Formatting Your Senior Software Engineer Resume
Want to keep going on your own? Good idea! Nobody knows your professional accomplishments and career goals like you.
Follow our resume template and you cant go wrong. Just keep in mind that quality is always going to be more important than quantity.
For a Senior Software Engineer, finding a method that works and implementing it throughout your code is a great feeling. Our resume template is how you do that for your career. This is the format:
- Name + Contact
Okay, now that we have the outline, lets dive into the specifics.
Lead Embedded Software Engineer Resume
Summary : An enthusiastic and self-motivated Lead Software Engineer with an extensive experience of 8 plus years in the Healthcare domain, in designing, developing and testing large scale software and embedded systems. Strong background in process-oriented software development. Capable of working in a team environment or working independently. I am continually seeking new challenges and a desire to expand knowledge and experience.
Skills : C, C++, Perl, Shell Scripts Operating Systems: RTOS , UNIX, Linux And Windows. Software Applications/Debugging Tools: ClearCase/ClearQuest, QNX Momentics, DBX, Cscope, Lauterbach, Code Warrior Rhapsody Network Simulator/Test Tools: Agilent 8960, Rhode & Schwarz CRTU And Anritsu Office Applications: DOORs, Microsoft Word, Excel And PowerPoint. Excellent Problem Solving And Debugging.
Description :
Software Engineer Resume Summary
Unless it’s done extremely well, we strongly recommend that you dont include a resume summary or objective section on your software engineer resume. Why? Because they rarely, if ever, convey meaningful information to the person reviewing your resume. Lets break down a typical objective statement I see on a resume:
Sample software engineer resume objective
I have 3+ years of experience, and Im looking to leverage my Django expertise to work on challenging problems as a Senior Software Engineer.
The person reviewing this resume has not learned any new information. Their 3+ years of experience should be demonstrated in their work experience. Django expertise should also be highlighted in their work experience and skills, and their desire for a Senior Software Engineer role should be reflected in their title.
Only include a resume objective if you take the time to customize it for each role meaningfully. We’ve compiled over 100 resume objective examples to give you some inspiration.
Remember, recruiters typically only look at your resume for six seconds. Dont make them waste precious time on anything that doesnt demonstrate new information about why youre a great fit for the role.
Anything unique to your situation or circumstance should be discussed in your cover letter where you can elaborate on what youre looking for in your next role without the constraint of space that a resume forces.
Read Also: How To Put Salary On Resume
Getting Started What Is The Software Engineer Resume Objective
The objective of a resume is to frame your software engineering skills, professional experience, and education background in such a way that an employer sees you as a potential asset to their company or development team.
Your Software Engineer resume should tell a story. A strong resume presents a persuasive case for the value you would bring to a Software Engineer job at a specific business.
Employment History Resume Example: Share Your Story
As noted above, your options here depend on whether you have worked full-time jobs for employers or acted as a contractor for many different projects. Software developers have the option of doing project-based contract work. This allows them the freedom to set their rates, work only on projects they choose and take time off between contracts. If you are a contractor, your resume is constantly in need of updating. Make sure you add new projects promptly, especially if they include new skills or experiences. You can drop earlier work that shows only basic levels of skills as you advance.
Dont neglect work you did in school or in your free time if it illustrates a different skill than the ones you have exhibited in other job descriptions. This is especially important if you are just entering the job market.
U.S. News and World Report ranked software developer as the No. 2 job in its list of Top 100 Jobs for 2021.
Read Also: How To Write A High School Resume
Next Create A Software Engineer Skills Section On Your Resume
Your resume’s skills section should include the most important keywords from the job description, as long as you actually have those skills. If you haven’t started your job search yet, you can look over resumes to get an idea of what skills are the most important.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing your resume’s skills section:
- Include 6-12 skills, in bullet point form
- List mostly hard skills soft skills are hard to test
- Emphasize the skills that are most important for the job
Soft skills are also valuable, as they’re highly transferable and make you a great person to work alongside, but they’re impossible to prove on a resume.
Example Of Software Engineer Skills For Resume
Other Important Parts Of A Resume
Above are some of the most common and important sections to include on a resume for software engineer positions, but other areas may help your chances, as well. The important thing is to tailor each resume for one particular software engineer job description, rather than sending one generic resume everywhere.
