How To Create A Technical Resume

What Are The Basic Skills Of Computer

Basic computer skills courses cover the most common usages of a computer, including a majority or all of the following: understanding the basic notions of computer manipulation; managing computer files, word processing, using spreadsheets and databases; creating presentations; finding information and communicating

Why Should You Build An Online Portfolio For Technical Resume

An online portfolio can immediately boost your technical resume. Bring out your geeky animal out! Let the hiring manager reach beyond your technical resume.

• After building your super cool tech resume, link your portfolio to it.
• If you can not fill your portfolio, sign up for some small projects or freelance jobs. You can also do a little fun work for yourself.

DON’T DO IT:

Keep looking out for some of the common mistakes in technical resumes:

• Missing details: The employers may be most interested in a certain certification. They may want an experience with a very specific technical skill. Do not let any details go unnoticed. Mention all your experiences explicitly.
• Non-specificity: General skills and abilities are great. However, read the post carefully and tailor your tech resume to your job profile.
• Overstatements: Do not claim skills and abilities that will be difficult for you to prove. Indicate your level of expertise and years of experience with the platforms carefully.

Create A Dedicated Technical Skills Section

If theyre heavily emphasized in the job description, then your Technical Skills section should be at the top of your resume, just below your introduction, and above your professional experience. A bulleted list will make it easy to read.

Heres an example of what that looks like:

Additionally, if you have an extensive roster of technical skills, you can set each bullet as a categorythen, list specifics. For example, if youre an accountant, you could list your technical skills this way:

• Accounting applications: Peachtree, QuickBooks, FreshBooks
• Payroll applications: Paychex, Sage HRMS, ADP, Ascentis
• ERP: SAP R/3, PeopleSoft, Oracle Financials
• BI applications: Crystal Reports, Domo, InsightSquared, IBM Cognos
• Core competencies: Corporate, cost and tax accounting, GAAP, risk management

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Add Coding Bootcamp To Your Work Experience

When you complete coding bootcamp and start your job search in earnest, youll be competing against other programmers, many of whom have prior experience. You might have some work experience of some sort or another, but hiring managers need to know that you can handle coding work. They wont have time to hold your hand, and they want to have peace of mind that their new employee is tested and ready to go.

Because you probably wont have paid coding work to which you can point, youll want to include your bootcamp in your work experience. This is a nice resumé double dipthe bootcamp training will appear under your education, and youll also get to use it as proof that youve done this sort of work before. Highlight your class performance and any areas in which you excelled. A few lines emphasizing your coding experience can get you in the door and interviewing.

How Do You Write A Resume Objective Or Summary When Should You Write Which

As a technical writer, youll know that its best practice to first provide an overview of what a given product is before providing an explanation of how to use it. You should ensure you apply this same rule of thumb when writing your resume.;

That is, you should first provide a recruiter with a general overview of who you are as a professional before launching into specific details about your employment history, skills, and so on. The reason we recommend doing so is because recruiters usually want to first see if its worth their while to read through your resume more extensively.

For this reason, its crucial to include a resume objective or resume summary section right underneath your contact details. Including one gives you the opportunity to immediately capture a recruiters attention in 3 to 4 sentences. You can learn more about each one below, including when you should use which.;

Resume objective

Anyone whos starting out as a technical writer should ensure they include a resume objective in their resume. Its the perfect excuse to subtly address the fact that while youre inexperienced, you nevertheless have a lot to offer.;

When youre writing yours, there are certain pitfalls youll need to be conscious to avoid. Weve represented the most critical ones in the following example of a technical writer resume objective:

So how should a resume objective look like? The following example represents a neat and well-written one:;

Resume summary

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Have A Skills Section

As a technologist, your technical skills are essential to nabbing a gig, which is exactly why you need to make sure that they are showcased on your resume. Dedicate a section of your resume to your skills, listing the ones that are relevant to the job to which youre applying.

This part of your resume illustrates that you have direct experience for this job, and makes it easier for search engines to find your resume.

What Are Technical Skills

Technical skills are the abilities and knowledge needed to perform specific tasks. They are practical, and often relate to mechanical, information technology, mathematical, or scientific tasks. Some examples include knowledge of programming languages, design programs, mechanical equipment, or tools.

While technical skills are often most important for jobs related to information technology and other fields in the sciences, many other industries also want employees with at least some technical skills.

