My resume spreads over five pages, and it's full of the turgid, pedantic, and garrulous text you're no doubt familiar with from me.

I'm afraid it's too complicated, and I'm missing out on employment offers.

Point me to better examples of tech/programming resumes.

Thanks.

Have a look on Askme - there have been several discussions about this very thing.

Pretend this is MetaChat and you're just looking for a job you'd like.

How would you describe that?

Start there. I am happy to wordsmith for you with exactly the buzzword quotient you specify.

I'm now entering my mid-30s and I realize I have gathered quite a train of shit behind me on my resume. For my first 10 years out of school, it seemed de rigeur to use everything available on the resume. Now I realize it's time to cull stuff from the rear. Only the most relevant stuff stays, combined with enough recent history to show that I've stayed productive.

Of course, relevant AND recent is usually what you want to show. If you don't have both, you are in a "special needs" situation, a "lateral transfer" or some such and need more specific advice. Need details. Is the thing posted somewhere?

Make it one page. Be brutal with it. Treat it like it were a bad metatalk commenter and needed to be schooled by you. Get in there, tear it apart and school it succinctly.

If the experience doesn't make you shine, drop it. One thing that drives me nuts about tech resumes is all the crap that people include. I know the field well enough to know it's in the beast's nature to change and that you will have likely worked with a number of technologies and/or languages. Big deal. Don't include all of them. Same goes for not including every project you've ever done (usually with a long description that's poorly written). Blah, blah, blah. Demonstrate an ability to think critically about your own work history and I will thank you with my attention to the details you do supply.

If you've done the above and it's still two pages, then one way around this is to make the edited two page version semi-modular. Prepare your resume so you can drop certain well written portions in and out depending upon the particular tack you want to take with a lead. Also, you can always save a gem or two for the cover letter that highlights something that you can't seem to fit reasonably within your one page framework, but that really makes you stand out.

If you include a URL, I will look at it. Here's another opportunity to impress. If your e-mail address has a distinct sounding domain, I may check that out to see if you're involved in any way as well.

Make it relevant. Make it vital. Make it one page.

I agree with the one-page sentiment. Anyone making a decision to interview will do so by the end of the first page anyway. If information is important it should be there; if it's not, drop it.

That said, don't make the resume a one-page crib sheet of 6 font writing. It should be readable and contain enough white space to be pleasing to the reader and help direct the reader's attention to the good stuff.