thoughtcrumbs

From local designer Charlie Campbell's website:

I know HTML, DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, ActionScript, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and a slew of other development tools on PC and Mac. I have digital sound recording and MIDI experience. I like people. I like words and images. I love design. I can write and think. I can speak Spanish, build a desk, and wire-in a dimmer switch. I volunteer my skills to good causes. I root for underdogs. I'm especially nice to the least comfortable person in a room. My sentences are evocative and concise. My basketball crossover is deceptive. My taste in belt buckles is surprising. I hand-code like a fiend. References available upon request.

This is one in a series of colloquial web resumes I've read recently (Megnut has another, extolling her pie-baking and dishwashing prowess along with her ASP and MySQL savvy). I particularly appreciate the informal turn these erstwhile starchy documents have taken; many of the best resumes reflect the cool people beneath the paper.

Companies, especially those with web-based applications, seem to be leaning this way as well: Blogger's status page also proves that you can maintain customer trust (even increase it) by speaking frankly (and including words like "sucky"). Marketese sours people's impressions of sites; even Nielsen finds that "promotional language imposes a cognitive burden on users who have to spend resources on filtering out the hyperbole to get at the facts." Granted, these resumes and company sites are promotional in nature, but they've found the secret spoonful of sugar: how to reveal their intelligence and value without an Enron-sized hot air balloon. These are people I want to work with and companies I'll support.