I've been a self-employed consultant for 12 years, worked on dozens of native iOS apps, including for some name brand companies, I've made $300k-400k gross for years, and I've also started my own profitable side business (hundreds of thousands in revenue over the last few years). Being self-employed has been amazing, but I'm looking for a new challenge and to level up even more over the next 10-15 years, so I'm going to be applying to the Big N companies with offices in NYC, as well as some tier 2 companies. Been grinding on LC and feeling good there, and I'm on the lookout for referrals (hint, hint). I've shared my resume below, welcome any constructive feedback, no matter how brutal. Am I delusional to think I have a shot here?
If you have not worked in a office environment with a team, it might be looked at as a problem. Especially for a senior role. Every screening call you get, they will ask you what is your work set up. They might think your work environment is too different from there’s. There’s no way to gauge that you are a team player if you are not accustomed to working on a team. And working in a office is a lot more hectic than working remote. Unless you are able to get a remote position.
Yeah, that's kind of tricky. I've had my own office, worked out of coworking spaces, or shared an office with another freelancer, but I've basically never worked onsite with my clients. Ironically, that's part of the reason for this job change...I'm tired of working alone all day; I want more face-to-face interaction.
Resume is fine, enough to get interviews. Some tense problems (Helps, vs Grew) and I feel you say "app" too much but overall good.
Good catch on tense, thanks for the feedback!
Well the narrative you'll be selling to prospective employers looks decent enough. If you want a referral on Blind you might as well stop hinting and just ask for it though.
At Salesforce? Gross! Just kidding! In all seriousness, I do want referrals for a few companies, but I'm chasing down people in my network today, so I'll post for those specifically later this week. Really appreciate the feedback!
Lots of weird flexing here. Sounds like you mostly want a humble brag. Your resume is a cluttered mess of eye rape. In general there is not a lot of specifics on your resume at all. It reads like a consultant trying to hit buzzwords. IMO drop associate product manager because it's 12 years ago and has no relevancy to what you do now. Drop military off the resume, it sounds like you're trying to score points as a vet. There's a questionnaire you can fill out for that. You have 7 notable products that say absolutely jack shit about any of them. All buzzwords. Trim that down to 4 where you actually talk about them. I learned nothing from reading your resume except you can only talk about things at a 5 mile high overview, which is something I would not want for someone with your experience.
I'm not at Square anymore and I don't care what tier you list it as. Not a jealous asshole, just giving you the truth. Sorry but experience 12 years ago is hardly relevant and nothing on your resume screams you're L5 or above material at FB/Goog from the low amount of details you've put. If you want to chase those positions then you need to do basic resume grooming 101. I'm not the one asking for honest advice and quite frankly, has such a fragile ego they needed to write two completely unrelated paragraphs to weird flex. You want to get a senior developer position? Then prove you wrote an app that did more than "used rest API" and had complexity to them. But sure, summarize it as I'm jealous that you are an independent developer who has passive income. It's comical you think anyone who doesn't suck you off because of your "background" is jealous. I'm the one working in the companies you want to be in ;).
It’s possible. It would depend on your portfolio and the duration on each project. Some companies get concerned about follow through with devs that move from app to app without longer term ownership of the features. Others like the breadth of experience. Depending on where you apply, they may not know how to evaluate you (if the hiring manager is junior with little experience). Be prepared to explain why you are giving up being self-employed and how you can integrate and work well with team structures. They will particularly want to know if you worked solo (could be a problem) or on teams with other devs, PM’s, and designers.
Very helpful, thanks! I typically am the solo iOS dev, but there's almost always a "PM" (often a startup founder), backend engineer, designer, and sometimes Android engineer. I've definitely worked on tons of short-term projects of just a few months, but I've also done long-term maintenance on some of these projects for years, so I think I can cover that. Really appreciate the feedback!