Resume Tip #26: Add your prior experience with Makefiles to your resume

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Programming languages and integrated development environments (e.g. Eclipse, Visual Studio etc.) are part of every developer's life. However, because IDEs are so integrated we often fail to understand how the compilation process works.

Tip #26: Add your prior experience with Makefiles to your resume.

What you need to do:

1. Read the entire GNU make manual.
2. Look over the nmake reference. This is Microsoft's own version and is "kind of" compatible with GNU make.
3. If you feel you've got the nerve, proceed to GNU automake and autoconf (basically, these will generate a Makefile out of other configuration files).
4. Create Makefiles for a couple of small applications written in Java, C#, or C.

The purpose of these make implementations is to determine which pieces of a large program need to be recompiled, and to issue the commands to recompile those pieces. When you're sending the resume to a large company, rest assured that you won't be the one writing the main function of the C program: you'll add new features. Thus, recruiters are looking for candidates that are able to seemingly integrate within the team, follow programming standards, and understand Makefiles.