Jonathan Ong's Blog

What I don’t like about static resumes is that some employers don’t care for some of your information. For me, I simply have too much I want to write on my resume, so I end up cutting out a lot of information that could have been useful. Thus, I decided to create an interactive resume as a webpage using javascript and CSS. This is a simple break down of how I made my resume assuming you know HTML. Let me know if you want more details on something specific. I recommend reading w3school‘s guide on CSS if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Divisions

Put your whole resume in a single division and center it using margin-left: auto and the same with margin-right. For my webpage, the left side stays the same while the right side scrolls. This is done by creating two divisions inside the main division: menu and main. Just set position: fixed for the menu. I also set each set of text in its own division. For example, I made a division for Work Experience, a division for each job listing such as Student Trainee (Mathematics), and division for its description. This is necessary for hiding and unhiding portions of the resume.

Hiding and Unhiding Text

First, you need to put each set of text you want to hide and unhide in divisions. Then add two CSS classes: .hidden { display: none; } and .unhidden { display: block; }. Then add three javascript functions. The first switches toggles the text from hide to unhide or vice versa:

function toggle_visibility(divID) {
var item = document.getElementById(divID);
if (item) {
item.className=(item.className==’hidden’)?’unhidden’:'hidden’;
}
}

The next shows the text regardless of whether its already showing or not:

function show(divID) {
var item = document.getElementById(divID);
item.className=’unhidden’;
}

The last one does the same except for hiding:

function hide(divID) {

var item = document.getElementById(divID);

item.className=’hidden’;

}

<a href=”javascript:hide(‘resexp’);hide(‘workexp’);hide(‘career’);hide(‘edu’);hide(‘skills’);hide(‘pubs’);show(‘etc’);”>Et Cetera</a>

Google Chart Tools / Image Charts (aka Chart API)

Google’s lesser known contributions to society are their API’s. This API allows you type a link to Google that spits out a graph of your choosing. This is one of the graphs in my resume:

<img src=”http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chxl=0:|MATLAB+|Maple+|R+|C+|FORTRAN+&chxp=0,90,70,50,30,10&chxt=y&chbh=a& chs=600×100&cht=bhs&chco=4D89F9&chd=s:96xPJ&chma=0,5&chtt=Relative+Programming+Expertise” width=”600″ height=”100″ alt=”Relative Programming Expertise” /><br>

My OCD kicks in when I see someone’s Gmail account with thousands of unsorted e-mails. Gmail is the most efficient mail client ever designed by man kind, yet people don’t know how to use it efficiently. It saves a lot of time if you spend a little time setting up Gmail. I literally spend less than 10 minutes a day checking and replying to my e-mail not because I don’t receive any, but because I set my Gmail so that I know which ones to automatically discard and which ones are important.

1. Archive EVERYTHING and NEVER delete. You have gigabytes of storage on your account. E-mails are ridiculously tiny. You should never delete anything unless you are close to this maximum limit which is impossible unless you’re extremely popular or you’re sharing files. Your inbox should always be empty by archiving all the e-mails you’re done reading or don’t care to read. Your inbox should only have e-mails you have not processed yourself.
2. Star your important e-mails, but still archive them. This is useful since your inbox won’t be cluttered and you can easily find these e-mails by typing “is:starred” in the search field.
3. Setup labels. This is Gmail’s version of folders except e-mails can have more than one label. There are only two folders in Gmail: inbox and archive. This is how my left menu looks like with all my labels. Notice that you can rearrange your menu on your left.
4. Setup filters. You can create specific criteria so that Gmail will label them correctly. The criteria can be: From (sender), To (recipient), Subject, Has the words, Doesn’t have words, and Has attachment. Most of my filters are either from sender (for example @berkeley.edu or specific people. I only wish you can filter groups of people…) and subject (for example e-mails with a [MATH228A] tag). This is why I wish grouped e-mails have tags in the subject line (for example [HOC] in the header). After you create the filter, you can choose what you want Gmail to do with e-mails that match the filter. For e-mails you don’t care for, Skip the Inbox and archive it. Otherwise, I would apply a label. The best part is that you can retroactively apply the filter to the e-mails you already have . For example, I automatically archive all e-mails from “CALmessages@berkeley.edu” since, as an employee of UC Berkeley, I’m unable to unsubscribe from the mailing list and, to me, it’s equivalent to spam.
5. Organize your contacts. Gmail makes it ridiculously easy. Gmail remembers everyone you’ve ever contacted and clicking contacts allows you to choose who to put on your contact list. The best part is that if you take some time to make everyone’s name accurate, there’s a simple “Find & merge duplicate” function that saves so much time and effort.
6. Setup Microsoft Exchange with your smartphones, e-mail clients, address books, and calendars. I have another blog post that covers this for smart phones. This will automatically sync all your e-mails, calendar, and address books with your Gmail account and, for iPhone users, push notifications. You will never worry about losing any data ever again unless Gmail somehow fails.
7. Create unique Gmail addresses simply by adding a + after your account name. For example, I would register for Reddit under the account name jongleberry+reddit@gmail.com. It will still go to my jongleberry@gmail.com e-mail address, but I would be able to filter it by to: jongleberry+reddit@gmail.com. This is helpful if you’re getting a lot of spam as you would know where they are coming from.
8. Similarly, you can create unique e-mail addresses by adding periods in your e-mail address. For example, jongle.berry@gmail.com is equivalent to jongleberry@gmail.com.
9. Unsubscribe from all your mailing lists. Alternatively you can filter them, but I prefer just to be unsubscribed. You can easily do this by searching “unsubscribe” and unsubscribing from every single spam mail you get.
10. Find useful gadgets from Google Labs. These can be found and installed on the settings page in Gmail. My favorites are Hide Counts and Multiple Inboxes. Hide Counts simply streamlines your left menu so that there’s less numbers everywhere. I’ll know that there’s unread e-mail by that label being bolded. Multiple Inboxes is especially useful since I star my important e-mails. Every time I log into Gmail, I’ll see both my inbox and my starred e-mails. There are countless possible gadgets that you can install to make Gmail more efficient for you, but these two suffice for me.
11. When writing e-mails, press the “pop out” button so that you’ll compose the e-mail in a new window. This is helpful when you’re replying to a long e-mail and you want to read what the e-mail says while you write.
12. You can easily manage multiple e-mail accounts. I have all my e-mails forwarded from my Berkeley e-mail to my Gmail. The best part is that I can by default send either from my Gmail address or Berkeley address. I have the option to choose every time I send an e-mail. Google also just added functionality that allows better management of multiple Gmail accounts, but I don’t see the point since I got two different Gmail accounts so that they’ll be separate. These options can be found in Settings -> Accounts and Import.
13. Make sure you go to Settings -> Web Clips and uncheck “Show my web clips above the inbox”. These are basically advertisements from Google and to me is spam.

