While applying for jobs, do you mention skills that you learned via side-project...

Hi everyone! I'm a software engineer who recently transitioned into Developer Relations. I like programming and enjoy learning and tinkering with new technologies - and they aren't necessarily stuff that I use or require everyday at my workplace. Pretty sure that I'm not the only one! 😇

When I look at the stuff that I know, I can divide them into 2 broad categories:

Grade A skills:

These are stuff that I require very less ramp-up time, because I've had enough exposure with them and use them almost everyday at work. For me, they happen to be the following:

• JavaScript / TypeScript
• Node.js / Express
• MongoDB
• React

If I'm ever asked questions like "How many years of experience do you have in x", and it happens to fall under Grade A, I can answer it somewhat accurately (for instance, 2 years or 4 years or whatever).

Grade B skills:

These are skills that I never had a chance to work on or use in production at work, but I acquired them while working on my side projects. Here are some of my own skills that fall under this category:

• Python
• Django
• PostgreSQL
• Docker
• Scikit-learn
• Keras
• Figma

For this category, answering questions like "how many years of experience do you have" becomes difficult, because I use them every now and then, not every single day. However, I can still get things done with them and would like the person going through my profile to know that. I may not be as comfortable in these as my Grade A skills, but I still know much more than just writing a simple hello world program (or its equivalent).

If you can relate with the above, I would love to know from you on:

• Along with Grade A, do you also mention Grade B skills in your resume, CV or in job applications?
• If the answer to the above is yes, how do you list them? Do you make a distinction between Grade A and Grade B, or do you just club them all together?
• If you're asked "How many years of experience do you have in x skill", and that skill happens to be a Grade B skill, how do you answer it?
• If in a job posting, you find that 60% of the required skill-set fall under your Grade B and 40% fall under Grade A, do you still apply for the role?