Hi there! 👋
I'm Rozita, a frontend developer living in Austria. About a year ago, I moved here after working in tech for a few years, and today I want to share a little project that’s very close to my heart: MarkdownResume.app — a small open-source tool I built to help job seekers create clean, simple resumes.
Where the Idea Came From
As AI tools and large language models (LLMs) keep evolving, I've been thinking a lot about how technical documents — and especially resumes — need to adapt too.
I realized that so many resumes today look beautiful to human eyes, but behind the scenes, they’re a nightmare for applicant tracking systems. It made me wonder:
What if we just wrote resumes in markdown?
Markdown is simple, structured, easy for machines to read, and still friendly for humans. Plus, if LLMs are helping recruiters more and more, having resumes in markdown could make the whole process smoother.
Building MarkdownResume.app
I wanted to make something lightweight but helpful — and honestly, to keep myself motivated during a tough job search. That’s how MarkdownResume.app was born.
Here’s what I focused on building:
- A clean, distraction-free markdown editor
- Live preview so you can see your resume as you write
- Export to PDF with one click
- Professional templates that focus on your content, not flashy design
- An open-source codebase, so anyone can contribute or adapt it
It started as a weekend project, but it quickly became more than just a coding exercise — it turned into a way to connect with other job seekers, too.
How It's Going
To my surprise, the app found a small but growing audience! Some numbers so far:
- Over 1,000 users have created resumes
- Most users are from the US, India, Germany, and China
- Found mostly through Reddit and Google
- The GitHub repo has 21 stars (thank you!)
- I even received about $15 in donations — one of which came from my husband, who’s been cheering me on from the start ❤️
It’s not huge, but considering I spent no money on marketing and built it over a few weekends, I’m genuinely proud of what it’s achieved so far.
What I Learned
This little journey taught me some big lessons:
- Ship early, ship messy: Just getting something out there was way better than waiting for “perfect.”
- Open-source magic: Sharing the code has brought valuable feedback and small contributions from people I would have never reached otherwise.
- Community makes everything better: Hearing from users helped me see the app in ways I hadn’t thought of.
- Solve real problems: The more I focused on helping real people, the more natural the project’s growth felt.
What’s Next?
MarkdownResume.app might not be a viral hit (yet 😉), but it’s doing what I hoped: helping people. That’s more than enough for me.
Looking ahead, I’d love to:
- Keep improving the app based on feedback
- Explore other tiny pain points in the job-seeking process
- Build more small, focused tools for developers and job hunters
Final Thoughts
If you're facing a tough job market (like I was), building something small and useful can really lift your spirits. It keeps your skills fresh, adds something tangible to your portfolio, and — best of all — you never know who you might help along the way.
If you’ve built a weekend project recently, or you’re thinking about starting one, I’d love to hear your story in the comments! 💬
👉 Check out MarkdownResume.app
👉 Or jump into the GitHub repo if you want to contribute!
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