These are the only tips I can think of right now. Let me know if you can think of any others.

I’ve gotten ridiculously bored with social networking as most of my friends refuse to self edit their own content and rarely post anything interesting. Instead, I’ve made it fun by trolling Facebook. Try to make the most ridiculous comments on everyone’s posts, links, pictures, anything. It might explain why the number of friends fluctuate quite a bit.

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. – Wikipedia

1. Ask obvious questions:
2. Answer rhetorical questions:
3. Take figurative language seriously:
4. Grammar Nazi:
5. Make an all-out awesome comment:
6. Ask the obvious question of, “are they hot?”:
7. Pick a victim and like everything on their page. Unfortunately this girl disabled my ability to comment or post on her wall:
8. Pick a victim and consistently insinuate sexual relations with her:
9. Reiterate the last statement except replacing the noun with the word “you” or “you’re”:

Due to my internship at the Army, I was forced to take another semester at Berkeley. Of course I can’t do a 5 month lease on an apartment, so I’m renting a living room from some friends for that 5 months. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the furniture, but I also wanted to buy furniture that I could use in the future. The problem with things I bought in the past is that they just weren’t useful after I moved. I also didn’t want to move furniture back from home because it would cost just as much to move it as it would to buy new things. So here’s how you can furnish your living room for less than $500 and be able to use everything after you leave.

Bedding

• Ikea Sultan Florvag Mattress$99.00
• Ikea Skydda Hogt Mattress Pad $16.99

You probably don’t need the mattress pad, but I got it to keep my mattress clean regardless. What’s great about this mattress is that it’s firm enough so that when you lay on it, you don’t feel the floor. Other mattresses are too soft. If you are really cheap, you can buy only the mattress foam padding for less than $50, but expect to feel the floor when you sleep on it. If you really want, you can spend another $30 for an Ikea twin size bed frame, but what for? You won’t use it agian.

The best part about this mattress is that its light weight. It comes rapped in a cylinder from Ikea, so technically, you can store it back as a cylinder. Have friends who wants to sleep over? Someone passed out drunk on the couch you want to sit on? Pull out this Ikea mattress from your closet and make them sleep on it. Keep the mattress pad on though so they don’t drool all over it.

Clothing

• Target Garment Rack – $59.99

There are cheaper garment racks at Target, but when I was at the register, the cashier advised me that I should buy this one because the others can’t hold much clothes. Sure it costs a little more, but you’ll actually be able to use it for a long time since it’s actually made out of metal. Plus, it’s very easy to assemble.

What about your socks and boxers? Why, just use your suitcase like I did! Who needs drawers? You don’t want a suitcase sitting in the corner taking up space for nothing. And by the way, in this picture the black clothing rack isn’t mine.

Desk

• Ikea Vika Amon Table Top – $39.99
• Ikea Vika Curry Leg x 4- $3.50 ($14.00)

For me, the most important part of the room is the desk. Before I bought an expensive Galant desk from Ikea, but it was so specific to my room that I couldn’t use it afterward and it got too dirty after leaving it in my garage for a while. The best part of these Vika Amon tables is that they are straight up rectangles. I got two of them to make an L shaped desk and plan to screw them together using a wooden board so theres no leg in the middle.

