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Showing posts with label guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guide. Show all posts

IT Cover Letter (T-Type)

An unconventional cover letter form is so called T-Type cover letter.  This cover letter lists job requirements and desired qualifications in one column and your skills and experience in the adjacent column.  This layout give a quick and easy to read presentation of the match of your qualifications to what the employer wants.  It is clean, straightforward, and very effective in many cases.

T-type cover letter is best used when the job opening give detailed requirements and qualifications, such as college degree, number of years experience on specific tools and languages, professional certifications.  If your background matches most of the requirements or even exceeds desired quantities, then T-type is perfect.

Don't use T-type cover letter if there is no detailed requirement list, or your qualification doesn't match well, or you are over qualified.

IT Consultant Resume Guideline and Example

IT consultants work on tasks on demand.  Skill requirements often shift from project to project.  Consulting firms expect employees having wide range of skills and the ability to keep clients satisfied.  To get a consulting job, your resume must fulfill these expectations.

The key to make your resume stand out from the crowd is to present multiple skills with confidence.  Don't feel hesitate to throw in the latest and hottest stuff.  If you know the technology requirements of the immediate project assignment of the position, make your resume have an emphasis on it.

Otherwise present the industry standard technologies as your core skill set.  For instance, it cannot go wrong by having J2EE and .NET as your core skills for developer positions; and present yourself as an Oracle or SQL Server expert can certainly help you get a database consulting job.

In general, IT consulting assignments are among the following areas:
  • Software application development
  • Software system architecture and design
  • OS/network/database software and server hardware upgrading and configuration
  • Network administration
  • Database administration
  • System integration
  • COTS implementation
  • Data center support
  • Telecommunication center support
The following IT consultant sample resume presents strong IT skills with emphasis of Oracle experience in database area and J2EE skills in software design/development field.

IT Manager Resume Guideline and Example

IT manager or IT director manages information systems operations within an organization.  For small or medium business, IT manager may be appointed to manage the entire IT division; in large organizations, IT manager is usually responsible for a branch of IT operations, i.e., data center operation, telecommunications, corporate network,  end user support and training, application development and integration, etc.
IT manager is an advanced position with no entry level opportunities.  IT manager positions are usually filled by promotions from business analyst, systems analyst, systems administrator, or other IT job with at least 3 years IT experience.
A wining IT manager resume should demonstrate the following qualifications:
  • Strategic IT and business planning
  • IT infrastructure design and implementation
  • IT System architecture
  • System/software/database life-cycle
  • Project management methodologies
  • Enterprise system deployments
  • Budget development and management
  • Contract negotiations and management
  • Cost/time/change management
  • System integration planning and implementation
  • Data center management  

The following resume example demonstrates a job seeker's pursuit in IT management field.

IT Project Manager Resume Guideline and Example

IT project managers manage IT project life cycle through phases commonly classified as:

(1) analysis,
(2) design,
(3) development,
(4) integration and test,
(5) implementation, and
(6) operations and maintenance.

Project oversight and IV&V (independent validation and verification) are also important IT project management task areas.

In the trend of IT outsourcing, many project managers work for consulting firms for providing IT project management service to various clients.  Currently there are more and more IT project manager opportunities with IT and technical consulting companies.

To make your IT project manager resume a big winner, you resume must demonstrate the following strengths:

(1) IT project life cycle experience.
(2) Ability to write proposals for bidding to win new contracts.
(3) Skills to develop and enhance customer and client relationship.

IT project manager position usually require some experience thus there is rarely entry level opportunity available.  However, IT professionals with 2 years experience could be promoted to project manager position. 

Two project management certification are very helpful:

- PMI Certified Project Management Professional
- IT Project+

Network Administrator Resume Guideline and Example

Network administrators install, configure, and manage computer network systems within an organization.  Common tasks include network system planning and design, network software and hardware upgrading, network performance tuning, network connection trouble shooting, file system backup and restore, mail server management, and end user support.  A good network administrator candidate should be able to demonstrate most of the skills described above.

To make your resume stand out, you need to present knowledge and experience with emphases on a specific system what is the job's network environment (Windows, Unix, NetWare, etc).  In general, you should try to present the following skills and experience in resume:
  1. Operating systems (Windows, Unix, Linux, NetWare, etc)
  2. Server hardware, network wiring and devices (switches, routers, hubs, etc)
  3. Network planning and design
  4. Network software setup, upgrade, configuration
  5. Network protocols (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, etc)
  6. Network security
  7. Network integration with database and application systems
  8. Network monitoring and performance tuning
  9. Network troubleshooting (connection, authentication, etc.)
  10. Internet and email systems management
Sometimes network administrators are required to perform some system administrator duties such as storage management, file server backup and recovery, configuration of clusters and grid computing.  Some positions may expect skills in wireless network and mobile computing.


The following network administrator resume example presents expertise in Microsoft platform.

