spent all this summer doing that...)

I didn't really see the tense change but I guess you're talking about how it says "ing" rather than "ed" at the end of some words. Troubleshooted just looks awkward. I can add, "I was troubleshooting ..."

Ok. Added something to volunteering part too. (Said I was a public face for the organization, which was very true. I got interviewed, was contacted by people to find out more about the organization, and was a friendly face that talked to new people who showed up to the dance)

Space is kind of at a premium on that version with the wall of text classwork at the bottom. Maybe this new version will be more up your alley.

It is quite literally there for keyword searches... :whiste: :biggrin: You never know with companies whether it will get through to management if it doesn't trigger the keyword searches and what they'll be lookin' for.

Revised with your thoughts in mind. I could remove the summary section and just have more space... or remove the summary and add a revised classwork section. http://www.filedropper.com/redactedinforesume_1