Critique my CV for me.

[BrevityOverLevity]

Professional Summary
A Front End development bootcamp graduate with experience of building mobile first accessible web applications in an agile environment. Strong communication and time management skills from my former career in healthcare & a drive for education.

Key Skills

o HTML 5
o CSS 3
o JavaScript ES6
o REACT.js
o JSON
o GIT Version Control
o Git-Hub
o REST API
o Figma
o Wireframing
o Microsoft Office
o Adaptability
o Communication
o Agile Working
o Critical Thinking
o Collaborative working

Career History
October 2022 to present Personal leave.
I have used this time to build my portfolio website & learn Figma/wireframing.
I have also completed my Level 2 Understanding coding and I am currently completing Level 2 digital marketing.

May 2010 to September 2022
Self Employed private Podiatrist visiting patients in their homes. I was responsible for all clinical care, business administration and business development during this time.

September 2000 to May 2010
NHS Podiatrist working with high risk patients in a multidisciplinary setting. Mentored newly graduated podiatrists and led teams of staff to run clinics efficiently.


Education
Podiatry BSc with Hons Birmingham City University
Coding Skills Bootcamp Purple Beard Training
Level 2 in Business Administration, IT Skills, Understanding Coding.

It fits on one page but I'm worried I've made it too short?

It is a bit short. what sort of job are you trying to get? I think you need to expand on the development course you’ve done, how long was it, is it degree level, did you do any relevant work placements whilst doing it or in the holidays? Your key skills seem to be a mixture of applications and attributes. Maybe split these up into two sections instead of one long list.

Good idea, I can split it into key skills and soft skills.

I'm going for web development from healthcare. I built a portfolio website and put other projects on it.

Previous feedback from topcv said too long and not enough emphasis on management skills but you can't really compare web dev to healthcare on key skills.

It depends what level job you’re going for. I look at a lot of graduate scheme CVs and we usually like 2 pages max but one page doesn’t give enough information. You need to include all your additional experience, so placements and work experience whilst at uni, as well as your web course details, there’s no indication of lengthy or modules studied at all at the moment and there’s a big Deidre be between a degree/masters degree and a month long course only.

Would referencing the awarding bodies be common in that sector? It is in mine.

I can put the awarding bodies on for the degree and level 2 but the coding bootcamp was a government funded bootcamp and not NCFE accredited.

Ok so it was a course rather than a degree? I would put the boot camp and the level 2 under a section called qualifications then, and your degree and A levels under education, as there’s a difference. It’s also beneficial to show you’ve done additional qualifications, and clears up any misunderstanding of what it is before interview stages.

You could also bump up the skills you gained from your Podiatry roles. You’ve got 22 years of experience and it does form all of your career experience. You must have some good transferable skills form that.

I think you need more detail of experience that relates to the type of work you are looking for.

Also, put dates on the education.

Do you have coding examples you can put on GitHub?

Yes, I've got several projects on GitHub and a portfolio website.

We were told to not put dates on our degrees as it ages you?

I disagree completely about putting placements during a degree - she's not a new graduate - she's got 20+ postgrad years experience!

I'm not sure how bootcamps work, but do you do any specific projects or stuff with employers?

I'd put the bootcamp under the education section though, but also include what projects you did during it as part of your experience section. As this is the sector you're aiming for you need to put as much technical detail in this bit. You can combine your podiatrist roles into one, and talk about the skills used during that role - communicating, dealing with clients, time management etc.

And include a link to your GitHub if you have one.

Two thirds needs to be about your web / tech skills though. You could include a one liner about why you wanted to move into a completely different sector, and how your soft skills are an advantage.

The big things I don't get from it are the skills you bring from your recent retraining (and I'd call it something like that rather than Personal Leave, which reads as holiday or prison to me). And the skills from your podiatry experience which are transferrable to your new career.

As others have highlighted - it's 22 years, your entire professional experience. What from that time makes you appealing in your new role? Did you develop your own website, with innovative appointment booking technology, for example? There must be something from that time that gives you value going forward.

What should I call it? My husband died and I don't want to put bereavement leave really.

I developed websites but they were not to do with podiatry because I had to give it up to look after dh.

Career break is usually what people put. But I don't think you need to put that anyway - add what you did as part of the career part of your CV.

I'd suggest:
Profile: Front End dev etc.
Add a link to GitHub
Add something about why you want to change career.

Skills: HTML etc.

Experience: Oct 22 - present. Following purple wotsit bootcamp I have honed skills in figma/wire framing, as well as develop portfolio demonstrating my skills in x, y, z (see GitHub above)
Then a lot more about the stuff in your portfolio

Sep 2000 - Oct 2022 - A registered podiatrist, working for NHS and privately. Skills include understanding client needs, etc

Have you got any work experience programming? Good you've got a portfolio but some work experience would help you.

Might be worth looking at health tech and also NHS digital and DHSC. They have interaction designers. Make sure if you look at public sector you are aware of the gov.uk and NHS patterns and also are prepared to answer questions about addressing user needs.

NHS loves ex practitioners. I'm less familiar with NHS as I'm civil service but you can see the competencies on our DDaT framework. I'd be prepared to demonstrate meeting any of those in interview.

Finally, if you do go for one of those roles, make sure you address each essential min criteria so you can clear the sift.

www.gov.uk/guidance/interaction-designer

Yes, the NHS does love an ex-practitioner. We know the dance.

Ok, prof summ re-write 1.

A Front End development boot camp graduate with experience of building mobile first accessible web applications in an agile environment.

While furloughed during the Covid pandemic I discovered I enjoyed coding. I enjoy the need for code to be precise and exact to work & the feeling of satisfaction when your code runs successfully & you have a web application running in the browser.

I have a growth mindset and was determined I would learn how to build websites and change careers into web development where I could still use my soft skills learnt from healthcare such as communication & collaboration.
^^
I am motivated to progress into a front end developer role & make life easier for users with accessible web applications.

I mean healthcare didn't teach me as much as you'd like to think & I've listed my transferable skills under soft skills.

I learnt a pen can be used as a weapon and how to talk my way out of being held captive in a clinic with a recently released prisoner who took pleasure in telling me no one from the GP practice would notice if I was still in the clinic room with him when they locked up for the night.

Annoyingly he was right they wouldn't have noticed.

That's more what you'd add to a covering letter.

Keep the first para. Maybe add:

A growth mindset, coupled with a period of furlough, afforded me the opportunity to pursue a long held interest in web development.

A confident communicator with a collaborative approach to work, I have a particular interest in web accessibility and am keen to work in a front end developer environment.

Damn it. Ok will do.

'Able to think on feet and deal with difficult situations achieving an outcome beneficial to all parties'?

😂

Yeah except I got a bollocking off management for rearranging the clinic so it couldn't happen again.

I'm a software developer. The sort of roles you're looking to get is unclear.
If you want to focus on 'accessible websites' then you should really be looking at UX, not developer roles.
Also, you need to talk
a) Speak more about your technical skills
b) Emphasize the competencies and value added in your previous roles

Example:
"was responsible for all clinical care, business administration and business development during this time."

What does this mean exactly?

A Front End development boot camp graduate with experience of building mobile first accessible web applications in an agile environment.

A growth mindset, coupled with a period of furlough, afforded me the opportunity to pursue a long held interest in coding and web development using FreeCodeCamp.

A confident communicator with a collaborative approach to work, I have a particular interest in mobile first accessible applications and am keen to work in a front end developer environment to progress my skills further.