The journey into the cloud

RESUME FOR THE PEOPLE

Simple resume writing tips that will get you noticed

Details, details…
Does your resume read like a “to do” list? Do you try to cram in all your job duties, past and present, in one or two sentences hoping to show off how much responsibility your former employers had ladled onto you, hoping to impress your prospective new employer with all those commas? If you really want to impress someone who happens to pick up your resume, it is important to be specific. Instead of merely ticking off one duty after another, show exactly what you contributed to the company and what was accomplished because of that contribution.

Nothing packs more punch than cold hard data. What exactly have you done, and how did it help the company. Did your sales team accomplish a spectacular feat? Did your research end up saving your company a significant percentage?  If you have numbers to back you up, use them. Showing a prospective employer specific goals that you have reached is a good way to stand out.

Be the blank…

It is also important to consider the overall look of your resume. Will it attract the attention that it deserves, or will it merely be quickly perused and shuffled to the bottom of the stack? Is your font choice legible? Is your text too small? Or, is it  way too big?  Does your resume too cluttered?

Be sure to avoid fancy looking fonts and keep the size between 8 and 12. It is also important to utilize the blank space around the body of your text. A bit of open space around your text will make it more inviting to a prospective reader. The typical amount of time a prospective employer takes on looking at a resume is between 10 to 20 seconds, it is important to use all the tricks you can think of not get yourself noticed and hired.

Buzz is the word

Whether we are ready or not, the digital age is upon us, and barring any cataclysmic event, it is here to stay. So, until that comet hits us, we all must get used to the idea of having our resumes being scanned by computer and then stored inside a database never to be looked upon by human eyes again. To pour sweat, tears, and many early mornings into a document, only to have it sit somewhere and collect digital dust is truly a tragedy.

Back in school, remember how important it was, while taking the test, to completely fill in that circle so that scanner could read your answer?  In the world of databases, keywords are the equivalent of that filled in circle.  The machine that your resume is fed into is programmed to scan for certain industry “buzz” words, and to spit out the resumes that scored the highest amount of matches or “hits”.  When writing your resume for this brave new world, it is important to know what these “buzz” words are and how to use them with effectiveness within the body of your resume.

So, Comcast decided that McAfee was not good enough for their costumers and this year  decided to make the big switch over to Norton. Being a sucker for a well known brand name, at first I was excited by this new switch. I mean sure, McAfee has a whole football stadium named after them (at least they did last time I checked) but Norton has been synonymous with top of  the line computer security for as long as I can remember.

And, to get it for free?

Well hot doggy! Sign me up brother.

After a bit of a hassle getting uninstalling McAfee and getting Norton to believe that I was indeed a Comcast costumer in good standing, I soon had my sweet new suite up and running on both my Desktop and laptop. So far everything has been good, and I notice that my computer does not lag as much during routine scans as it did with McAfee.

This minimal suckage of processor power comes as a pleasant surprise to me, since the last time I had Norton, my computer seemed to move like it was 1999 all over again (oh wait a minute 1999 was the last time I had Norton).

But,

As I continue to use Norton, I am starting to realize why Software.com knocked Norton down a few knocks due to its over abundance of false positives. Sometimes it does seem to act like an excited dog who wants to bark at everything it sees. I do not know how many times now that I have been suckered by a red flag, only to realize that it is no big deal.

Also, the other thing hat I do not like about it is that Norton keeps pestering me to use all of its tools. Since I really do not do too much online shopping at the moment, I do not feel the urge to fill out the secure log in thingie. I also like to use a different backup software and wish it would quit trying to get me to use theirs.

Also, Also

Why does everyone and their uncle want to install their own toolbar to my Firefox Browser? I just hate it when one manages to sneak on.

But I guess, its hard to bitch too much. After all it was free.

Sort of.

Ok, so I am still patiently waiting for Max Seybold to send me my free Cherrypal computer and I hoping that the package that USPS failed to get to me the other day was it.  The dang nab postman guy never wants to leave packages for me in the lobby. Just because I live in Oaktown, does not mean my package is going to ripped if it is left in my apartment’s lobby. This really puts a crimp in my ebay binges. Okay, little postal rant aside let me get back to the topic really at hand: My cherrypal computer’s arrival.

a little cherry history

So it has been around six months since I first ran into the Cherryal’s free computer ad on craigslist. Having a dinosaur for a PC I decided :”what the heck” and emailed the company to see what the catch was. A few days later I got a e-mail from a guy called Max Seybold, who told me that he was trying to launch a new type of cloud computer to the public and was looking for a number of internet savvy writers who would be willing to test it out and put their thoughts (good or bad) about this new approach to computing out there on cyberspace.  Being a blogger and curious about this new machine that was supposed to be “sweeter than an apple” yet used only 2 watts of power and was the size of a cable modem prompted me to express my interest in becoming a brand angel.

Several more weeks past, and I was just about to give up on the idea of getting a new PC for free when I was finally contacted by one of Seybold’s associates who told me that Max appreciated my enthusiasm to help launch his bold new project that utilized cloud computing an assured me that I will be getting a brand angel application via e-mail shortlly.

“Neato!” I told myself, since talking to myself  was habit of mine. Finally, I would be getting my hands on a cool new gizmo that was touting itself as th ecomputer of the future. I looked up thier homepage checked out the little machine’s specs…

Freescale’s MPC5121e mobileGT processor, 800
MIPS (400 MHz) of processing
256 MB of DDR2 DRAM
8GB NAND Flash-based solid state drive
(increased from 4GB C100)
WiFi 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
Two USB 2.0 ports
One 10/100 Ethernet with RJ-45 jack
One VGA DB-15 display out jack
Headphone level stereo audio out 3.5mm jack
9vDC 2.5mm 10 watt AC-DC adapter power supply
Weighs 10 ounces
1.3” high, 5.8” x 4.2” wide

It was certainly a tiny little thing. I was also a bit disconcerted of the lack of ports, but then again, hubs are not too pricey. It boasted  a freescale processor, which boasted a triple core design that eliminated inefficiency and  cut the power usage. The 400mhz speed and the small storage space   the was also a bit hard to wrap my head around. 256 mb’s of DDR Ram also seemed a bit short.  We live in world of Giga And Tera now, and this machine was boasting sizes and speeds that were considered top notch almost a full decade ago. But what the heck do I know, I am just a writer.

Doing some research I learned that the secret to this new computer was the cloud operating technology that it planned to use.  The thing was going to use a browser based operating system and provide its users with 50 gigs of storage space.  Instead of shoving more things into the box, Cherrypal was planning to take everything it can out of it.

Curly cue light bulbs, hybrid cars, reusable shopping bags, bike to work days… People are becoming more and more environmentally conscience these days. Does it really have something to do with that Al Gore Movie? Who knows. Personally, I fell asleep fifteen minutes into it and never attempted watch it agin. Those first fifteen minutes gave me the general gist of the flick anyway. global warming, dying penguins, blah, blah, blah. But I do not need some guy who lost an election to an organ grinder named Dick (guess who his monkey is) to know that humankind’s penchant for fossil fuels is wreaking havoc on the Earth’s eco-system. I do not need to be bored to death by his stiff, forced yammering on, to know that it is only going to get worse as our population expands to Malthusian levels. Nope, old Al Gore doesn’t have to tell me that we are heading for a future dystopia unless we began to do something about and change the way we live. I have been knowing about this kinda of shit since I was kid. It had been drilled in to relentlessly through television programming and 16 years of public schooling. I am a trained recycling robot who cannot help but be environmentally conscience. I have been forced fed Captain Planet and weekly reader and have celebrated Earthday by planting a tree . I know that every little bit helps, no matter how small the contribution and if everybody in California bought just one curly cue bulb to use, that it would be as if thier were a 30,000 vehicles off the road, or something like that.

No Al Gore, you are preaching to the choir. I have already been doing my part. I ride my bike to work practically everyday, and I switched every single light bulb in my house to one of those curly cues. I turn off all the lights when I leave and even try to remember to unplug my charger. I wipe with recycled toilet paper and have practiced if its yellow let it mellow until my girlfriend almost strangled me. Hell I am pratically a damn smelly hippy, and prod of it. Hooray Mother Earth!

Perhaps going green is just starting to make better sense to people now that fuel costs have reached staggering heights. Trading in a hummer for a hybrid, or doing things to cut household energy costs now makes a heck of a lot of sense to Joe and Jane America now that their bank accounts are feeling the squeeze from the rising costs.

But hey, who says being environmentally conscience means that you can’t save a few bucks also. Growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan , learned early on about the economic values of reduce, reuse, recycle. Mason jars make great cups and you can make a small fortune collecting pop cans and turning them in are two lessons every ten year snot nosed Yooper kid learns early on.

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