People are going to pile on to DHH for again suggesting that his experience represents the whole universe of job hunt circumstances, but if you can hold just two thoughts in your head at a time, there's a kernel of valuable information in here.
No matter where you are, the actual words in your actual resume aren't going to get you hired (although the roles they describe might, and bad words can clearly get you un-hired). He's right about that.
More importantly, 9 out of 10 smart people I've interviewed are positively meek in their resumes and during interviews. They don't stand out at all. What's worse, they make no effort outside of the "official channel", dutifully submitting resumes into the HTML form, talking to the HR person, waiting for us to call back.
DHH is right. If you're just going to play by the HR rules, the cover letter is your one chance to position yourself ahead of the 9 other candidates with similar resumes. It's not the only thing to do, but there's literally no downside to putting an effort in.
You're missing the point of most of the objections here. If the article were just "Have an awesome cover letter and be super enthusiastic!", that would be one thing.
What most people are objecting to is the "forget the resume" part of the headline.
No matter where you are, the actual words in your actual resume aren't going to get you hired (although the roles they describe might, and bad words can clearly get you un-hired). He's right about that.
More importantly, 9 out of 10 smart people I've interviewed are positively meek in their resumes and during interviews. They don't stand out at all. What's worse, they make no effort outside of the "official channel", dutifully submitting resumes into the HTML form, talking to the HR person, waiting for us to call back.
DHH is right. If you're just going to play by the HR rules, the cover letter is your one chance to position yourself ahead of the 9 other candidates with similar resumes. It's not the only thing to do, but there's literally no downside to putting an effort in.