In addition to the technical skills that are needed in the workplace, your command of;job-specific skills;can help ensure you get hired or promoted. Often technical, hard, and job-specific skills are interchangeable, but this is not always the case.

Of course, required skills will vary based upon the job for which you’re applying, so be sure to be specific when listing hardware, software, programs, applications, etc.

Depending on the job you seek, a batch of skills can be referred to as a;skill set;or;hybrid skills, as these skills often go together within a specific profession or industry.

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Career Karmas Picks For Top Free Technical Resume Templates

I know, I knowyou really only came here for the free technical resume template suggestions and sample technical resumes. Well, the wait is over. Here are our top picks for the most attractive, effective, and memorable technical resume templates that you can get for free.;

But please, once youve selected your favorite, go back through this article and find out exactly how to put your shiny new resume template to work for you.;That said, the importance of a high-quality resume design cant be overstated, so lets look at some templates!

Try One of These Classy Resume Templates from Cultivated Culture

Cultivated Culture offers a set of free resume templates that are perfect for tech workers in the job hunt. They provide a level of professionalism and class, while still allowing for a dash of color and style to let your personality shine through.

Consider These Creative Resume Templates for Web Designers

• Use a Clean, Elegant Resume from Raka Caesar

This creative resume template by Raka Caesar strikes the ideal balance between aesthetics and information.

For a Classic Look, Go with One of These Free Resume Templates

• Spiff Up Your Resume with This Template from Rijo Abraham

• Highlight Your Skills with a Laconique Resume Template

What Is The Best Resume Layout

The first thing a job recruiter notices about any resume is the layout.;

Does it look organized or cluttered? Is it too short or too long? Is it boring and easy to ignore, or does it scream out Read me!?

Here are some of the best practices when it comes to your resume layout:

Resume Layout Must-Haves

1. One page in length. You should only go for 2 pages if you really, really believe that itll add significant value. HR managers in big firms get around 1,000+ resumes per month. Theyre not going to spend their valuable time reading your life story!

2. Clear section headings. Pick a heading and use it for all the section headers.

3. Ample white-space, especially around the margins.

4. Easy-to-read font. Wed recommend sticking to what stands out, but not too much. Do: Ubuntu, Roboto, Overpass, etc. Dont : Comic Sans

5. Pick the right font size. As a rule of thumb, go for 11 – 12 pt for normal text, and 14 – 16 pt for section titles.

6. As a rule of thumb, save your resume as PDF. Word is a popular alternative, but it has a good chance of messing up your resume formatting.

One more thing you need to consider in terms of resume layout is whether youre going for a traditional-looking free resume template or something a bit more modern:

If youre pursuing a career in a more traditional industry – legal, banking, finance, etc. – you might want to stick to the first.;

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Create A Clear Education Section

Having a clear education section is essential for your resume, especially if youre a recent college graduate or have minimal work experience.

If you lack professional experience but have a good track record in school , your education section should be highly detailed to highlight all of your education-related accomplishments.

On the other hand, if you possess more than a few years of professional experience, then its appropriate to keep your education section short and sweet.

Additionally, if youre a student or recent graduate, list your education section above the experience section of your resume. This way, you emphasize your most marketable qualifications at the top of the page.

Here are the main points to include in a standard education section:

• The names of your university, community college, or technical school
• Location of the schools
• Date of graduation
• Degree
• GPA

Additionally, include relevant coursework on your resume if youre a recent graduate and dont have much work experience yet.

Here are two examples demonstrating how to format your education section:

The Most Popular: A Reverse Chronological Resume

As previously mentioned, a reverse chronological resume is preferred by many coaches and HR experts, mainly because its super readable. When everythings in a clear order, its easy to skim and even easier to draw lines between experiences.

Who its good for: Just about everyonefrom students applying to internships all the way up to senior-level executives

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Technical Skills: What Are They And Why Do They Matter

When it comes to skills to put on your resume, technical skills are relatively easy to define. Technical skills involve computer proficiency or other technological know-how. These skills are usually developed with specific training, education, and experience.

Technical skills fall into the category of hard skills, so they can be tested and measured. By contrast, soft skills are people skills and are difficult to measure objectively.

Technical Resume Writing: Tips And Examples

When you’re applying for a job in the tech industry, it is important that your resume accurately reflects your skills and experience in the field. Technical resumes differ slightly from standard resumes in several ways so individuals can properly display their technical skills in a highly readable, informative way.

