Cool project & pretty interesting stack. Congrats on the launch!
I have a few questions, though. Your FAQ says:
> A company is looking for someone with a skill that you have. They find your CV on this website. They tell us they're interested. You get an email from us asking you if you're interested as well. Only if you are interested as well, we'll share your email address with them.
That's fine... but thinking purely from a candidate's/job seeker's POV, I might need certain questions answered before I can say that I'm interested. For instance, I normally don't agree to interviews until I know if a job is fully remote, and until I have at least a ballpark idea of compensation, benefits, contract status, length etc. Will I be expected to communicate all these questions directly to the companies themselves on a one-on-one basis? At that point, what's the value proposition for me as a candidate here? It's just LinkedIn lite with a far smaller reach. I'll still have to do the same song and dance as if I were dealing with your garden variety LinkedIn recruiters.
What I'm trying to say here is that skill-matching is only one part of the sourcing and hiring process. And that it may well not be enough to provide enough information for either party to ascertain if it's worth investing a significant amount of their time.
I hope you'll take my questions in good faith as they were absolutely meant in that manner. I did sign up and will definitely keep an eye out as the platform grows. Good luck!
Thanks for your feedback, and yes, this is definitely on the roadmap!
For now the focus is mainly on the creation of CVs, but I'll be adding criteria to both the employer's side (= search) and the CV creator's preferences (= manage). Examples:
- How many steps is the interview process?
- Remote vs on-prem work? If remote: what time zones are you available to work in? If locally, how long are you willing to travel (/ which city do you want to live or work in)?
- Salary. I don't know why this is such an issue to say for companies. Maybe they'll be more okay with saying it up front if the CV creator is willing to say what they want to earn up front? -> Feedback is very welcome here!
- Maybe something like "don't bother reaching out to me if I won't be using technology X"?
- Etc. Not having enough ideas is never an issue for me, often I have too many :)
On the topic of resumes: what do people put in these things? I haven't job hopped in a while and haven't done any resume work in over 10 years. Anyone have good examples for software developers with the kind of content that gets noticed?
2. Work history (1 or 2 lines per year ). Include location, company, project, duration.
3. Education, certs, achievements, Personal projects
maintain that order.
One page (ideal) or two.
Pro tip, add relevant keywords specific to the role, position or company (e.g. aws, azure, kubernetes).
Remember, more machines and algorithms will parse and filter your resume than human eyeballs (hint: if linkedin cannot parse your resume, reformat it).
keep a pdf, text and MS word version ready to be shared via email at all times (especially on your phone)
I added a passport size pic of myself on it to stand out from a wall of text no idea if it works, but it feels personal enough to me(ymmv)
Do NOT have any grammatical mistakes.
Name the file logically (e.g. 2022-resume-fred.pdf)
I never add a photo because it can have you excluded from some processes e.g. government.
The tricky one is citizenship - again for some companies it might get you excluded (though they should tell you beforehand), but it also helps a lot to show companies that you don't need a visa (that would often also get you excluded!).
Thank you, these gave me some ideas. Seems like a safe first step is distilling my commit history into projects, features, and how it helped the business.
I like to put some kind of achievement in there, like the "reduced AWS costs by 80%" example on the login page of https://withoutdistractions.com/cv
Aside from that, just some info about what my work was for a given project.
As far as the description goes, the one on the login page is exactly what I have on my own CV:
> I am a full stack developer / Linux enthusiast with an IT-Law master's degree. I enjoy automating DevOps processes and delivering robust and intuitive end products to clients. My positive character and social skills allow me to combine hard work with friendly and constructive collegiality.
One of the takeaways from Steve Dalton (2 Hour Job Search, The Job Closer, I think this came from him at the very least, I'll need to dig up the specific quote) is that you shouldn't spend very much time on a resume, because it's one of the least important parts of the overall job search process. do not overthink it!
I don't see mentions of pictures/photos in the article or the sourced study, I would guess that would be an obvious thing they look at as well, even though it would be completely irrelevant for most jobs. I guess it just wasn't included in any of the CVs in the study.
Thanks! I think the tech stack actually deserves an HN item of its own, as I don't think many people know this is possible and may resort to something like rqlite without really needing it.
I don't expect everyone to read the full FAQ, so TL/DR:
Every user gets a separate DB file, and a cron job syncs their records with a read-only[0] DB file with the same schema. That way, writes to individual DB files won't block reads from the "global" one.
It's not a fit for every use case, but so far it seems to be working fine here!
Holy heck. What a coincidence. For the last few days, I was thinking about databases and was wondering if per user database can be possible. To be honest I was thinking about duckdb and sqlite3, with a mothership kinda postgreSQL database.
I was thinking having a "your very own database" could be a justifiable reason for a price bump from pro to enterprise version. Then I was thinking of the idea of SQLite being something like a web-deliverable database instead of JSON responses through an REST API.
Edit:
I would really love to hear about this database per user approach. The more I think about this the more I am fascinated.
Like for what amount of data-size justifies to have an SQLite3 db or something more bulkier? A CV has very small amount of data, so why not just use a JSON file? I wonder in that case if accessing a JSON file from a cloud storage could be more performant compared to SQLite3. You don't need to have the full set of utilities of SQL if you are just showing the entire data.
