Markdown-to-PDF Resume Generator

This repo contains a small Go program that converts a Markdown file (e.g., RESUME.md) into a PDF. The main objective is to produce an ATS-friendly resume where the text is genuinely machine-readable, rather than rendered as images or unselectable text.

Why This Exists

I wanted to tune and automate my resume, striking a balance between a minimal, professional format and ensuring automated screening systems can parse everything. Many PDF-export tools add excessive styling or embed fonts in ways that can confuse ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems). This project uses blackfriday to convert Markdown to HTML and go-wkhtmltopdf to render that HTML into a clean PDF.

How It Works

1. Markdown to HTML: blackfriday converts the contents of RESUME.md into HTML.
2. HTML to PDF: wkhtmltopdf (through go-wkhtmltopdf) turns that HTML into a PDF with minimal styling, using only system-safe fonts.
3. ATS-Focused Output: The design avoids complicated layouts, columns, or embedded images. The generated PDF has real text with proper spacing and UTF-8 encoding.

Requirements

• Go (1.18+ recommended)
• wkhtmltopdf installed on your system
  (e.g., on Debian-based distros: sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf; on Mac: brew install wkhtmltopdf)

Usage

1. Clone this repo.
2. Copy the example resume template cp RESUME.md.example RESUME.md
3. Edit RESUME.md with your resume content.
4. Install dependencies go get .
5. Run go run .

Tuning for ATS

• Keep your Markdown sections straightforward (headings, bullet points, short paragraphs).
• Avoid tables, columns, or heavy images.
• Ensure contact info appears as plain text near the top.
• Don’t rely on external fonts or weird CSS.