HACKER Q&A
📣 thepope

Do you think I should lie on my resume?


I've had a bad year in terms of employment as a software developer. I quit two jobs. I didn't want to quit either job but I kind of had to both times. I wont go into that but I'll just say that I would do it again and leave it at that. In other words even now I think I made the correct decision, both times.

The problem I'm having though is now I have a sketchy job hoppy employment history. So I just left the second job I quit off my resume entirely because I was only there for a few months. The problem is that makes it look like I haven't been programming professionally for about a year. There's several things wrong with that:

- I have been programming as a freelancer

- I have been teaching programming

- I had been spiraling down into lower and lower quality development teams. By the time I left my last job it was like I was on the bad news bears. In other words, even if I had taken a year off I'd still be way better at programming than a lot of the people I've worked with.

- I had already kind of maxed out on what you need to know for mid-level programming anyways.

I've been looking for a job for the past three months (before covid-19) and I'm not getting much interest. I'm considering just lying on my resume because otherwise it's going to be more starting out at the bottom of a bad news bears team and it's not like I have a huge ego but I just can't take that anymore.

What do you think?

  👤 uberman Accepted Answer ✓
Do not lie.

I'm at a stage in my career where internships I did in university are irrelevant. At one point I included them in my CV when I felt like they added something of value but they are no longer pertinent and I don't talk about them.

If you feel like your two short stints do not add value to showcasing your experience then omit them. Your resume is your chance to showcase your skills and experience. Note that this is different than being asked on a form to list your last three employers. Something that again you will not want to lie about.

If asked about a potential continuity break you tell them the truth, that those short stints did not add value to your skill set, nor reflect your long term plans.

That is my recommendation anyways.

One thing you might also want to think about is that perhaps working with an under performing team is an opportunity. If you can lead an under performing team to success then you could be a hero (just as in the movie).