Putting books read in resume

Question

Is it a good idea if I put the books I read on my resume, or at least those related to software development?

If you *wrote* a book, then certainly... but not if you've just *read* one. — Dean Harding, Feb 27 '11 at 23:02

score 58 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:00

58

I've read a lot of resumes, some good, some bad, and they've never had a list like this. Honestly, it would indicate to me a candidate who has extremely little hands-on experience and is desperate to pad a thin resume. And a candidate who hasn't bothered to research common resume formats. Such a resume would most likely be circular-filed. By me, anyway.

answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:00

PSU

1,099
8
6

7

Honestly? We're assuming all other things being equal, a resume with the same qualifications, the same years of experience, the same former job responsibilities, but one listing a number of books read, you'd throw the one with the books away? You really must get too many resumes if you weed them out that quickly. – nikie Feb 27 '11 at 23:33
6

@nikie: What is the resume with the book list try to achieve? The ability to read books is a given for our profession and you are expected to stay up-to date by reading. Giving a list of books really does not give me any sense of their ability apart from an unease that they are trying to pad their resume for some reason. That in itself is not enough to throw it away. But the lack of understanding on how to produce a resume (there are a lot of books on the subject) is enough to throw it away. – Martin York Feb 28 '11 at 02:22
2

@Martin: I think everyone agrees that a list of books read is useless and weird, but the question is whether a resume with all other things being equal and a useless additional section should be thrown away. Surely you're trying to evaluate programming ability/experience (or whatever it is the job requires), not resume-making ability/experience. (Are candidates expected to read "a lot of books on the subject" of resume-making?) – ShreevatsaR Feb 28 '11 at 04:50
2

@ShreevatsaR: You are correct its hard to argue about hypothetical situations and what would actually happen when presented with the situation in real life. But saying that, human nature being what it is, we tend to like the familiar and dislike (distrust the unfamiliar). Thus why put yourself at the disadvantage of making your resume unfamiliar to the trained reader of resumes. If it is not going to gain you anything and has the potential to make your resume stick out in an odd way (ie negative). – Martin York Feb 28 '11 at 07:44
@ShreevatsaR: At the resume stage I am not trying to evaluate your ability that comes during the interview stage. But the HR department has to wino down those thousands of resumes to the one open position (you don;t want to stick out in a bad way here). – Martin York Feb 28 '11 at 07:48
@Martin: Again, I think everyone agrees with the advice about not including such a section, so you don't need to repeat it. @nikie's question was just about whether it's right for the *person evaluating resumes* to "throw away" such a resume, all other things being equal. (And mine about your statement that "the lack of understanding on how to produce a resume is enough to throw it away".) Anyway, you're repeating the same things from your end (what's right for the candidate to do) and me from my end (what's right for the resume-reader to do), so this is going in circles. I'll stop. – ShreevatsaR Feb 28 '11 at 09:30
I'm agreeing with Martin on this one. Unless the candidate reviews books and publishes his reviews on his blog or whereever, then I don't see much depth to a book listing on a CV (Woo, British!). – James Love Feb 28 '11 at 09:35
@James: Who isn't? Everyone here agrees that putting a book listing on a CV is a worthless section, and very weird too. If you're writing your CV, don't include such a section, end of story. The only issue here is whether those evaluating CVs should throw away those that contain a useless section, all other things being equal. – ShreevatsaR Feb 28 '11 at 12:43
For what it's worth, my original answer assumed that the book list served in lieu of a long and detailed work/project history, or as padding to disguise a very thin history. – PSU Feb 28 '11 at 14:05
1

@user13645: But that raises the same question: All other things being equal, would you really throw away the CV with no real world experience and a few books on it, and instead invite the CV with no real world experience and a list of hobbies like swimming and playing piano on it? (Many people have *those* on their CVs) – nikie Feb 28 '11 at 23:00
@user13645: PS: I'm not arguing with your position. It's obviously the majority's opinion. I'm just trying to understand it. – nikie Feb 28 '11 at 23:03
1

