by Pratim Bhosale
March 3, 2022
Haven't you ever felt that traditional resumes sometimes end up snatching an opportunity from you before even giving you a chance to show all your skills and pitch yourself for an opportunity that you really wanted? I have never been very fond of resumes. I’ve always requested for a call if that’s possible. Not because I was low on self-confidence or felt I didn't have enough to fill the resume, but because I feel resumes can never express attitude, vibe, passion, and zeal.
Plus, these resumes come with their preconceived notions. Some want them to be short. Some want them to be long. Some prefer to have graphical representations in them, and finally, some want them to be simple and straightforward.
Oh my god. These days I feel that choosing a partner would be way easier than fixing the style and format of a resume.
I totally agree that in bigger companies, there needs to be some uniformity in order to make the recruiter’s life easy. But for someone whose job profile is way more colorful than a rainbow, a resume does not do justice.
I want my clients and recruiters to experience my journey, get a glimpse of my growth and see my work evolve over a period of time.
Plus, if I’m adding links to my work, I want them to have a preview. Let’s be honest, nobody likes seeing dead links shared with them.
I work in the DevRel field and my job does not have a fixed template of tasks.
Today I might be banging my head over integration, and tomorrow I might be talking at an event. Writing all of this in my resume would
- Take me years
- Make the other person sleep ( because of my awesome storytelling skills)
That’s where I feel Polywork works for me.
I majorly enjoy Polywork because of the timeline, feel and look. And yeah, also because most of my DevRel community hangs out here. Timelines only remind me of the Marvel succession. Which I absolutely love!
I’ve been able to park all my community work here.
Which would never see the light of my resume initially.
The best part is it caters to all personas. For someone who wants to have an overview of events and blogs I’ve done, the Collections preview works the best. While someone who wants to know about every initiative of mine can scroll through my timeline.
The DevRel community on Polywork is gold. All the folks that I learn from are on it and it helps me stay updated with their work, their pattern, and style of working. As someone who learns from people’s journeys, the Polywork timeline of the people I follow helps me take inspiration and follow in their footsteps to some extent.
While I create content on a lot of platforms it's always nice to have something purely to track your work. No-fuss. Only updates. That’s a major reason for me to share my Polywork link.
It's time we got creative and personalized our portfolios.
While we are in the most thriving phase in terms of innovation and opportunities, sticking to old resume formats is just not explainable.
It is time we hear people, their stories, feel their passion and energy, and then take the decision.
Ok, I am going to make a bold statement now.
Let's just say that I had 20 opportunities. 10 required resumes and 10 were flexible with having an introductory call and sharing portfolios.
I ended up getting calls from 3 out of the 10 opportunities which required a resume. On the other side, where a resume wasn't the only mode for pitching myself, I closed upon 9 opportunities.
Now resumes might work for you well. I ain't disagreeing with that. But for people like me who have more to share than mere numbers and experience, Polywork works like a charm.
It's way more easier for me to slip in my polywork link than sending 15 different links encompassing my work
Now coming back to Polywork, after timelines the next feature that I genuinely found thoughtful was not adding the factor of likes or upvotes to highlights. Because it's high time we stop seeking validation over work. There are enough mediums for that already.
If you’re in DevRel, especially a beginner in the industry, make yourself seen via Polywork.
Do different, Be different.
Want to check out Polywork? You can use this link to skip their waitlist
