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- 🚫 Please stop listing your “hobbies & interests” on your CV. I'm happy for you that you enjoyed “white water rafting” 🌊 at that time but it's not relevant here. I get that people want to “pad” the CV out a bit if they don't have much experience but the length of the CV is largely irrelevant. 📄 Of course, if you go to coding meetups/relevant events you can list that.
- ❌ Don't include irrelevant information like marital status, photos of yourself, etc. One guy had a reference from his doctor 🩺 unless your doctor knows C++ I'm not sure why. This isn't a deal-breaker but it makes it obvious you don't know what you're doing.
- 🧐 I don't read CVs I scan them, like a very primitive AI 🤖. I'm looking for tech keywords and overall relevant experience. I recommend you list technologies in bullet points at the top and then descending experience below. Avoid weird CV formats with pictures/layouts, at best they are pointless - at worst annoying.
- 🚩 If you have 0 years of experience and list 10+ languages/technologies this is a red flag 🚩. I have 10+ years exp and list 3 languages. I know more than that but those are the ones I know well and am happy to answer any question.
- 🎯 Tailor your CV to the job, I can't emphasize this one enough. I.e if you're going for a front-end job make sure you list JavaScript/React first and consider trimming down the rest. I've never gotten a cover letter with any of the CVs (maybe HR removes it before I get it), so I don't get the point, but you should tailor the tech and experience to the potential job.
- 💼 Personal projects do count as experience but I want to see the code on GitHub and it needs not to be a “todo app” that everyone builds on their first week of learning.