@nikie: I would ignore the list of hobbies, most likely. I've rarely seen them. In either case, it's the experience I care about. Presented with the two options you've mentioned (two otherwise essentially identical CVs, one with a list of books and one with a list of hobbies), I think I might opt for the book list. Both are a little odd. The hobbies thing might be a _little_ more mainstream, but at least I could glean some information about the candidate's technical exposure from the book list. Assuming the books are relevant, of course. – PSU Feb 28 '11 at 23:06

score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:41

Save it for the interview

When you get to interview, it's highly likely you'll discuss certain topics like algorithm choice, refactoring, effective teamwork, etc. This'd be the time to discuss your experiences and optionally give references to widely-recognised books on those topics.

As an employer, I wouldn't be able to tell from listing the books on your CV whether you'd read them or just pasted them into your CV after copying from a 'recommended reading list' on Programmers/StackOverflow.

score 27 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 21:55

27

Don't. A book is the source of knowledge, but it's the demonstration of that knowledge that really matters.

answered Feb 27 '11 at 21:55

Nicole

28,111
12
95
143

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:03

13

Linked-In has an area for you to put books you read. You can just link your Linked-In profile from your resume. Then if they are interested in the books you read, they have the option to look.

answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:03

Cervo

1,748
16
16

LinkedIn isn't that popular where I live :) – Mahmoud Hossam Feb 28 '11 at 06:07
You could also use a blog/website with a reading list. The main thing is not to clutter the resume with books read, but you can put it in a supplemental information source... – Cervo Mar 06 '11 at 18:17

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:04

I see it as very tacky and opening yourself to a lot of problems you can avoid. For example, say you list Programming Pearls as a read book. What if the interviewer happens to remember something very specific in that book because he has also read it.

He asks you a question about it, and then you can't remember that specific bit. But hey, you read the book. It says so right here. You're immediately labeled as a liar in his head.

Just don't do it.

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 03:52

I got a computer engineering degree without ever reading a single programming book. Did I learn a decent amount in college? Sure. Did I learn as much as I could have? No, not even close.

Having read books on the subject is an added bonus... something that shows you are interested in learning from the experts. You don't just copy & paste code or write code that seems "good enough." You went out there and read about why certain solutions are better than others, etc.

Should you put C++ for Dummies on your resume? Of course not. If those are the books that you've read, then the answer is definitely not. However, if you've read some of the more respected books, then I would say yes.

Bill Gates on Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming:

If you think you're a really good programmer . . . read (Knuth's) Art of Computer Programming . . . You should definitely send me a résumé if you can read the whole thing.

It's obvious that most of his engineers haven't studied Knuth but they are still employed... — sakisk, Mar 29 '11 at 07:49

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:01

2

Try it, do an A/B Test

My guess is that it just depends -- though when ranking knowledge over experience, experience always wins. I'd suggest focusing on mapping and expanding the real world experience you have, instead of the books you're read.

If you do end up listing them, I'd suggest having a personal website -- with reviews of the books posted, and how you've applied the knowledge provided by the book in the real world.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:01

Community

1

answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:48

blunders

4,550
4
31
48

+1 for the idea of having reviews of the books. The review should show that you've understood the concepts of the book and how to apply them. Better still would be critiques showing where you think the book falls short. – ChrisF Feb 27 '11 at 22:57

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 09:24

No. Having read a book doesn't mean you've comprehended it or retained any of it. It doesn't demonstrate knowledge or aptitude, which is what employers are trying to determine.

If you demonstrate your value in an interview, then want to mention that you acquired said value by reading books, that's perhaps useful information.

What if the three books Joe Resume Reviewer think every developer should have read aren't on it? You're just opening a can of worms you don't need to.

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:07

1

I have never seen it either, but it may not be a bad idea.. you could list it under education, self taught section.

Beta test it, let us know how it works. I really can't see it doing much harm.

answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:07

Morons

14,674
4
37
73

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 08:43

1

Considering most programmers out there haven't read any programming books it might not be such a bad idea. Maybe a favorite programming book section, would certainly make for a good conversation in an interview.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 08:43

Daud Ahmad Khokhar

101
6

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 23:05

1

Consider it from the reader's point of view. Nobody reading a resume is going to say "Oh, wow, this guy read Code Complete and The Pragmatic Programmer! We'd better bring him in for an interview."

answered Feb 28 '11 at 23:05

Andy Lester

4,810
2
16
23

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:17

A list of books read in your CV sounds like a bad idea. Big deal, you read the book - did you understand it? Can you apply it?

But what I think would be a good thing is to mention how you read something in a particular book, and did something interesting with it: maybe you applied Chris Okasaki's Purely Functional Data Structures to Java, or something.

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 22:45

This could work if you have inside information about the person or company with whom you are interviewing. If you read on LinkedIn that the hiring manager is a big fan of a certain book, then putting that on your resume would be a way to get noticed by them.

I agree that most company's won't look at this as helpful, but I could see how it could work in isolated cases.

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 23:40

I never saw a book (list) on a CV, either, but I think it's a good idea. People I interview regularly list languages even though they only learned them for fun, so why wouldn't you list books, if you read them throughly, did all the exercises, etc. Judging by the other answers here, it would probably depend on the person who reads the CV, though.

Another option would be to mention books in the cover letter. For example, if you apply for a job at a company that creates speech recognition software, you could write that you've read [insert standard literature about speech recognition here] and that you found it very interesting and would be excited to work in this field professionally. Of course, that only works for books that have some connection to the job you're applying for.

Could someone explain the downvote? – nikie Feb 28 '11 at 07:39 — nikie, Feb 28 '11 at 07:39

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 01:32

0

Not on a resume. I could picture there being a case of it making sense in a cover letter or interview to make a point from a book if it seems applicable. For example, if a company mentions refactoring in a job description and you know a good quote from the book "Refactoring" by Martin Fowler, it may be useful to demonstrate this. Resumes generally are more for showing what experience you have rather than just having some knowledge on a subject.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 01:32

JB King

16,795
1
40
76

1

In your case, you're not just claiming to have read Fowler, but rather showing something that indicates that you've read and understood at least part of it. There's a difference there. – David Thornley Feb 28 '11 at 20:51

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 01:56

Like most of the other respondents, I think it's a bad idea. What I would do is start a blog and review the books. Or write reviews on Amazon and come up with a clever way to link them on your blog. Mention the things you learned from the books and try to tie it back to your experience or side projects.

To me this would show that you're interested enough to be an active programmer, but not desperate.

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 03:15

0

It will look strange on a resume. I don't think anybody does that.

However, books are a great thing to talk about during an interview. In fact, I was once asked by an interviewer what my favorite book on C++ was.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 03:15

Dima

11,822
3
46
49

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 11:28

0

If you really need some resume filler, how about taking some of the knowledge that you learned from all those books and making a cool application. You can probably squeeze in personal projects somewhere on the resume.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 11:28

Nobody ever needs resume filler. If what you're putting on a resume is filler, then don't put it on there. – Andy Lester Feb 28 '11 at 23:05

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 13:28

0

I think it depends how you present that books on your resume. If it just a list, than it can smell like you have nothing to add or don't know what to add to your cv. But if you add it more like IT courses or certificates, it can be interesting.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 13:28

Dainius

340
1
8

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Mar 29 '11 at 05:40

0

If you have to put it some where.

Do it on your profile in a professional networking site.

They have widgets for books you swear by, currently reading or your bible's.

answered Mar 29 '11 at 05:40

Aditya P

3,537
2
26
42

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Mar 29 '11 at 07:52

Don't do it. It won't make your CV look more impressive. You can mention the books that you have studied (in contrast to "read") during your interview. But be prepared to answer which parts did you like and which you didn't. An answer like "it's the best X programming book" is not sufficient and will make things worst.

Putting books read in resume

21 Answers21