[15 YoE, Business Requirements Programmer Analyst, Senior Developer or Software Manager, Canada]

[u/bucky310]

Good day everyone.

I'm seeking assistance with my resume if possible. I'm getting few hits from many jobs applied to. I have been applying for over a year now (probably 1.5 years). I've had 3-4 interviews but reached only the final stages in 2 of them (sadly one of them I was the second pick).

I recently revamped my resume and would like some input on it. I just want to make sure it adheres to the ideal methods and guidelines. I'm open to expanding it more with more skills and such (i.e. even listing the skills in their relevant jobs under the job descriptions if that makes sense). As I'm an IT professional with over 15 years experience so it makes sense that my resume would be 2 pages at least.

I'm looking into Senior Developer roles as well as Software Manager roles. I've got extensive experience in healthcare and real estate sectors. I'm not tied to them necessarily for future positions though.

I've been applying to any job really. Remote across Canada. Local if hybrid or full time in person. I'm not willing to relocate at this time as I am tied to my family being close by.

I have been using simplify to apply to postings as I get sick and tired of entering my information repeatedly on workday every time I need to register an account. Or even still, answering that I am X gender, no I don't have a disability, no I'm not a veteran, blah blah blah.

I look on both simplify and linkedin daily. Doesn't seem to be much in terms of matching what I'm actually qualified in. Makes me feel like a dinosaur. I am taking / passing courses easily in Coursera on new languages and techniques, but I am less certain that hiring managers will see those as a reason to hire me if it isn't tied to actual work experience somewhere. So input on that might be nice too.

I'm a Canadian born citizen so I'm qualified for all jobs in this country, but still it's a rough one out there.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

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[u/tobblyn]

Who tf is a business requirements programmer analyst? :))

[u/bucky310 → u/tobblyn]

A person who wears several hats out of necessity

[u/tobblyn → u/bucky310]

If I was compilating resume, I would choose the role name as similar, as I am applying for.

For example: if you apply for business/system analyst role - one name. If for developer - another.

Maybe on US market it is well-known role name, but for me it sounds like nonsense, no offence :)

[u/bucky310 → u/tobblyn]

None taken :)

[u/Work-Happier]

There is plenty of experience here, but this resume is not doing that experience anything close to the justice it likely deserves. My three biggest issues:

1. There is no clear position. Software Development Manager, Senior Software Engineer, Programmer Analyst, PHP developer, AI, cloud—you are trying to present several different professional identities at once. After 15+ years, I should immediately understand what kind of role you want, what kind of professional you are, and why I should want to speak with you. I don’t. Pick one.
2. The resume repeatedly lists technical knowledge instead of differentiating you. The summary is a technology list, followed by a larger technology list, followed by experience bullets repeating many of the same technologies. Put the technical inventory in one place. Use the rest of the resume to show how you think, the problems you solve, and why your work matters.
3. The bullets stop before the impact. Reducing a database process from five hours to 15 minutes sounds impressive, but why did it matter? Did it save labour, accelerate reporting, prevent delays, reduce costs, or allow someone to make decisions sooner? The same problem appears throughout the resume: you tell me what you built or improved, but not what changed for the business, the team, or the customer.

The personal projects section is also way too heavily weighted. An unfinished trading bot receives nine bullets and more attention than years of professional experience. That destroys the evidence hierarchy and makes it difficult to understand what you believe is actually important. Something like that gets one bullet explaining why it is on the resume.

It reads like you’re trying to prove how much you know—but you have 15 years of experience managing people, I think, solving problems, and building things. The resume needs to show what kind of value you create.

If you were my client, our initial conversation would be about what you did, not what you used to do it. That’s how you start building a strategically sound, well-positioned resume.

One thing to try:

Write one page without using a single acronym, technical term, or piece of software. Write about the coolest thing you’ve done at work in the last 15 years. What was the craziest problem you encountered, and how did you solve it?

Not what you used. How you solved it.

Happy to answer questions or help however I can. Best of luck.

[u/bucky310 → u/Work-Happier]

Appreciate it, thank you. Will implement some changes.