Question about "hobbies" on a resume.

[njdevilsfan87]

One of my hobbies turns out to actually be a pretty good technical hobby. Over the past two years off the side I picked up on web development and today I have the ability to create a fully functional website from entirely from scratch. This means creating a template in photoshop, and then implementing HTML, PHP, CSS, Javascript... pretty much everything to create a completely functional website without using CMSs such as Wordpress, Joomla, and etc. As a graduating mechanical engineering I feel it could display that I really do have have some computer programming knowledge, and not that I just took a class on it one semester and never used it again, yet list it as a technical skill.

It's never something I planned to actually go in depth in on my resume... but today after I had an interview canceled, due the state of the economy, and due to the fact I still don't have employment lined up despite having a good resume as it is... I'm thinking maybe I should really try to fluff up my resume the best I can.

This obviously would cause my current one page resume to overflow onto the second page, but a lot of online submissions have a "character limit" which goes well beyond one single page.

Should physical activity hobbies also be included, such as sports, and gym? Seems completely irrelevant but at least the hiring manager can get an idea of what I do outside of being a nerd. 😛

I know it may sound ridiculous but really... it's almost April, and I feel like all the hard work I put into the past 3 years (freshman year not included) is not paying off, but maybe it's because I need to fluff it up a bit more.

Thanks.

 

[Barfo]

Whatever you do, don't put in there that you're a furry.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

A furry? Please explain, as clearly being a student engineer has degraded my skills of the English language. 😛

 

[sjwaste]

You know, if you have room on the resume, "Relevant Personal Pursuits" (not "Hobbies") might not be a bad section. For instance, if you're applying for web developer positions and you're self-taught in Flash, having that in your skills is good. However, if you've designed a significant portfolio item in a non-professional capacity, it'd be a good relevant personal pursuit.

Where people are just wasting space is if they list something like Cycling on a resume targeted at, I dunno, a completely unrelated position like Accountant.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: njdevilsfan87
A furry? Please explain, as clearly being a student engineer has degraded my skills of the English language. 😛

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: njdevilsfan87
A furry? Please explain, as clearly being a student engineer has degraded my skills of the English language. 😛

You like penguins?

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
You know, if you have room on the resume, "Relevant Personal Pursuits" (not "Hobbies") might not be a bad section. For instance, if you're applying for web developer positions and you're self-taught in Flash, having that in your skills is good. However, if you've designed a significant portfolio item in a non-professional capacity, it'd be a good relevant personal pursuit.

Where people are just wasting space is if they list something like Cycling on a resume targeted at, I dunno, a completely unrelated position like Accountant.

Thanks. Some positions I apply for as a mechanical engineer may include a section of desired skills, where computer programming (like C/C++, Java, etc) is desired but not required.

But even then I just want to put things on there and say - "look here is everything I can do now out of college, even if it may not be related to the job, you may find me useful in other areas" (some companies have terrible looking websites that don't work entirely in FF but work in IE - shame on them!). Just an example.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: njdevilsfan87

Originally posted by: sjwaste
You know, if you have room on the resume, "Relevant Personal Pursuits" (not "Hobbies") might not be a bad section. For instance, if you're applying for web developer positions and you're self-taught in Flash, having that in your skills is good. However, if you've designed a significant portfolio item in a non-professional capacity, it'd be a good relevant personal pursuit.

Where people are just wasting space is if they list something like Cycling on a resume targeted at, I dunno, a completely unrelated position like Accountant.

Thanks. Some positions I apply for as a mechanical engineer may include a section of desired skills, where computer programming (like C/C++, Java, etc) is desired but not required.

But even then I just want to put things on there and say - "look here is everything I can do now out of college, even if it may not be related to the job, you may find me useful in other areas" (some companies have terrible looking websites that don't work entirely in FF but work in IE - shame on them!). Just an example.

You do want to find a way to show off the skills that you didn't learn in the classroom. Often, they're valuable, and they show a passion for something. For instance, I'm currently the lead developer on a systems development project b/c of staffing needs at my firm. I have zero technical education, but have been programming since I was a kid out of my own interest in learning it.

If my resume strictly read my academic pursuits (business degree and working on a JD), I wouldn't have really even been considered. In this economy, it pays to have a broad range of skills. You want to build depth in something, but having good "range" is more valuable than you'd think.