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Ask HN: Is using your first and last name as a url for resumes etc a good idea?

7 points by meecube ↗ HN
I am beginning to see more and more people listing their resumes and work skills on their websites. Is using your first and last name as a domain (eg. Joe Smith - joesmith.com) a good idea to include things like your resume etc or would it be better to have a more abstract name?

11 comments

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meecube
Also, would it be a good idea to use it as your email e.g j@joesmith.com when contacting professionals when inquiring about positions or is this a little tacky?
Piskvorrr
If you had joe@smith.com, now that would be impressive (as I expect this domain to have been registered decades ago). As for me, I use firstname@lastname.name (with my actual name, of course) as my primary mail address, so to me it feels normal, not tacky.

(Plus, the .name domain is also a good way of testing whether the business is stuck in the 90s - if they insist that it's still 1999 and 4-letter TLDs are a no-no, that's a red flag of sorts, especially in a technological company)

freehunter
Unfortunately for me, my name is also the name of a somewhat popular kickboxer. As a result of all relevant domains being registered, I have firstname@middlenamelastname.com I also use my middle name on my resume, so it works out well.
trueneverland
Both domain and email usage is perfectly acceptable.
grayj
A good alternative for developers is username.github.com, particularly if you already use GitHub for code samples. You create a repository named "username.github.com" and then set up GitHub Pages for that repo. (There exist other sites suited to e.g. design portfolios.)

Pages docs: https://help.github.com/categories/20/articles

The catch is that this doesn't come with a fancy named email address.

mcherm
It is a good idea to have a specific place, but it doesn't matter much what it is. It could be "firstlast.com", or "username.github.com", or "blogname.org" -- the only mistake is NOT having a place to publish yourself.
sergiotapia
I used to own my domain:

http://sergiotapia.com

But I forgot to pay for it after the year expired (kept putting it on the backburner) and now one of those sleazy domain squatters has it and wants to sell it for 1500$.

Really regret it, it was a good domain name for me and potential clients could easily find my developer blog and portfolio.

jamesjguthrie
Should try and get sergiotapia.me then, lots of people are using .me for personal pages.
yolesaber
It doesn't matter so long as the page showcases your talents and interests.

For example, my personal domain name is abstract - http://tangents.co - but I've been contacted by recruiters through it