colin dellow's bln

I promised a few people that I would post my cover letter/resume packages once I knew my success rate. So, here they are!

The elements that I think were most successful (i.e. got most comments from employers):

• renaming my list of skills to my "applicable buzzwords"
• life highlights section -- notably, losing the shirt off my back to an unhappy client, 1.4 L of Kraft Dinner and Scrabble score
• including second-hand compliments about the employer (e.g. Morgan Stanley cover letter)
  

Without further ado, my successful packages:
Desire2Learn - .NET Programmer
Fanfare - Application Developer
iAnywhere - Application Developer
iAnywhere - Program Manager
Microsoft - Software Design Engineer
Morgan Stanley - Application Developer
University of Waterloo CS Tutors

And, of course, the not-so-successful packages:
Expedia - Software Design Engineer in Test
Expedia - Program Manager
Microsoft - Program Manager

Screw Expedia. They're annihilating my success rate. In addition to the SDET position, I've also been turned down for the Program Manager position. As well, Microsoft officially turned me down for their PM position.

So, of 11 interviews sought, I received 8. 73%. Not bad for a new resume and some wacky cover letters.

Only three interviews left, all with iAnywhere. Once that's done (noon Thursday), I'll post a summary of how the interviews went and my predictions for which will rank me. On Friday, I should learn how successful my guesses were!

Expedia has wrecked my run of good luck: They have turned me down to interview for a Software Design Engineer in Test position.

I blame my cover letter - I openly called testing "not sexy". (Well, it's not, damnit. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?)

Microsoft is interviewing me for the Software Design Engineer internship.

Desire2Learn has granted me an interview.

Remember the new format I was trying for my resume? Yeah, the one that notes: Number of shirts ripped off my back by unsatisfied clients: 1.

I applied to 11 positions, each of which met the following criteria:

• the job was well-ranked on CoopRankings.com
• the job is here in Waterloo or in a neat international location

My primary motivators: Staying near friends and Jenn. Not having the hassle of moving unless there are major benefits (e.g. seeing London, New York, California or Washington). Working at a job that I will find fulfilling.

Each position got more or less the same resume and a custom cover letter. So far, I am batting 1000: four positions have screened their applicants, and I have been successful in attaining interviews in all four.

I expect this to change when Microsoft does its screens. Why? Well... the resume wasn't the only variable I was playing with. In response to a vague job posting, the Microsoft Program Manager position got this cover letter:

Dear sir or madam,

“Can you take a product vision, apply breakthrough technologies, and build the right architecture for the product from the ground up?”

Yes.

Respectfully,
Colin Dellow

I'll keep you posted! (So far the interviews are with the University of Waterloo's Instructional Support Group, with Morgan Stanley's IT Department and in the Development Team at Fanfare Group.)

So our bathroom has become a bit of a high-brow place of late. Featured books include:

The Wisdom of Alexander The Great: Enduring Leadership Lessons From The Man Who Created An Empire
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder
Gone with the Wind

So, a lot of people have inquired as to who I am voting for. This is a tough question. Let us assume I do not agree with the secondary parties' views, so I only have to pick between Liberals and Conservatives.

So let's take the analytical approach to start with:

Ethnic and cultural diversity
Lose-lose. Both candidates are immigrants: Telegdi is from Hungary and Mandur is from India.

Daycare program
The Liberals want a national daycare program (a la Quebec). The Tories want to give a $1,200/child/year bonus to parents.

I'm not a parent now, nor am I planning on becoming one in the short- to mid-term. But I don't think I want a national daycare. Thus, Tories.

Polish of the candidates
Yeah, this is shallow, but true. Ajmer Mandur's published propaganda and his website are full of gramamtical and spelling errors. Telegdi's is not. They're both immigrants, so I view them as both being on a level playing field when it comes to communications polish: clearly Telegdi has chosen to surround himself with people who can ensure his communications are up to snuff. This is, after all, what the job is all about. Thus, Liberals.

Polish of electronic systems
Ajmer Mandur
Andrew Telegdi

Mandur's website is much nicer looking and much more functional. You can even post comments to his blog. Telegdi doesn't seem to understand what a blog is. And he uses red font on white background -- I get it, you're patriotic! But what about making it easy for me to read?

Also, they both use PHP -- shame, I would have given bonus marks to a Rails user! Anyway, this one clearly goes to the Tories.

Gay marriage
Conservatives want a free vote on the matter, Liberals want gay marriage. I don't care what gays do, but I do care if people attempt to restrict their rights. Arguments such as "this way, the will of the people is recognized" and "the Tories can't pass a constitutionally valid law anyway" don't fly with me: the Liberals are being much more upfront about their position and the likely outcome if they are elected. Therefore, Liberals.

Education
Well, I'll be done by the time they implement their strategies. Basically, the Tories want to create some tax credits for textbooks (yay!) as well as tax credits for scholarships (yay!). Unfortunately, I try not to buy textbooks and I don't have any scholarships. Boo!

The Liberals want to fund a year of education -- half your first, and half your last. Thus, Liberals.

Gun registry
Tories want to dismantle the gun registry. Enough said. Tories.

GST cut
Tories want to cut GST to 6%, then 5%. I'm not sure what the Liberal position on tax cuts is -- I should really figure that out! Until I become more educated, Tories.

Sleazy marketing
Telegdi included a quote by Joe Clark in some of his marketing materials. The quote was from the last election, shortly after Joe Clark lost his bid to control the Tories. In the quote, Clark is vicious towards Harper's politics, maligning his policies on abortion, Natives, and Canada-USA relations. Understandable, given the context.

Unfortunately, Telegdi's ad doesn't give you this context. The quote is undated and does not say the location or venue of the comment. Oops! How misleading! What an accident! Thus, Tories.

Summary
So, on a quick, off the cuff poll, it looks like Tories get the nod in a 5 to 3 win of random things I care about.

Andrew Telegdi is welcome to phone me at 489-1020 to attempt to sway my vote.

Risqué? Devoid of employable content? Flippant? Garbage?

You be the judge.

That copy's just a draft - feedback is welcomed and may be incorporated into a final version!

PS - Yes, there are oddities: missing apostrophes, truncated words, bad spacing. This is because MS Word sucks at doing HTML. These won't be in the final copy.

in black ink and a firm hand: "Prove gcd(a, b, c) = gcd(a, gcd(b, c)) for any a, b, c in Z."

Written below it, in blue ink and scrawling script was the proof.

Written below that was an ecstatic "Thanks!"

What a nerdy school.

On a similar note, our apartment now has wireless internet (of sorts). Serverus is now a SOCKS5 and DNS server serving traffic on the wireless card Dan donated to him.