Day: May 8, 2025

I’ll give this another whirl. 

The suggestions the Grok AI made do improve the way the resume reads. In fact, it’s much better than that “Hack” I paid to rework my resume.

These changes are clear and make sense. It’s not just a bunch of BS keywords strung together. I’ve begun work on several of the suggested certifications. Oddly, the courses themselves come easily. Perhaps because they’re kind of intuitive and align with the way I’ve always done these sort of things. I can see the years of experience that I have, playing into grasping the materials presented for the certifications themselves.

The latest version of TestRail is 1000 times better than the version I worked with years ago. Jira, likewise makes a lot more sense than it used to. I’m amused in a way because these certifications are just a way for someone to make money.

I always fought against paying for someone to certify that I knew stuff. I remember being able to outright buy a Microsoft or Netware certification.

Back in the day, everyone did it, then put the little logo on their resumes. In the end the certifications were so devalued lots of employers stopped caring, and the fad died off. 

These days some of these certifications have become a necessary evil. As long as the cost for training and certification doesn’t get out of hand, having these listed on my resume and actually brushing up on my knowledge isn’t a bad thing.

It’s also possible that going through the course work will help to reintegrate me into the current terms and methodologies. That might make me more hire-able and more easily blend into extant corporate cultures.

I don’t know if that’s true but it’s relatively cheap to find out.

Ideally, what I want is a simple testing job, I don’t need a ton of money coming in. I’d be really happy if I could work remotely 100% of the time. I don’t want to have to sit on the freeway, and should I move, it wouldn’t necessarily mean changing jobs.

As I was working on the resume, it occurred to me that I might need to get a fast external drive for my computer.

I did a quick investigation of some of the testing tools and software. I’d need to build a dedicated test rig, these tools put crap deep into the OS, and some of the changes may not be easy to reverse.

It would be nice to have a bootable external device to keep work stuff on, that never touched my core personal system.

Fortunately, those kinds of devices are pretty cheap and my computer is dang fast. But that’s a purchase that wouldn’t come until I had job in hand, and perhaps the company would provide a machine on their dime. If they don’t, I could have a device delivered in a day.

I’m oddly optimistic. I haven’t liked my resume for the past several years. But I was stuck and couldn’t see how to improve it.

It’s interesting that a dispassionate AI could give me clarity.