Module 4: Career Readiness: GitHub + Resume

Module Overview

Module 4 shifts focus from technical preparation to career readiness, specifically building your GitHub profile and continuing to craft an effective resume. A strong GitHub presence and well-crafted resume are essential tools for showcasing your skills and projects to potential employers in the data science field.

Through this module, you'll learn how to create a professional GitHub profile, contribute effectively to repositories, and present your work and experience in a way that attracts employer attention.

Learning Objectives

Building Your GitHub

• Getting Started With GitHub
• Creating Your Profile README
• Pinning Projects

Creating Effective Content for Your Resume

• Adding Skills
• Adding Projects
• Experience Pre-BloomTech

Finding Jobs

• Example Job Titles Based on Your Skills so Far
• Where to Look for Roles

Core Competencies

GitHub

GitHub Profile Essentials

During your job search, you'll find that many applications ask you to link to your GitHub profile. This is an opportunity to use GitHub as a tool to promote yourself and represent your skills. You want to make it as easy as possible for your prospective employer to imagine you as a contributing member of their team by showcasing your contributions to projects in an organized, compelling way.

To get started, we'll create a GitHub profile if you don't already have one. Key steps include:

• Creating a professional GitHub account with an appropriate username
• Uploading a professional profile photo
• Writing a compelling bio that showcases your target job titles and tech stack
• Setting up profile links to showcase your professional presence

Creating Your Profile README

GitHub now features a profile README section that is customizable. This section will appear above your pinned projects, giving you the opportunity to do some branding and marketing about yourself. You decide what information to include in your profile README, so you have full control over how you present yourself on GitHub.

You'll want to make sure to include the following information in your README:

• Introductory message that welcomes viewers to your page
• 2-3 quick bullets or sentences that describe yourself: this can include passions, interests, expertise, and what you currently do
• Reference skills and expertise you have
• Contact information to let others know how they can send you a message

Pinning Projects

Pinned projects in GitHub are a way to highlight the work that you've completed inside and outside of BloomTech. Pin 3-6 non-sprint projects to the top of the page, prioritizing your most impressive projects and open-source contributions. Include at least a one-sentence description of each project.

Follow these steps to pin your own projects:

• In the top right corner of GitHub.com, click your profile photo, then click Your Profile
• At the top of the "Popular repositories" or "Pinned" section, click Customize your pins
• Select up to six repositories and gists, combined
• Click Save pins
• You can reorder the items by clicking the six dots and dragging pins to new locations

GitHub Resources

Resume

Adding Skills

A technical skills section on your resume allows for a reader to quickly scan your tech stack and gain a high level understanding of what you have experience with. It's also an easy way for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to catch key technical skills they may be filtering for.

Since you've continued to learn more skills throughout the last 4 sprints, we are going to go ahead and add them now. This section should highlight:

• Programming languages and frameworks you've learned
• Tools and technologies you've worked with
• Data science libraries and platforms
• Organized categories that make scanning easy for recruiters

Adding Projects

The projects section of your resume is a crucial component that allows you to showcase your practical skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities to potential employers. As a current learner, highlighting relevant projects can significantly enhance your resume and make you stand out from the competition.

Key steps for effective project presentation:

• Select relevant projects: Academic projects from BloomTech (Guided Projects, Sprint Challenges) and personal side projects
• Format projects with title, role, tech stack, and 2-4 bullet points highlighting key accomplishments
• Write strong bullet points using action verbs and quantifiable outcomes
• Include GitHub repository links and deployed website links when available

Experience Pre-BloomTech

The experience section serves as a comprehensive overview of your professional background, providing employers with insight into your transferable skills and capabilities. As a career transitioner, it's extremely important to highlight the transferable skills you gained in previous roles prior to BloomTech.

Your experience doesn't have to be tech-related - there are transferable skills from any role:

• Select your most relevant and recent experience
• Format with company name, location, title, dates, and 3-4 accomplishment bullet points
• Write bullet points using the formula: Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]
• Focus on quantifiable achievements and results rather than job duties

Resume Resources

Job Search

Finding Opportunities with Your Current Skills

Every time you complete a Career Readiness Module, the list of job titles you can apply for grows as your skills expand! You're already learning skills relevant to the tech industry and have ways to start using those now. While you don't have to apply for roles at this point, exploring opportunities will help build confidence for your future job search.

Consider both full-time and part-time/contract positions. Part-time roles can help you build technical skills while providing income as you finish the program, and may lead to full-time opportunities. Lean into skills from your previous profession - they help separate you from other candidates in the job market.

Potential Job Titles: Data Entry Specialist, Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, Data Visualization Specialist, Customer Support, Data Strategist, Customer Support and Success Associate, Data Analyst Intern, Big Data Support, AI Prompt Engineer

Job Search Tips

• Set filters to "Date Posted = last 24 hours or last week" for fresh opportunities
• Apply if you meet at least 50% of job requirements (aim for 0-3 years experience)
• Apply directly on company websites, not through easy-apply portals
• Skip cover letters unless explicitly required; focus on networking outreach instead
• For salary questions, list "market rate for [role] in [location]" or "negotiable"

Recommended Job Boards

Part-Time/Contract Work:

FlexJobs

Upwork

Remotasks

Guru

Large Job Boards:

LinkedIn Jobs

Glassdoor

Indeed

SimplyHired

Jr Dev Jobs

Built In

Start-ups:

Wellfound

Outer Join

Inclusively

Funded and Hiring

Remote Work:

Remotive

We Work Remotely

Remote Woman

Remote POC

Remote Tech Jobs

DEI-Focused:

Diversify Tech

Diversity.com

Employ Diversity