Here’s some hints and tips on how to write a modern CV and bag that dream job!

Design Matters

To bag that dream job you need a stand out CV. A modern CV should be eye catching, without being an eyesore. Keep it simple with a sleek aesthetic feel that sets it apart from every other CV out there. Don’t be afraid of colour and don’t go overboard with things like capital letters and bold or italic text, save them for emphasis. Select a font that works when your CV is viewed online or printed.

Content Comes First

Be sure to include your contact details at the top of your CV. A good tip is to also include your LinkedIn profile address here and make sure your LinkedIn also reflects your career and skill set appropriately.

It’s important to include a personal profile / summary statement as a chance to sell yourself and your skill set. Keep this at the top of your CV.

Include your most recent employment experience first as this is what is most relevant. Make sure you include a summary of your responsibilities, skills and achievements. Similarly, insert your qualifications in chronological order.

It is worth adjusting your CV for the job you are applying for, thinking about job titles, the skills mentioned to help match your experience against a potential job. It’s also important to include any relevant key words that a potential employer / recruiter may be looking for.

Share the Wins

Avoid the temptation to fill your CV with responsibilities and try to stick to highlighting your successes. Wherever possible be specific and provide evidence.

The Final Touches

It may sound obvious but carefully check your CV for spelling and grammatical errors. It can be worth asking someone else to review it too.

Make sure your CV doesn’t appear crowded, you want to hold the recruiter’s attention. Finally, think about the length of your CV and condense anything that may be too specific and causing your CV to seem too long winded. Don’t worry if your CV is longer than two pages though, experienced candidates will have a lot to talk about.

Why not see if we are currently recruiting for your dream job by looking at our current vacancies here. 

What is GitHub?

Founded in 2011, GitHub can host your open source code projects in a variety of different languages. It is designed around Git which is a system that allows you and others to access, use and make various changes to the code with the end goal of making improvements.

Reasons to use GitHub

Posting a project on GitHub allows other users to review your code and offer feedback, highlighting any possible flaws or conflicts. It’s currently one of the largest growing communities of coders so you could receive feedback from developers all over the world. This also means greater exposure for your project as more people view it. If you want to attract recruiters and potential employers GitHub is a great tool for this.

GitHub also makes it easier for you to collaborate and offers an opportunity to learn from others. As a repository you’ll have the ability to view all the different versions of the code as it has evolved, every change is tracked and stored.

Using GitHub allows you to take advantage of something called Markdown. This allow you to write formatted documents without having to learn new systems. You’ll also have access to their documentation guides which are available for almost any relevant topic.

Another thing to remember is that as GitHub is backed up, you’ll never lose your code. It will always be available to you from anywhere, no matter what computer or tablet you are using.

What to put in GitHub

The possibilities here are endless.

If you are currently in a more junior position, posting a project on GitHub will help level the playing field as it will show off your code without having the experience on your CV. Try to avoid setting the bar too high for yourself and stick to realistic projects.

Think about variety, if you can demonstrate the use of multiple tech stacks and tools this will be more impressive to recruiters and potential employers. Make sure you finish your projects, it’s less appealing to see multiple protects that were never finished.

If you complete any coding tests for job applications, you may be able to add these to GitHub and use them to showcase your work.

It’s not essential that you use GitHub, but it will certainly help you to show potential employers that you can code.

In summary, if you love code, GitHub is the place for you! You won’t regret it.

The last event we attended was the Blockchain Expo Europe 2018 which took place in Amsterdam on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th June 2018.

Over 8,600 were in attendance this year and the event covered a range of blockchain related topics with expert speakers taking to the stage across the two days. There was also large exhibition hall showcasing more than 250 companies.

We particularly enjoyed the stages on ‘Cryptofinance & ICO Strategies’ and ‘How blockchain can transform Business strategies’.

We certainly see the benefit in attending these events and encourage anyone working in the blockchain industry to attend.

Next year the Expo comes to London in April 2019 so we will certainly be in attendance!

We were invited to the Consensys launch party in Dublin on Monday 11th June 2018. Consensys are now one of the biggest companies in the blockchain world.

We were part of 310 attendees which included 2 Government Ministers.

Joe Lubin, the founder of Consensys spoke at the launch, he’s also well known for being the co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Other speakers at the event were Lory Kehoe and Kean Gilbert of Consensys Ireland, Sidney Lai of Token Foundry, Asha Dakshi of Meridio and the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD.