Why I Finally Stopped "Designing" My CV and Started Coding It
Batteries Included
Feb 15, 2026
There comes a point where you simply can't stand looking at your old resume files anymore. You get the urge to reach out to a company or apply for a role, and suddenly you’re on a digital archeological dig.
The evolution of my CV chaos
I spent years experimenting with every possible way to store and export my professional history. My journey was a cycle of "better ideas" that all eventually failed:
- The Manual Storage Era: I had external drives and USB sticks filled with Resume_v1.doc, Resume_v2_final.doc, and Resume_REAL_FINAL_2006.doc. I was one hardware failure away from losing years of documented achievements.
- The Over-Engineered Phase: I tried LaTeX for that "perfect" look, but spent more time debugging compiler errors than describing my projects. I even tried building custom HTML sites, which looked great on screen but fell apart the moment I hit "Print to PDF."
- The Cloud Document Trap: I moved to Google Docs for the convenience. It was easy to access, but a nightmare to control. One small change to a margin and the entire layout would break, leaving me fighting the software instead of writing my history.
The realization: Content vs. Design
The problem was always the same: I was trying to design and write at the same time. When you have the urge to update your CV, you should be focusing on your achievements, not fighting with a "Format Painter" tool or adjusting pixel-perfect margins.
The solution: A developer's workflow
I decided to treat my CV like a production project. It needed to be version-controlled, written in plain text, and "built" into a final product.
I implemented a GitHub-based engine where the Content lives in Markdown and the Design lives in CSS.
No more setup
I didn't just want a script; I wanted a workflow that worked out of the box. My new setup includes:
- Markdown Core: I write in resume.md. It's clean, readable, and lives in Git.
- CSS Flavors: I created multiple stylesheets—Executive, Modern, Industrial—that I can swap instantly.
- Automated Export: A simple npm run build generates a pixel-perfect PDF.
- Auto-Publishing: Every git push updates the PDF on GitHub Pages.
Now, the "urge" to update my CV is met with a git commit instead of a formatting headache. It’s stored safely, versioned properly, and always ready to export.
Show me the Code
You can try it yourself Personal-CV