Unlike other desks, you can use this for other things such as a dining table. It’s very easy to move and assemble since all you do is basically unscrew the legs. They’re modular, so you can make any design you want. It’s much better than the other desks Ikea offer. I bought a $10 Lack coffee table to put underneath my desk to put more things since I hate drawers.

Furnishings

• Ikea Dokument Waste Basket – $5.99
• Ikea Bumerang Curved Clothes Hangers – $3.99/8 Pack
• Ikea Bumerang Pants Hanger – $.99

Most of my things such as my laundry basket, blankets, bed and pillow sheets, and pillow were from home, so these aren’t included in the price, but these are my favorite items from Ikea that are actually useful. The pant hangers are much better than usual skirt hangers. At first I wanted black hangers but then I decided on saving money since they’re a little more expensive.

Total cost not including the items I already had and only one of my desks? Less than $300, so that’s about $300 to furnish the whole room. Granted, your room is kind of bare, but that’s all you need.

There are many things I wish I did in college early on so that I would have gotten a higher GPA. Granted, I didn’t work hard in either high school or college and still succeed, so I guess I know a little something. There are other articles that have tips about getting A’s which is basically “DO ALL YOUR WORK”, but let me show you strategies that don’t necessarily require you to work hard to succeed.

Choose a Major You are Good at and Enjoy

This is probably the most important part of college. It doesn’t matter what major you are in college, but what matters is how well you succeed. With a high GPA in college, you can do anything afterwards, though you may need to take more classes depending on what graduate program you’re interested in.

Plan the Rest of Your College Classes Every Term

Every semester or quarter, make a spreadsheet and plan all the classes you plan to take the rest of your college years. This will make sure you don’t take classes you don’t need to take and take the classes you need to take on time. Also write down all the classes you’ll like to take.

Find the Best Professors

Use ratemyprofessor.com or what not to find out which professors are good. The right professors matter a lot on your grade and you’ll want to use the good ones for letters of recommendation. Remember that for the largest universities, the best professors aren’t ranked by their teaching skills but their research abilities. Different professors also have different ways of grading.

Avoid Weeder Classes

Avoid large introductory classes that are curved. These classes will be the most difficult in your college career since the professor is required to give a certain amount of A’s and B’s and most of the students will try hard since these courses are required. Try to test out of these classes.

Focus on Graduate Courses, then Upper Division Courses

Graduate courses are generally much better and easier than undergraduate courses. Professors assume you are busy and smart and thus are more lax with work. Professors actually care if you learn or not. Grading is usually very easy since graduate students have GPA requirements for enrollment and scholarships. Upper division courses are much easier and the grading is easier than lower division courses. Take as little lower division classes as possible.

Target Small/Niche Courses

Courses with comparatively less students tend to have a much easier grading scheme. Professors tend to be nicer and more forgiving since they’ll know the students better. Also, professors have less responsibilities and limits with the grading system since departments usually only care about larger courses. Also, if they designed the class themselves, easy grading is an incentive to get more students.

Sign Up for Maximum Credits Every Term for Letter Grades

Every quarter or semester you should register for the maximum amount of units possible. Don’t expect to actually take all the courses because you’ll be dropping all the courses you don’t like. This way you’ll know which classes and professors are good and not and you’ll be only taking classes you feel comfortable in.

P/NP Classes You Don’t Do Well in

Make sure they’re not your major classes. For most schools you can change the course from letter grade to P/NP 2/3 of the way into the term. For Berkeley, I could P/NP every general requirement, so I would suggest doing that unless you get an A. You shouldn’t P/NP depending on what graduate program you plan to attend; medical schools consider P/NP courses as C grades. You should P/NP as many courses as you can, especially if you score below the mean. Do not P/NP without knowing your score relative to the class.

Find Homework Solutions

This includes going to office hours, joining tutoring sessions, and especially Googling for solutions and buying solution manuals. Professors know students do this which is why homeworks aren’t given much weight. One issue for me is that I learn through examples. Working through problems blindly doesn’t teach me as efficiently. Use these homework solutions to ace the exams.

Find Past Exams and Solutions

Search Google for websites of your course from previous terms. Go through the department or other clubs and societies for pass exams and solutions and study from them. These are especially good if they are from the same professor as you can get a feel of how he or she writes tests. Some professors are even lazy and basically use the same tests over.

Take a Summer Course

If you can afford it, take a summer course. Focus on one or two courses and get an A.

Take a Break

Stressed from school? Have a bad term? Take a break, regardless of what your parents say. If you need your GPA, then take a break. It’s normal.

Talk to the Professor

When professors know who you are, they tend to be nicer to you. If they know that you tried and participated and your grade is on the border, they’ll bump your grade. Remember that professors are trying to help you, so let them.