Database Administrator Resume Guideline and Example

To apply for database administrator (DBA) position, your resume must demonstrate skills and experience with at least one of the topnotch RDBMS servers, -- Oracle 8i/9i/10g, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, or Sybase ASE.   In current market, Oracle and SQL Server are the most wanted.  In addition, Teradata for very large database (VLDB) and ADABAS for legacy (mainframe) systems make for high demand niche skills.

Database administrator's main job functions include RDBMS software installation and configuration, database server administration, database performance tuning, backup and recovery, and database design and data modeling.  Advanced database skills include data replication, data warehousing and data mart, cluster and grid configurations.  Make sure you resume gets these areas covered.

In current DBA job market, many employers expect database administrators to be involved in application design, sometimes even programming works are required, that's what so called application DBA.  If the DBA position is for support of software development backend, application performance (SQL) tuning is the DBA's duty too.  It is a big plus if you can show some application design and programming skills in resume.

The following database administrator resume example presents strong database skills and experience with major RDBMS platforms such as Oracle.

Web Developer Resume Guideline and Example

Web developers design and develop web based applications, internet/intranet/extranet portal, and e-commerce systems. Web developer is a very flexible position, and IT professionals with fair programming experience have good chance to get a web development job.
Generally employers looks for web developer candidates with skills in one of the following technology areas:
  1. ASP programming with IIS administration
  2. JSP programming plus Java beans with middle tier server such as Tomcat
  3. Web application developed by PHP with mySQL
  4. Corporate portal development using portal tools from Microsoft (SharePoint), IBM (WebSphere Portal), BEA (WebLogic Portal), Oracle, Sybase, or open sources. 

As a winning candidate, your resume must demonstrate strong web development language skills - ASP, JSP, HTML, XML, Java, servlet, JavaScript, VBScript, Perl CGI, PHP, and mySQL.  Also, it's better if you can show some server experience, i.e., Apache web server, IIS, Tomcat, or even J2EE application server.

Software Architect Resume Guideline and Example

Software architect is the high end position in software engineering.  The main job function of software architect is to architecture and design complicated, large scale software systems in enterprise level.  Software architects use UML tools such as Rational Rose, Borland Together, etc. to document architecture design in UML diagrams.  Although programming is not a main job requirement, software architects are usually super level programmers since most of them come from senior software engineer and programmer positions.

Software architects usually work for big companies and consulting firms.  There is no need for dedicated software architect positions in small companies since software architecture is less important for small systems.  In many small to mid scope projects software engineers and senior programmers would fulfill the roles of software architect.

To make yourself a stand-out candidate for software architect positions, your resume should present strong skills in the following areas:
  1. Software development life cycle (SDLC)
  2. Mainstream software framework (.NET, J2EE)
  3. Software design methodologies
  4. Industry standard design patterns (GoF patterns, MVC, etc.)
  5. Database systems (RDBMS)

Also, software architect should have in-depth knowledge in information technology, IT infrastructure, and industry trends. Industry experience in sectors such as insurance, banking, health care, etc. are helpful too.  In addition, communication and leadership skills are also highly expected.

Software Engineer Resume Guideline and Example

Unlike programmers whose main job function is to code business applications, software engineer's role is focused on systems.  Software engineers design and develop operation systems, network systems, enterprise business applications, and commercial off the shelf software (COTS) like ERP, CRM, PLM, etc.  Sometimes software engineers work on hardware related systems such as handheld mobile systems and automatic control systems.

In general, employers look for software engineer candidates with strong skills in software design, complicated systems analysis, software development life cycle experience, and expertise in low level computer languages such as C, C++, and CPU specific machine language code like assembler. 
In today's job market, a significant number of software engineer positions are lean to designing and developing enterprise business management systems.  In this case, your resume should present strong experience in the following areas:
  1. RDBMS database
  2. System architecture
  3. Object oriented design
  4. Software development methodology
  5. Software project life-cycle
  6. Design patterns.  
The following software engineer resume example presents skills and experience in enterprise software design and development in Java/J2EE technologies.

Programmer Resume Guideline and example

Programmer's main job function is to write, test, and maintain computer application codes. Programmer's resume must demonstrate the following qualifications:
  1. Strong skills of coding with mainstream computer languages, i.e., Java, C++, SQL.
  2. Mastering software development tools and IDE environments, i.e., Microsoft Visual Studio, JBuilder, Eclipse, etc.
  3. Knowledge and experience in relational database, especially writing SQL queries.
  4. Software application design experience, i.e., UML, design pattern, and software life cycle.
In response to specific job requirements, your resume should have a focus of the desired skills.  These skills may be emphasized in Microsoft technologies, Java/J2EE technologies, systems applications, business applications, client/server platform, or web-based applications.

programming is a practical skill.  Employers expect your ability to code applications based specs. It's important for your resume to demonstrate hands-on experience in coding.  Make sure you present as many coding experience as possible to prove you can actually program applications to fulfill the business needs.

The following programmer resume example presents strong programming skills in Microsoft technologies.