Introducing the Resumator 3000

Get better cover letters and resumes for your job search

Did your dad measure work effort in beers?

When I was a kid, my dad and uncle would measure the amount of time that it took to do a project in the number of beers required.

Changing out a blown outlet, that's a one beer project.

Fixing the rotting deck post, that is two person, 8-beer project.

It was agile / scrum / shirt size well before anyone knew what that was.

When I left Sovos, I wanted to start coding again. Not as a job, but just to keep my brain from atrophying. I hadn't built anything in a few years and so much has changed in just the past 12-months that I wanted to see what I could cobble together.

Instead of measuring product complexity in beers (which BTW, speaking from experience, isn't a great way to code), I wanted to measure them in haircuts.

In fact, I wanted to create the idea of One Haircut Projects. I get my haircut about every 30-days, usually around the first of the month. What could I build in that time frame?

And I had to do this in between building a consulting company, golf, a vacation, and other odds and ends that life throws at you.

The result of my first One Hair Cut project in September was a complete disaster. I over complicated it. The 'M' in MVP stood for maximum.

I tried building something that was really complex for my first project and I don't recommend that.

It is in the 'too be continued' folder.

That leads me to my second, October 2024, One Haircut Project - The Resumator3000.

I wanted to build something that would be useful to people, would be a little bit of a challenge, would be something that I'd use, and something, wherein the process, I could learn quite about JavaScript, CSS, AI, prompt engineering, and how to build these little ideas that I get.

I was jointly inspired by Greg Isenberg and Zain Kahn.

Greg just because every time you read or hear something by him, you believe that you can do it to (you actually can). He is an open hydrant of good ideas and motivation.

Zain because his newsletter, Superhuman, shows you the tools to do things like this.

So what is Resumator3000?

It's a simple application that let's you upload a resume, upload a job description, and it will crank out a custom cover letter and resume for you based on your experience and that role.

I hope that it lands a few people their dream job.

It's really simple in concept, but the programming was more complex than I anticipated.

Parsing unstructured data is tough, even with AI (which makes it more expensive). I don't recommend that for your first project.

Here is my ask. Check it out. Beat up on it. Tell me all the problems are that you encounter. Tell me what works and what doesn't. Tell me what you like and don't like about it.

There is a feedback form at the top of the page.

Special thanks to Richard (Mitch) Mitchell, Alex Griffin, Gina Geen, Alex McCall, and Adena DeMonte for helping me test and clean things up.

BTW - I also wrote up a quick FAQ about this, so without further ado…

While building my Resumator3000 project, a number of people asked "You're a sales guy, what are you doing coding?"

I'm an enigma, what can I tell you.

But, I wanted to answer a few other questions that people have posed. With that, here is the FAQ Resumator3000 Edition...

Q: Why “Resumator3000?”

A: It is an homage to my son who, when he was 5 or 6 years old, wanted to be called Crushmeister 2000. That is a dope name, so why not pay tribute to that.

Q: Does this really work?

A: I'm as surprised as you are on this one, but mostly! It builds custom resumes and cover letters based on your own resume and job description. If something catches fire, you’ve probably hit one of my “learning curves.” That’s what the feedback form is for.

Q: What exactly does it do?

A: Upload your resume, upload the job you’re aiming for, and Res3000 gives you a cover letter and resume tailored for that role. It’s like having a very robot give your CV a little HGH boost.

Q: Does it have AI in it?

A: It's 2024, of course it has AI in it. It's also purple and black, that's how you know for sure.

Q: Why didn’t you just measure this in beers?

A: I tried, but I'm already not very good at coding. Put a few IPA's in that mix and my git repository starts to look like a bowl of spaghetti. My dad's project system worked for changing outlets, but coding under a “beers-per-feature” plan? That’s a hard no. Thus, the “haircut system.”

Q: What went wrong in the first project?

A: I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was doing and I was just cobbling features together with spit, love, and bubblegum. It ended up being a very Frankenstein-esque app that no one wants.

Q: Why did you build this?

A: I wanted to test myself and maybe even land a few folks their dream jobs.

Q: Are you going to market this?

A: I was thinking of making some TikTok ads, but I'd want to hire the person that runs the NutterButter account and I probably can't afford them.

Q: What's next?

A: Aside from a haircut, I've got a few projects in mind. I brought up the idea of a podcast the other day and that seems to have gotten a lot of attention. I've been playing with AI video, so maybe I'll do a series called "Fake Scott, Real Talk", I've enjoyed meeting founders of the new AI tools that help sales people, and I've got a consulting company that is starting to get some traction. Lots going on.

If you have other questions about this or want to build your own one haircut project, hmu. In the meantime, check out Res3000, break it, let me know what’s wonky.

🍻Here's to the “haircut projects” that keep us learning.