Designers & Resume?

[dezinerite]

I'm just about to update my resume, I would really appreciate some opinions from designers who have resumes.

I started designing websites in 2007. This was all self-taught. I'm getting better each year and I believe experience in this field of work is vital.

That said, I don't really have work experience in this field, in terms of employment. I've been doing web design as a freelancer, when I was a full time student.

Can I actually add "web design experience" on my resume, would that be considered a legit experience? If I add it as a skill, can I state that I have been doing e.g. HTML since 2007?

I know portfolio speaks volumes but I don't feel comfortable disclude the websites I built back in the days.

In your resumes, do you count official work experience or stuff you've done on the side as well?

Thanks.

 

[theaero]

this may help

How do you define "official" ?

 

[apple-development]

who will be seeing this resume?

 

[FatHive]

I think the best resume for a designer would be a portfolio with contacts of the people who you have worked for.

 

[Bla2e]

Well, if you'd need a Certificate from some University (in field of Web Designing) to prove you are legit Web Designer, I mean then you can write that in your resume.

Else, theres always a "Hobby, Likes, Interests" part where you can state that you used to do freelance web designing

 

[Obulus]

Portfolio maybe?

 

[lee101]

For a designer I think a portfolio speaks a million words, there is nothing like proof of the work which you have done to show a potential client/employer your skills. In your case of not necessarily wanting to disclose your past work, I would recommend maybe testimonials or at least people whom you have worked for that can provide you with references.

Of course relevant qualifications do help, but I would consider that X years experience in the industry would make you more employable than someone with all the qualifications under the sun, but no real-life experience. This is just my opinion, although I would consider that many potential employers would look at it the same way.

At the end of the day a resume/CV is to sell yourself and your skills, if they are practical experience then you should emphasise this and use it as an opportunity to advertise what you are able to do, but of course in this industry examples of past work help to back up what you are saying so this may be a slight hurdle to overcome.

Hope that makes sense!

Lee

 

[Tia Wood]

It depends on what career or job you are after. When I was still working a "normal" job, I would put my developer related experiences down just to show that I had the experience and entrepreneur background. I don't think it could hurt. Employers like self driven people.

 

[dezinerite]

Thanks guys. I was composing my resume at the time and then I remembered browsing through a classifieds section months back (or probably a year ago) and this person wanted to hire someone who had "2 years HTML experience".

I believe portfolio speaks volumes (well, it pretty much says it all), and while it takes some people 10+ years to finally be great at it, others can actually take a matter of months or just a year or two. So it was odd for me to see that the person wanted someone with 2 years experience.

That's what confused me really. Normally designers only need to list the skills and level, +portfolio and we're good to go.