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by rglullis 751 days ago
This screams of "if all you have is a hammer..."

You just want/need a way to keep your CV in a source code format. Why not TeX/LaTeX?

2 comments

I used to have mine in LaTeX, rendering a nice PDF. But here's the thing, you're up against automated CV parsing systems that you don't have any insight into - a total black box. And it's a different black box with every recruiter. If your CV fails to parse, then it kicks out into a manual system where the recruiter has to add it all in. And as the market isn't wonderful right now, I would lean into making your CV as simple and congruent with their systems as possible. Which is to say, maddeningly, you should Just Use Microsoft Word. I know, I know...
Recruiters don't waste time manually adding CVs that don't parse, that's why recruitment platforms ask a pdf of the cv and a plain text copy from candidates or god forbid one of those awful forms to input your cv again line by line... and if they don't require that, I'll assume a not parsing cv will just not be dealt with at all.
LaTeX requires retaining a large installation. Python and a web browser are usually always there. Also here resume exists in a structured form. Recently posted[0] RenderCV[1] does something similar but outputting to TeX instead.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40472994 [1]: https://github.com/sinaatalay/rendercv

> LaTeX requires retaining a large installation.

Or just use Overleaf.

> Python and a web browser are usually always there.

Python is only there if you are on an Unix machine. If you are on Windows, that is not true. And if you are on Unix, then getting LaTeX is just a rpm/apt/homebrew command away.

It's not like it's saving me from having to learn something. If I have to deal with a new DSL that does not give any real advantage over a generic tool, what is the point?

Someone built something the way that they did because they wanted to. Clearly this isn’t for you :shrug: