YAML Format Guide¶

This guide provides details on how to write your CV in YAML format for CVWonder.

What is YAML?¶

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization format. It's designed to be easy to write and read, making it perfect for configuration files and data exchange.

YAML Basics for CVWonder¶

Key-Value Pairs¶

YAML uses key-value pairs, which are represented as:

key: value

For example:

name: Germain
email: john.doe@example.com

Indentation¶

YAML uses indentation (spaces, not tabs) to indicate nesting. Consistent indentation is crucial:

person:
  name: Germain
  location: Lille

Lists¶

Lists are created using hyphens:

technologies:
  - Python
  - JavaScript
  - Docker

Nested Lists¶

You can create nested lists by indenting further:

languages:
  - name: French
    level: Mother tongue
  - name: English
    level: Fluent

Multi-line Text¶

For longer text, you can use the pipe symbol (|) to maintain line breaks:

summary: |
  This is a multi-line summary about me.
  Line breaks will be preserved exactly as written here.
  This is useful for paragraphs of text.

Or the greater-than symbol (>) to fold line breaks:

summary: >
  This is also a multi-line summary but
  line breaks will be converted to spaces.
  This is useful for long sentences.

Special Characters¶

If your text includes special characters like colons or quotes, you may need to wrap the text in quotes:

person:
  profession: "Senior Developer: Frontend Team"

Date Format¶

For dates in CVWonder, use the ISO format:

startDate: 2020-01  # January 2020
endDate: present    # Current position

Common Mistakes to Avoid¶

Inconsistent Indentation¶

# Incorrect
person:
  name: Germain
 email: john.doe@example.com  # Wrong indentation

# Correct
person:
  name: Germain
  email: john.doe@example.com  # Same indentation as name

Missing Spaces After Colons¶

# Incorrect
name:Germain  # Missing space after colon

# Correct
name: Germain  # Space after colon

Tabs vs. Spaces¶

Always use spaces, not tabs. Many YAML parsers don't handle tabs well.

Forgetting Quotes for Special Characters¶

# Incorrect
profession: Team Lead: Frontend  # Colon causes parsing error

# Correct
profession: "Team Lead: Frontend"  # Quotes protect special characters

YAML Validation¶

Before using your CV file with CVWonder, you can validate it using:

cvwonder validate cv.yml

This will check for YAML syntax errors and structural issues.

You can also use online YAML validators:

Visit a YAML validation website (e.g., YAMLLint)
Paste your CV content
Check for any errors

YAML Comments¶

You can add comments to your CV file for your own reference. Comments start with # and are ignored by CVWonder:

person:
  name: Germain
  # TODO: Add LinkedIn profile URL
  email: john.doe@example.com

Complete Example¶

Here's a minimal valid CV in YAML format:

person:
  name: Germain
  profession: Software Engineer
  email: john.doe@example.com
  phone: "+1 (555) 123-4567"

socialNetworks:
  github: germainlefebvre4

abstract:
  - tr: Software engineer with 5 years of experience in web development.

career:
  - companyName: Zatsit
    duration: 10 mois, aujourd'hui
    missions:
        company: Adeo
      - position: Platform Engineer
        company: Adeo
        summary: Construire une IDP, plateforme interne de développement, totalement managée pour aider les développeurs à se focaliser sur le code. Sur base du code source, la plateforme provisionne l'infrastructure sous-jacente, les base de données, la construction des artefact et publication sur la registry, le déploiement dans Kubernetes, l'intégration du monitoring avec Datadog et construction des Monitors.
        technologies:
          - ArgoCD
          - Kubernetes
        description:
          - Développement de l'operator Kubernetes responsable du provisioning des bases de données
          - Développement des Compositions Crossplane pour provisionner les base de données

technicalSkills:
  domains:
    - name: Cloud
      competencies:
        - name: AWS
          level: 80
          level: 40
    - name: Ops
      competencies:
        - name: Linux
          level: 90
        - name: Ansible
          level: 90

education:
  - schoolName: IG2I - Centrale
    location: Lens, France
    dates: 2019 - 2014

For more detailed examples and sections, refer to the CV structure guide.