Haha awesome! Good to see lots of people are starting to see SQLite as an option, I think it used to be misunderstood as a toy database.
It'll take some time before I can really recommend this workflow, I'll make sure to add a blog to the withoutdistractions.com platform soon. I didn't expect this to hit the front page as it's my first "Show HN", otherwise I would have created one up front with an RSS feed.
For me I went from Postgres to one central SQLite file to the current approach. I don't what the best approach would be, but I just put a user id column in every table and instead of having an integer primary key, I have a primary key of user id + table id. Then I have some Janet logic in place to get all table + column names except for a few private ones from the user's DB file, and put those in the "global" DB file.
If anyone knows a better way to do this I'm all ears! I think SQLite has some kind of native way now to merge DB files with the same schema as well, but I think there was some limitation on the amount of tables you could apply this to. Not 100% sure, though.
If you turn on WAL mode in SQLite, then a single writer does not block concurrent readers.
There are good reasons to shard SQLite databases if you want multiple concurrent writers, but i think this particular use case is fine without sharding,
I haven't looked into WAL mode too much, thanks for mentioning it.
2 justifications for (probably) keeping my current approach are:
- I can do per-user migrations, with zero downtime for other users.
- I only sync data with the global read-only DB file that is intended to be public. The name, picture, email address, etc of the user is never part of the global db file, so it's less likely to leak in case something would go wrong.
Appreciate using basic HTML. I hope there is more of this on the web.
> get job offers without stalking, discrimination and distractions
Is this a real problem with LinkedIn?
I feel the real value add of a job posting site will be filtering out recruiter spam. Will you curate companies who use third party recruiters and agencies?
One more question. What do you feel is the catch with HTMX ? The main one to me seems to be the 10k bundle size. That’s minuscule compared to typical web packages, but hand written HTML / JS will involve 0k extra bundle size.
"stalking" may not have been the best word there, I'll change it to "spam".
> I feel the real value add of a job posting site will be filtering out recruiter spam. Will you curate companies who use third party recruiters and agencies?
I was thinking of the following approach: companies can directly search for candidates. They'll be able to tick a checkbox that says they're OK with it if there is a third party involved. That third party can be:
- a company that hires (for example) developers and assigns them to temporary projects. I searched for a proper term: I think it's called a temp agency in English. This is one of the examples I mention on the "manage" page.
- a recruiter. This would mean a shift would take place in who decides to involve a recruiter. Instead of companies, it would be individuals who want help in their process of getting a new job. I've been lucky enough to be in a position where recruiters ended up putting 3 new job offers on my table with minimum effort from my end: a fantastic experience. Hopefully https://withoutdistractions.com/cv will give many people this kind of experience, but I was thinking: what if you, even with the spam-free character of the platform, end up getting 20 messages from 20 different companies? Total luxury "problem", but then it may make a lot of sense to let a recruiter handle some things for you.
> What do you feel is the catch with HTMX?
For me it took a while before I started "getting" htmx. Once everything you write is HTML snippets, it may not be immediately obvious to your brain where your requests are happening, etc.
> the 10k bundle size [is] minuscule compared to typical web packages, but hand written HTML / JS will involve 0k extra bundle size.
That's true! But then I'd have to manually write logic to put responses into the DOM, which HTMX handles for me. HTMX probably does way more than I personally need, but 10k is already amazing compared to your typical Angular app. And the docs are super clear!
But as a hiring manager, why check this over LinkedIn where all the users are?
I could see more value in a specialised community that has requirements for entry - like contributing code, having written a useful personal project, some sort of coding / concepts tests, etc. - so you know that people there are good. LinkedIn has tried to do this a little with the programming language tests, but they feel really academic and/or basic - not really reflecting real software engineering work.
Another area that could use improvement is job + work descriptions. Like on LinkedIn most are written by recruiters with no idea of the actual work, and it's really difficult to have an impression before starting tbh (just a few questions in the interview!). It'd be great to have a platform that was much more detailed in this respect (perhaps even with examples), and also with regard to what the company can offer in terms of visas, relocation assistance, etc. which is often overlooked in HR/Recruiter ads.
But in general the main issue at the application stage is just trying to filter people completely unqualified to save interviewer time, and after that everyone has to go through the same long interview process in any case.
> as a hiring manager, why check this over LinkedIn where all the users are?
This is going to be difficult for any new platform in this space, and it's a tough one. For now it's important for me to let users create a great looking CV that can easily be printed, offering value there regardless of the upcoming search feature. Aside from that, I've got a couple of tactics in place for expanding the user base, but I want to keep my cards closed there for a little while. I promise it's not going to be anything nasty/sneaky though!
> I could see more value in a specialised community that has requirements for entry
I don't think this is the direction I'm going in, but sounds interesting!
> Another area that could use improvement is job + work descriptions.
This is something I haven't addressed properly yet in the FAQ. Companies/recruiters will have to make you interested just like you made them interested with your CV. Otherwise you'll get 20 company names that are interested without any context. Then it'll be possible to sort invitations by companies based on criteria. Nothing that's written in stone yet, but if some companies want to keep the intended salary a secret, they may be ranked lower in the invitation list.
