Currently I am working on finding a contract position to pay the bills while I work on my own technology. What makes this so maddingly difficult is that my resume is filled with all sorts of java related technologies, but I've never done the same project twice.
It seems people like to hire the same exact same person (ie 5 years JSP, Struts, Tiles, pick an appserver, EJB = JSTAE) and have little interest in anything else. I've either worked for consulting firms (you do what the customer whats) or service firms (I always wound up with the difficult, oddball projects no one else wanted). Thus I wind up building web frameworks, becoming a documentum architect on the fly, introducing ajax, designing portal architectures, fuzzy search engines, etc. But I've never built a stupid JSP/EJB/Struts application so apparently I am diffcult to hire. I guess it's my fault for not doing the obvious things.
I have worked with people who match the JSTAE definition who are only able to work with constant assistance (what is a Hashmap again? why can't I save session in a stateless session bean?) yet have the perfect resume.
Being someone equally as comfortable with designing database schemas and doing front end design (html,css,javascript) and all the stuff in between should make it easy to find a position but generally people don't believe you, your resume or your professional references (no one ever calls them anyway).
I agree that for a contractor, an employer generally want someone with a single set of skills who can "hit the ground running". Yet I've never gotten any job (contract or otherwise) where that actually happened, or where the requested experiences jived with the job once you arrived. Few places are that organized.
In my last two employee jobs, they interviewed upwards of 30 people to either hire me in the first place or replace me, so I guess the paucity of decent candidates means most employers assume resumes are complete fabrications and expect to hire someone lame. So I can see that my resume gets painted by the negative brush and that makes it even harder to stand out. So if my resume was 5 years of one JSTAE project, that would apparently be exciting!
So I will continue looking for someone local (D/FW area) or a telecommute/ occasional travel contract where broad experience is actual a benefit.
Back to work.
Also in DFW 01/16/2007 09:08
I have the exact same problem. Not only am I code monkey in several languages, I'm also proficient in Windows and Solaris.
Here's what I did to get around it: several resumes, each highlighting a different skillset. This got me a lot more leads.
Oddly enough, my current position was looking, specifically, for a "generalist": someone who could do just about anything. They were happy to find me, and I'm pretty happy with them.
Douglas 01/16/2007 10:06
I understand you problem, as I have the same dilemma. My suggestion is to build a portfolio that showcases work you have done and include it with your resume. I haven't found an easy way to build a portfolio to showcase back-end features that the people hiring will easily comprehend. Sell yourself as being able to learn and build anything quickly.
Greg 01/16/2007 11:07
I made a program a while back that makes it easy to have and use custom cover letters and resumes for each job you apply to. Sure it's needing an upgrade, but it worked for me last time I looked for jobs:
http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/projects/job-applier-mark-ii/
<a href="http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/projects/job-applier-mark-ii/">Fast Job Applier</a>
(Not sure how to format links in your comments, please edit if wrong)
d 01/16/2007 12:54
A while back a friend of mine pointed out that positions are filtered by the HR department. A project lead has to provide a list of keywords to create a job position and then the work is turned over to HR. The HR person doesn't know what the job entails, only that the PM listed these 5 keywords. To even get your foot in the door for an interview with the person that really knows what the position entails you have to make it past the HR keyword search.
My advice is to make your resume buzzword friendly. If you've gotten even a small amount of exposure to something related to that buzzword, put it on there.
Chuck 01/16/2007 14:01
Use your broad based experience as a background to support and highlight your breadth and depth of knowledge in a subject area that intersects the positions you have held. My own background spans embedded, Unix kernel and web application development as well as several management jobs. I try to emphasize the breadth and depth of knowledge I have in server-side development. For each job in your job history, mention the knowledge and experience you gained in your area of expertise and tie it all together in a summary section of your resume.
It will still be an uphill battle getting face-to-face interviews, but the ones you get will probably be higher quality and the jobs will be a better fit. I have been on both sides of the hiring process and appreciate the value of a cohesive well planned resume. Many resumes a hiring manager sees are little more than a list of technologies the applicant can spell and a list of company names, job titles and dates. If you can put together a resume that provides a hiring manager with some context and supports your claim to expertise in an area you will get interviews because you have already impressed the managers that know what they are looking for. The managers that are looking for someone based on a technology checklist are probably a waste of your time anyway.
Mark Gisleson 01/16/2007 14:01
Some advice from a former resume writer with over 7,000 clients on file.
Rewrite your resume for each job you apply for. It sounds like a pain in the
butt, but it's absolutely necessary for skilled individuals who are tired of
HR departments that "don't get it."
In the case you mention, dumbing down seems appropriate. HR departments
are, rightly, concerned that overqualified candidates will become morale
problems because they won't feel challenged or will make deprecating
remarks about how "easy" the work is.
Buzzwords are good only if you have a handle on which ones to use. Other-
wise you're just risking being overqualified all over again.
I've never had a question from a client that couldn't be answered by saying,
what does the employer want? Don't forget that your resume is about you,
but the job hunting process is all about the employer and the employer's
needs.
Dave Newton 01/16/2007 18:15
Hmm.
I have a wildly broad resume (started off in AI, then some business-oriented work, then console/handheld games, then devices drivers and embedded work, now Java and web stuff) and I generally get very good comments regarding my diverse background and how it's great at building problem-solving skills.
I have about 20 years experience and except for a dry spell right around 9/11 have never been unwillingly out of work for more than two weeks. I'm betting something else is going on.
casey 01/17/2007 11:58
It sounds like you have a broad enough range of experience to develop products for customers, which we both know is really more valuable than a specialized subset of Java technologies. Maybe you should look for a job in a work environment where they know they need a web presence and someone to put it all together, and are less concerned with the particular technology involved.
I find myself in a similar position: I prefer to develop web apps in Python and Django, which is probably even more invisible to a clueless HR drone. I'd have to sell my talents based on my ability to provide a total web app solution, rather than any particular skill set. I haven't tried contracting yet, but that's the approach I'd take.
Peter 01/18/2007 07:48
Silicon Valley needs about 8 trillion programmers right now. I'm a former programmer and people are knocking down my door trying to get me to go back.
You can have it. :)
WebmasterX 02/12/2007 08:43
Nobody that knows how to code (especially various languages) should be without money. I would give anything to have learned programming years ago as I need it constantly. If you suck at simple ideas that are easy to monetize you really need to hook up with an idea person and spit out code that makes you rich. You should all be millionaires.
WebmasterX - http://www.webmasteraxis.com