3.4 KiB
Content Writing Framework
Use this when writing project/experience descriptions to trigger recruiter interest.
Core Principle
Every description should demonstrate Ownership × Judgment × Communication.
Don't just describe WHAT you did. Show HOW you think.
The 10 Angles to Cover
| Angle | What It Tests | How to Write |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | End-to-end lifecycle | "Diagnosed, designed, implemented, verified" |
| Investigation | Problem-solving method | "Started with metrics, traced to root cause" |
| Verification | Results validation | "Measured X% improvement, set up monitoring" |
| Judgment | Decision-making | "Considered 3 options, chose X because..." |
| Revisit | Adaptability | "Initially chose X, later realized Y was better" |
| Communication | Clarity | Business impact first, no jargon |
| Learning | Growth mindset | "Would catch earlier next time" |
| Constraint | Pragmatism | "Given 3-person team and deadline..." |
| Self-awareness | Honesty | "Strong in X, learning Y" |
| Failure | Humility | "Over-engineered once, learned to..." |
Description Formula
[ACTION VERB] + [SPECIFIC SYSTEM] + [MEASURABLE OUTCOME] + [CONSTRAINT/CONTEXT]
Good Examples
❌ Bad: "Worked on Kubernetes cluster" ✅ Good: "Architected 3-node Talos cluster with Cilium eBPF CNI, achieving 99.2% uptime"
❌ Bad: "Improved latency" ✅ Good: "Cut LLM inference latency 60% via INT4/INT8 quantization under CPU-bound constraint"
❌ Bad: "Built data pipeline" ✅ Good: "Designed fault-tolerant Temporal orchestration handling 1K+ msgs/sec with auto-recovery"
Power Words by Category
Ownership
- Architected, Designed, Led, Owned, Launched, Delivered
Investigation
- Diagnosed, Traced, Identified, Analyzed, Profiled
Judgment
- Evaluated, Selected, Prioritized, Optimized, Simplified
Verification
- Measured, Validated, Monitored, Achieved, Reduced
Scale
- Production-grade, Mission-critical, Multi-region, High-throughput
Project Description Template
[Title]: [One-line what it is]
[Problem/Context]: What constraint or challenge existed
[Action]: What you specifically did (ownership verbs)
[Result]: Measurable outcome with numbers
[Tech]: Key technologies (shows judgment in selection)
Example: Homelab Kubernetes
Before: "Built a Kubernetes cluster at home"
After: "Production-grade bare-metal K8s on Talos OS. 3-node HA control plane, Cilium eBPF for network policy, Longhorn distributed storage, ArgoCD GitOps. 99.2% uptime running real workloads."
Experience Description Template
[Role]: What you owned
[Impact]: Business/technical outcome with numbers
[How]: Key decisions and trade-offs
[Tech]: Stack that shows breadth/depth
Example: AWS Step Functions
Before: "Senior SDE working on Step Functions"
After: "Designed distributed orchestration across 57+ regions. Built fault-tolerant task scheduling for mission-critical workloads. Owned 8 core components from design through production launch."
Checklist Before Publishing
- Starts with action verb (not "Worked on")
- Has specific numbers (%, regions, nodes, latency)
- Shows ownership (end-to-end, not just "contributed")
- Implies judgment (why this approach)
- No unexplained jargon
- Under 2 sentences per description