> But in general the main issue at the application stage is just trying to filter people completely unqualified to save interviewer time, and after that everyone has to go through the same long interview process in any case.
I'm definitely not done yet with banging my head against this problem.
I really appreciate your feedback, thanks for your constructive but critical thinking!
Very cool project. I have had the exact same thoughts for a solution to kill Linkedin. The icing on the cake would be to use Linkedin Auth and help pre-poulate this. This will help with the adoption and once recruiters start using it, we have a winner (And a dead linkedin too).
Haha, I like your thinking! I'm not waging war on LinkedIn though, it has definitely helped me in my career. I just think some things can be done way more efficiently. I also mention this in the FAQ, where I actually have a link to my LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is perfect for keeping in touch with your professional network! I just don't think it's an optimal platform for recruitment purposes :)
In case the website goes down: I'm trying to get some sleep so it may take a while before it's back online. All of this is very exciting but I'm still a human that needs to put his head on a pillow every now and then :)
I have noticed that writing the right skills on resumes are pretty hard, so I have built a service [1] to help job seekers identify missing skills from their resume.
I tested my cv and found at least 10 missing skills that I have but forgot to mention.
May be we can collaborate to help job seekers with the skills part?
This is going to sound hilarious without context, but it's... a link to my LinkedIn profile. Can you send me a message there? (I really like LinkedIn for professional communication purposes, not at all trying to compete with them there.)
I can't imagine everyone thinks this is 100% perfect though, so please let me know what you'd like me to improve! None of this is set in stone, I really do appreciate all kinds of feedback. Thanks!
The one thing that holds me back from really liking this is that skills have to be rated out of 5, which I believe is entirely arbitrary. Especially for someone like me, a maths student.
How good is my Python out of 5? In what areas? Compared to who, someone with 30 years of Python experience or my peers who've never coded before?
Furthermore, with natural languages, there are commonly used scores (CEFR in Europe at least) that are more or less objective and don't depend person to person. If someone says they're B1, you know what to expect. If someone says they're 3/5, what does that mean?
I would like the option to not justify how skilled I am at something, or have more flexibility to qualify/quantify my skills such as, but not limited to, number of years of professional use.
I agree 100%, I'll think of a good indicator to add some some kind of standard there. Otherwise it's probably going to end up with CVs that all only have 5/5 stars, making the whole grading thing worthless.
sort of a tangent but I wonder about the cultural norms, which vary with continent, region and country where people are expected to include a head shot photo with their CV. and the places where getting a photo with a CV would be very abnormal.
the faq does say:
My name and picture are in my CV. How do you prevent discrimination there?
Your name and picture are completely optional, and are only part of your own private version of your CV which you can use to save a PDF or print a physical copy. They will never be included in the searchable version. You can see what your searchable CV looks like here.
Based on my research the data available through the Linked API is very limited [1]. Basically `r_liteprofile` (name and photo), `r_emailaddress` (email) and `w_member_social` (post on a user's behalf). You can't get the users "vanity" url, profile information or posts. I'd love to be proven wrong though!
I'm responding a bit late to your comment because I don't know how the HN comment ranking works and I was a bit afraid this would become the main narrative here, sorry.
The "with a Lisp" part of the title wasn't meant to indicate the source is open. I'd love to open source this when it's a more established platform, but as of right now I feel like it would be too easy for others to copy-paste the codebase and profit off of my work before I get a chance to do so myself.
I added the "with a lisp" part to the title for two reasons:
- I personally always like to see that lisp-like languages are being used in production, and I think many HN readers feel the same way. Not sure why the love for lisps is so high here, but I like it :)
- In the FAQ I mention some (current and future) advantages of using a lisp-like language. Maybe I should have gone in more detail there, as there's a couple more interesting things I'm doing in this app that I haven't seen anywhere else yet. I don't have a blog on the website yet. When I do I'll make sure to dive in some more details in a dedicated blog post about the tech stack.
I have a few questions, though. Your FAQ says:
> A company is looking for someone with a skill that you have. They find your CV on this website. They tell us they're interested. You get an email from us asking you if you're interested as well. Only if you are interested as well, we'll share your email address with them.
That's fine... but thinking purely from a candidate's/job seeker's POV, I might need certain questions answered before I can say that I'm interested. For instance, I normally don't agree to interviews until I know if a job is fully remote, and until I have at least a ballpark idea of compensation, benefits, contract status, length etc. Will I be expected to communicate all these questions directly to the companies themselves on a one-on-one basis? At that point, what's the value proposition for me as a candidate here? It's just LinkedIn lite with a far smaller reach. I'll still have to do the same song and dance as if I were dealing with your garden variety LinkedIn recruiters.
What I'm trying to say here is that skill-matching is only one part of the sourcing and hiring process. And that it may well not be enough to provide enough information for either party to ascertain if it's worth investing a significant amount of their time.
I hope you'll take my questions in good faith as they were absolutely meant in that manner. I did sign up and will definitely keep an eye out as the platform grows. Good luck!