A while back I read Never Eat Alone [0], and found it to be fruitful for framing casual social interactions.

Additionally, most other people do not look forward to "mindless smalltalk with strangers". Since it's possible that everyone in the group shares equal anxiety about being there, you can provide a gift to them by asking pointed questions. If it's easy for them to answer, and gives something interesting for everyone else to listen to, it's actually a lot of pressure off the whole group.

The go-to question I use is:

  what's the best book you've read in the last year or so? Why? 

Note: This works for me because I am a voracious reader, and am always on the hunt for more good books, so if they can make a good book recommendation, I benefit. YMMV.

Since not everyone reads, that question can be amended to "best movie/tv show/documentary".

I'm often the new guy in certain work situations, and that question has saved me a lot of discomfort.

good luck!

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6JBFOS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

I don't see anything terrible with it.

You should definitely remove your high school and elementary schools from your resume.

Your resume seems unfocused. You list a wide range of skills from Business Continuity and Budget Accountability, to Machine Learning, to NewSQL and UML. There is nothing in this resume that suggests to me that if I was looking for candidate for a machine learning role, that you would be the right one.

What type of jobs are you applying for? I would focus your resume on the specific job requirements they are looking for.

If the job is looking for a backend engineer, I would not list due diligence / compliance at the top of the resume.

If you are looking for CTO level positions, I don't think you'll have that much luck with random online job submissions. Finding people through your network would probably go better.

The book "Never Eat Alone" has some good tips: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Expanded-Updated/dp/0...