Re: Advice for mid-life career change (to programming)

snip.

>
> Here's a good example: I recently applied for a web programming position
at
> SmartHome (they do home automation systems). Well, one of the web projects
I
> worked on some time ago was from one of their bigger industrial clients,
and
> it involved a JavaScript-based simulation of the "SmartLinc" panel, which
> the company had under license from SmartHome. The SmartLinc panel, in
fact,
> was one of their premier products at the time.
>
> I mentioned this in my cover letter. Didn't get a call or email - nothing.
> My resume reflected knowledge of the material they wanted, so - what was
> missing? Damned if I can figure it out...

(Just my thoughts - might seem a bit harsh, but it's only my opinion.)

You've got nothing to loose now in making sure your laptop has all the demos
on it that you would like to show, and then calling the person every day
until they give up and meet with you just to get you off their back. If
they truly don't need you, then you might be able to find out why they
didn't contact you previously. Easy to say, btw, I'd never be able to do it
myself :-) but some people would, and it would work in their favor.

Are you sure your demo sites are accessible?

http://www.dslextreme.com/~tony23/aquadyne/
Parse error: parse error, unexpected '}' in /home/httpd/html/error.php on
line 62

Don't say, "Welcome" on your website.

I think your web site banner is huge - look at it in comparison with some
other sites.

This site is not saying to me, "here's some examples of my work", it's
saying, "I hope you'll look at me". When people see 'hope' in this context
they imagine 'hopeless'.

You need to look around at some other website designers sites and analyse
the ones that would make you sit up and actively want to contact them
against the ones that just say, "I'm here too".

Is there oportunity for you to find new small start up businesses in the
local area that don't have a website (but would benefit from your search
engine optimisation), and then meet with someone in person to get a contract
to build, supply (host) and maintain their site?

I'm not an expert on CV's, particularly not for US and Canadian ones, but:

If I read your CV, I'd have no idea about you, whatsoever - I don't even
know how old you are - I see no education information (which makes me wonder
if you were formally educated - not that that's immediatly a negative
thing - it's the cover up that's negative).

I don't know what a CompTIA A+ is.

I happen to know what BrainBench is, but how many people do? It also does
not say how well you did in the certification (something like "20th
percentile of all Canadians tested" would be a start - along with a link to
your certification).

Check the file properties on Word (332 minutes and 18 edits on that
document, author: someone, Company: someone).

Why do you say: "Manage and operate blah blah comptuer." Why not:
"Successfully managed/operated installation's mainframe - which consisted of
liasing with various departments, blah blah..." "Provided <insert upbeat
positive adjective here> training..." "Implemented successful custom test
programs which <insert positive descriptive comment about the positive
effect of said program>.

Computer assembly tech.
This how I read that in my mind (and I'm sure that others will read it in
the same way).
"Assemble (doesn't sound like he did it himself) computer components and
systems, install CPU, motherboard, memory, AGP & PCI video card...(blah blah
blah - skip over all this samey stuff).

What about, "Worked in all areas of HP's computer assembly production.
Knowledge gained enabled me to provide computer support to various blah
blah".

(If you can push 1 type of card into a motherboard slot, you can push
another kind in too.)

You know 'Outlook Express' and 'Acrobat' - why are they even mentioned?

There's no reason for anyone to think that you know assembly language, or
for that matter C/C++ to any level that would be useful to someone wanting a
C/C++ programmer - they are there with no backup (do Brainbench still do a
free C programming test?).

You need to provide links to the website that you were involved in and what
you personally brought to it. E.g. Designed/advised on 'one-click' shopping
cart, ensuring it was protected from various forms of exploit, etc.

Some of the background on your original post gives me a picture in my mind
of what to expect - but the CV is barren. Sorry, maybe this is a
US/Canadian thing - but a CV like that (with no sparkle) would be dumped in
the bin without a second glance.



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