Mark Oliver's World

Posted: 25/03/2021

Job Search 2021 _ Initial Steps

After taking a long & well earned rest, its now time to venture back into the working world.

So I thought I would chronicle my journey.

First thing I did was ensure my LinkedIn profile was up to date.

I use LinkedIn to have a fuller account of my career history, as its not as limiting as a CV.

I added in missing courses, any missing details, improved my Avatar, and tailored by "description" to resonate the kind of position I want now, which is not the same as I had previously (more on that later).

When I had LinkedIn all updated, it was time to look at my CV. I had not updated it in over 2 years, and looking at it, it felt a bit lacklustre.

I have been working in software dev for over 20 years, so it contains a lot of information.
Although all of that info if accurate, and describes more about me and my skills, it is not relevant today (You would have to pay me a HUGE amount of money to work with Borland Builder again!)

After working in software dev for many years, I have always been good at leading, mentoring, directing people and projects. My career has always moved this way, primarily due to money - cos thats where the big bucks are right?

So after a lot of soul searching in this latest break, I have realised, that I enjoy mentoring people, but i don't really want to lead a team anymore, what with the associated management headaches that inevitably go with that role.

So I have decided to focus solely on the development work. I will look at a way to mentor people outside of the office if there is no opportunity inside.

So this is what I am looking for:

  • Somewhere I can learn and build on my skills.
  • Make a difference to the world, not just in making people money.
  • Follow Clean Code and TDD practices.
  • An excellent work life balance.
  • Work with a team that cares, not just for the products we build and the users/clients, but the people we build them with!

So with that in mind, I updated my CV, giving it a more modern look, ensuring it fit on 2 pages only, and focussing on the skills I want to keep using.

I was surprised how long this took me to do. Its easy to write facts about yourself, but keeping it relevant, within 2 pages, and showcasing yourself is really hard. I spent about a week working on it. First picking a "Style" I liked that said professional, but also modern. Then that dictated how I could display things. I ended up with it in 5 sections:

| _______________________ |
|Contact  |      Name                 |
|Details   |                                 |
| _______________________ |
|   2 Profile paragraphs             |
| _______________________ |
|           |                                    |
|           |                                    |
|           |  Career History           |
|           |                                    |
| _______________________ |

The final column on the left is split into:

  • Technical skills
  • Achievements
  • Education
  • Training
  • Interests & Other information

Now I have the "paperwork" in place, its time to start applying...

Thanks for reading this post.

If you want to reach out, catch me on Twitter!

I am always open to mentoring people, so get in touch.