Should I list skills that I am familiar with in my Resume?

Question

I have just finished my Advanced Diploma in Computing, and I am currently looking for a job as a junior .NET Developer.

There are few Languages/Technologies that I’ve used in real projects, like: C#, Visual Studio, WinForms, ASP.NET, LINQ, SQL Server, CSS, HTML, etc…

However, there are also some Languages/Technologies like C/C++, Java, WCF, WPF, and others that I know about, and I have played around with for a while, but I have no real experience on. I mean I haven’t developed any real projects with them, I am just aware of their existence and what they are for.

My question is:

Should I write those Languages/Technologies in my resume? Should I write “Familiar with” and just list them? Or should I discard them all and stick only with what I am comfortable with?

I am interested in an answer that does not apply specifically to students or entry-level positions, like the similar question does:

• As a student, how should programming language familiarity be described on a CV/Resume

Answer 1

In your case, you should list the technologies you know in two (or more) categories. List the ones you've worked with significantly in one category, and the others in a "Basic Experience" (or similarly titled) category. It shows that while you have a solid skillset in one area, you aren't limited to it and have some (if minimal) experience with other technologies.

Sticking strictly to what you are comfortable with could limit your potential job options. If I see you have some exeperience in the field, but it looks like you know absolutely nothing about the technologies my company works with, I might pass you over for someone who's more skilled in the areas that matter to me. However, if you list that you have some basic skills in those areas, I'd expect your knowledge and experience gained working with your primary technologies would be at least somewhat transferable, and that you could develop your skills.

The only benefit I could see of not listing them would be if you wanted a job specifically working with the technologies with which you are most familiar, and you wanted to cut opportunities outside that area out of your job search.

Answer 2

Under no circumstances would I list technologies I don't know. If you list them, the interviewer gets to ask you technical questions about them. If you don't know the answers, then you look bad. The more experience you claim to have, the more likely the interviewer is to not be pleased when you can't answer basic questions. If you have no real work experience (I would consider a major open source project as real work experieince, but not a couple of days of folling around with it) with a language, it should not appear on your resume.