Da Vinci's Resume

The Resume Invention

From Walter Isaacson biography of Leonardo Da Vinci,  we learn about the first resume from 15th century

Around the time that he reached the unnerving milestone of turning thirty, Leonardo da Vinci wrote a letter to the ruler of Milan listing the reasons he should be given a job. He had been moderately successful as a painter in Florence, but he had trouble finishing his commissions and was searching for new horizons.

In the first ten paragraphs, he touted his engineering skills, including his ability to design bridges, waterways, cannons, armored vehicles, and public buildings. Only in the eleventh paragraph, at the end, did he add that he was also an artist. “Likewise in painting, I can do everything possible,” he wrote.

 Yes, he could paint the Mona Lisa and astonish us with an imperceptible smile.  But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering. With a passion that was both playful and obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, optics, botany, geology, water flows, and weaponry.

Glamour Jobs Are Not  Glamorous

Would Leonardo Da Vinci's resume get him a job in the Silicon Valley? I guess 99% of the recruiters will say No. There is a linear thinking.

If I have a blog titled 15 years ago as "The memories of a Product Manager" therefore I am product manager for ever. But what is a product manager? Here is  what I say in an entry from Quora.

My experience in Sun Microsystems as PM, was a job no one wanted. Even today, many PM ads are a dumping bag of responsibilities no one wants to assume. The PM must have attention to detail, but also must have a vision. He must act via scrum and agile systems (garbage in - garbage out if done automatically) and also must know what customers want. He must achieve success trying to please mid-level executives with fancy titles.Also he is paid less than anybody above him who may veto him. If the product is successful, the Director and VP take the credit. If it is a flop, the PM is responsible and must fight for his corporate survival.

Attention to detail and vision are not typical traits within one single person, as the dull job descriptions demand. They expect perfect delivery on time,  This is a source of platitudes and stress in talented people

"The VP PM shapes how work gets done, rather than making individual product decisions" In  other words The VP is a blah-blah position. Then there is the CEO, who should be nothing but a Product Manager with authority to enforce.

We can say that Leonardo is the inventor of the resume  and it is a resume made for leaders and rulers as employers.If true, it adds one more feather on the cap the Renaissance Man

Leonardo's Vitruvian Man is science and art indistinguishable one from another  

"We can say  that skills are more important than experience,” said Sandberg, Facebook's COO.

“When we talk to people, certainly there are jobs we are hiring for where we love having experience, but my life experience has told me that people with great skills can do most things well. Skills are more important than experience. So, I would rather take a total superstar in another area and move them into a new job, than take someone who hasn’t performed as well but has the right experience.”

The final of the story as that the visionary ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza hired Leonardo  and became his patron.
 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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