Here are a few additional sections to consider for a good software engineer resume:
And finally
A software engineer cover letter.
A cover letter may not exactly be part of a resume, but you definitely ought to include one with your resume.
Just be sure to use it wisely.
Tailor your software engineering cover letter to the job description. Dont repeat your resume on the cover letter, but use it instead to expand upon or add value to your resume. Explain why youre applying and why you believe youre the most eligible candidate for the software engineering position. Highlight key skills, experience, qualifications, and other items which support your claim.
Every job is essentially a problem looking for a solution. So every job posting has within it a problem that the company is trying to solve by hiring a human to do that, as Lisa Smith, Engineering Manager at Zapier,told Arc. If you can use your resume and cover letter to convey how hiring you helps them solve their problems, youll be well on your way to that software engineer interview.
Also Check: How To Do A Reference Sheet For A Resume
Start With Your Header
At the top of your resume, include important contact information including your name, phone number, email address and links to your personal or professional websites. Websites or personal portfolios allow recruiters and hiring managers to see examples of your work and assess your skill level.
Your name should be clearly visible, in 16- to 18-point font. While this section is called a header, it is not recommended to place this information in a document header as it may be omitted when parsed by an
technical skills section should come immediately after your summary and before your work experience. This placement allows the recruiter to quickly see that youre a great fit for their role. If you have three years or less of experience, its best to organize this section by expertise. If you are a more experienced professional, consider organizing this section by function. Review the job description to ensure youre including the skills required by the employer.
Related: 10 Best Skills To Include on a Resume
Software Engineer Resumeextra Sections
Those first software engineer resume samples will make the hiring manager stop breathing.
What about certifications on software engineer resumes?
Put certifications from Microsoft or Oracle in a special resume certifications section near the bottom.
Expert Hint: Include a cover letter for software engineers. Make it passionate and itll get the hiring manager to actually read your software engineer resume.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? Theres 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
For a software engineer resume that glows:
- Use the software engineer resume template at the top. It shows youre job-compatible without a lot of blah blah blah.
- List accomplishments in your software engineer resume experience section. Match them to the job like Mixins.
- Put a yardstick near your software engineer resume with numbers. Percents, dollars, and other metrics make the competition look micro.
- Send a software engineer cover letter and link it to the employers needs. Shell read your software engineer resume like the source code for reality.
Got questions on how to write a great resume for software engineer jobs? Not sure how to show software engineer on a resume? Leave a comment. Well be happy to reply.
Don’t Miss: How Far To Go Back On Resume
Action Verbs For Software Engineer Resumes
The use of weak action verbs will hurt the overall strength of your resume. You dont want to use generic verbs. You want to use ones that are complementary to the software skills youve used. Try not to overuse one action verb variety helps keep your resume unique. If youre not sure which action verbs to use, heres a list of action verbs that are useful for software engineers.
- Conceptualized
For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.
Software Developer Resume Skills Example
Software developers need a lot of technical knowledge, but they need other abilities, too. The skillssection of a resume is a concise overview of your professional abilities. Its obvious but true that software developers must have expertise in many technical areas and keep up with advancements in the field.
Here are broad examples of technical skills, also known as hard skills, that recruiters will be looking for:
- Data structures and algorithms
- Programming, scripting and markup languages
Your first step to developing this resume section is to create a master list of all your skills, attributes, successes and accomplishments. You can go back to this list every time you apply for a new job to cherry-pick the most relevant ones. You can also keep this list and add to it as you learn and achieve more in your career as a software developer.
- Advanced Analytical Thinking
Read Also: How To Spell Resume For Job Application
Mid Level Software Engineerresume Examples & Samples
- Provide input on project related technical matters, including development approaches, ad hoc technical issues and questions on environment and technical specifications
- Take complete ownership of his or her development work
- Work with functional staff to establish and clarify requirements
- Participate and contribute to Backlog refinement and Sprint Planning
- Demonstrates ability to solve complex problems
- Demonstrates ability to develop software with minimal defects
- Demonstrates ability to develop software with minimal oversight
- Demonstrates ability to find and fix bugs in existing software
- Demonstrates ability to work with teams
- Demonstrates working knowledge of Agile Development
- Demonstrates ability to develop software according to best practices
- Demonstrates ability to develop software per the optimal solution
- Demonstrates ability to adopt and learn new skills
- Demonstrates ability to perform well under pressure
- Demonstrates ability to clearly communicate Scope Creep and schedule slippage to the technical lead and project manager
- Delivers task on-time
How To Format A Software Engineer Resume
Now, before you can highlight your talents, you need to format your resume correctly.
