The below is advice I was asked for by a friend in astronomy looking to tailor their academic CV for data science roles when I was organising our team recruitment at Royal Mail, posted on my LinkedIn here. I thought it might be useful for other astronomers or, more generally, academics looking to make a similar transition.

The main comment I have is that you're…

Before you even start writing your CV, it is important to understand what the objective of your CV actually is…



The answer should be to secure you an interview - that’s it. Your CV alone will not land you that dream position although it is a very important document in the process.

We’ve heard clients say, “I can tell a good applicant from a CV” Well, in fact, they can’t. Whilst a good CV will definitely help identify an applicant worth interviewing, it is…

In the drive towards the semantic web, mailing lists are ripe, low hanging fruit. They are full of wisdom totally inaccessible to the casual user. To unlock this wealth of knowledge for our apps, we need it in a format like the Stack Exchange data dump.



This data dump format is to Stack Exchange what JSON is to JavaScript: an exchange format that spawns growth in ecosystems…

Every time a new technology disrupts the job market a "skills shortage" is debated between economists and politicians. The story isn't new - 10 years ago recruiters were asking for programmers with 10+ years experience in Java. The gap is widened by non-technical recruiters employing rigid traditional hiring practices. The truth is that there are all kinds of smart people with relevant skills that don't fit into HR's pigeonhole - we're generalists, not specialists. The onus…