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# I stopped accepting tools that lock my thinking
- URL: https://zahradnik.io/i-stopped-accepting-tools-that-lock-my-thinking/
- Published: 2026-04-13T10:43:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-13T10:46:10.000Z
- Author: Vladimír Záhradník
- Tags: Field notes, Friction

For years I used paid tools to build my CV.  
I even recommended them to my students in one of my older courses.

In 2026, something shifted.

I needed a new CV for a specific role. Like before, I paid for a one-month subscription to get it done quickly. But this time, I noticed friction I had ignored for years:

- I have to pay every time I want to tweak my CV
- Or stay subscribed indefinitely
- And the final nail: I can’t fully control the template — someone else made the design decisions for me

That last point bothered me the most.

So I tried a different approach:

- a private Git repository
- CVs stored as YAML files
- rendered using [Astro](https://astro.build/?ref=zahradnik.io) with a custom layout

(ChatGPT helped with the setup — I’ve heard Claude is even better for this kind of work.)

When I saw my CV as structured data, I knew this was the right direction.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/55/9855d37b-ac20-4dfa-abf2-b089f6222e9f/content/images/2026/04/Sn--mka-obrazovky_20260413_123015-1.png)

This is the CV — before rendering.

The content was no longer trapped inside a UI.  
It became something I could version, reuse, and reshape freely.

This approach is not for everyone. But for a software engineer, it makes perfect sense.  
And in the age of AI, even non-coders can build something like this with minimal effort.

Ironically, I spent most of my time not on the data — but on CSS.

Paid tools promise that your CV will stand out.

Sometimes, a simpler and less polished design stands out more.

And this time, it’s fully mine.