Your resume should be easy to read and not be hard work for the recruiter to skim through.
The reverse-chronologicalresume format is the most commonly used format, and we can see why. It positions your top talents at the top of your resume, so the recruiter can immediately see your value proposition.
These software engineering resume formats also get our approval
- Functional Resume If you have strong software engineering skills, but a small amount of work experience, this resume format is recommended
- Combination Resume The final format combines both Functional and Reverse-Chronological formats. As such, it is ideal for software engineers who have skills AND work experience.
Once youve chosen your format, you need to organize your resume layout.
You May Like: How To Share Linkedin Profile In Resume
Name And Contact Information
Most of the things you need to mention in this section are obvious. But there are a few nuances to keep in mind with how you present your basic information.
Name
Use the same name that all your other documents, such as your certificates and government IDs, mention. Also ensure that the name you use on LinkedIn corresponds to the one that you have in your resume. You dont want to confuse recruiters about whether they have the right persons profile when they look you up online.
Email Address
The email address you mention in your software engineering resume should be professional and ideally include just your name and last name. So dont use that email ID you made in middle school that was a combination of your favorite band at the time and your birthday. Create a new, simple email ID if you have to so that you can mention it in your resume.
Phone Number
Some recruiters prefer to reach out to candidates via phone call rather than email. So mention your mobile phone number along with your country code, in case youre applying to a job taking applications from several locations.
Address of Residence
You dont need to mention your physical address in your resume in most cases. The only reason you might want to have it in there is if recruiters state a preference for people based in a certain area . But otherwise, the address is an unnecessary piece of information and shouldnt take up real estate on your resume.
LinkedIn Profile
Github
Software Engineer Resume Guide For 2022
When you apply for an engineering job at a company, the first person looking at your resume is, well, not a person. Companies use something called an Applicant Tracking System to filter out a majority of applicants for a role based on keyword matching.
If you pass this step, your resume will get reviewed by a non-technical recruiter. Then at last, the technical hiring manager will look at your resume.
How do you write a resume that will get you through all of these hoops to get that first interview? Thats what this guide is designed to help you do!
Weve analyzed numerous resumes from software engineers and have distilled what works and what doesnt in order to get your foot in the door.
Heres what were going to cover in this guide:
- How to properly format your resume to appease the ATS filters, including what sections to include and omit.
- How to talk about your work experience and personal projects to convincingly appeal to technical and non-technical audiences.
- What to put in the very important skills section of the resume.
- How to customize your resume for each job to which you apply .
Recommended Reading: What Are Good Extracurricular Activities To Put On A Resume
Tips To Write A Software Engineer Resume Summary:
How To Write A Software Engineer Resume That Gets Interviews
- Demonstrate real impact with finished projects
Simply stating that you worked on a cloud-based application gives a hiring manager neither indication of your abilities nor the level of your contribution. Also, any finished project is x10 times more credible than an unfinished one, and stating that you worked on something doesnt mean you finished it. A finished project has outcomes. Bad example: worked on a cloud-based application
Good example: Spearheaded a $12M cloud-based application development from design to distribution as a senior software engineer in a 12-people team More examples of that in the Experience section of this guide.
- Focus on the employer, not yourself.
A natural instinct of 99% inexperienced resume writers is to start selling yourself. I can I work with , and I did Yes, in a way you are a product. But you dont see I drive people on a BMW slogan. Its Sheer Driving Pleasure. Bad example: Expert knowledge of Python libraries Good example: Reduced the loading time of a 10 million photo library by 68% by developing a preloading algorithm using Pythons SciPy library More examples on that in the Summary, Experience, and Skills sections of this guide.
- Resume format does make a difference. But not in a way you might expect.
Ensure that you can print and export your sample resume as a PDF file so recruiters can review it on their lunch break.
Lets start with your resume format first.
Also Check: How To List Nanny Experience On A Professional Resume