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Putting It All Together

Now that you know about what to include on your technical resume, its time to think about presentation. Do you want to start with skills at the top, followed by job experience and projects chronologically? Or should you start with projects that pertain to the job and then address job history and education? Should your resume have a more minimalistic design or should you be more creative with it?

There is no one right answer for everyone. Its all about what works for you and your experience. The one thing thats important is to get a feel for the employers ideology. For instance, a resume with multiple colors, a creative design, and fun font might work for a more casual and creative company, while a minimalistic, professional resume will give off a more authoritative tone.

Once your resume is created, there are services you can use that will run through it and give you a score on how likely it will be picked compared to a job description. This could assist in how you layout and create your content. Services like Jobscan, Resume Worded, and Cultivated Culture have free and premium features you can use to boost your chance to be seen by an Applicant Tracking System.

Just remember: dont try to give off a personality thats not true to yourself, really focus on your skills and accomplishments, and always be honest. Best of luck in your job search!

Christina Kopecky is a writer at Career Karma where she focuses on coding tutorials and technical articles.

Resume Summary Or Objective

Its not a secret for anyone that first impressions matter, whether theyre in your personal life, or your career.

If you leave a bad first impression, chances are, its there to stay. After all, its very hard to change someones opinion of you.

The same applies to your job search – the HR manager spends around 6 seconds scanning each resume. Yep, your carefully-worded, hand-crafted resume only gets 6 seconds of attention. Unless, of course, you manage to leave an amazing first impression.

The way you accomplish this is through either a good resume summary or objective. Both are placed at the top of your resume, right around the contact information section:

So, heres what you need to know about the two:

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Technical Writing Resume Summary Samples

WRONGRIGHT

Good resume summary example shares important information with the reviewer to help decide whether youâre another ordinary writer or youâre remarkably suitable for their job.

• It shows if you can impress with your words

• Whether your writing is professional, mature, yet friendly

• It also says what to expect from your writing

• Whether you can convince your readers with your words

If you impress the recruiter and sound convincing enough within your resume summary, youâre very close to getting that interview call.

Here is a checklist of must include information to make a positive impact and get shortlisted.

• Name & job title or position

• Years of relevant experience

• Important Certification in short form

• Contact address- mail id & phone

• Link to important books or articles published or publication name

• Awards for writing like the Pushcart Prize, Best Of The Net, Pulitzer awards and the like

• What you write about and what industry you write for

Now that you have convinced the recruiter that reading further is worth it, itâs time to talk experience.

Letâs first take a look at some entry level technical writer resume samples

The Unorthodox Route: A Functional Or Skills

Rather than listing out your experience in reverse chronological order, a functional or skills-based resume has bullet points that reflect how each of your skills is demonstrated by the work youve done over the course of your career. At the bottom, youll include everything else, such as your education, job history, professional achievements, community involvement, and other technical skills. This is a good option if you have a somewhat all-over-the-place work history and want to tie everything together neatly.

Who its good for: Career changers whose work experiences may not appear to be relevant and people with an abundance of temporary jobs or gaps in their work histories.

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How To Present Skills In Tech Resume

Key skills

One of the most important sections on your technical resume is the key skills section. The ATS quickly scans you on the basis of the key skills.

Hence, it is important that rather than listing a dozen odd skills relevant to the job, you demonstrate them.

Instead of adding skills relentlessly like a robot, elaborate them. Show how you exhibited that certain trait, resolved bugs, handled mid-project crisis and inner team dynamics.

Quantify your skills if you can, because it is going to give you 10x more attention than merely adding the appropriate keyword.

Any good tech resume will contain a healthy mix of both hard skills and soft skills, with emphasis on the former. Hard skills demonstrate how you are fit for the job, while soft skills prove how well of a team member you are.

An example for key skills for technical resume could be:

• interpersonal relationship managementmay also be included to throw light on specific parts of your tech resume.

If you have a special skill or interest and you are not sure whether it will leave a lasting impact through your tech resume, put yourself in the position of your hiring manager.If you would find this skill interesting in a candidate, write it down.

How Many Pages Should A Resume Be

The short answer is that one page is the ideal resume length for most candidates. However, if you have a lot of relevant work experience, it can be two or even three pages.

Just note that unless youre applying for an upper-management position or an academic post, one page will be enough for hiring managers. Even Elon Musks resume could be tightened into one page.

If youre applying for an academic position, youll need to send a CV instead of a resume. Keep in mind that CV templates are often several pages long, and contain more information to show the progression of your academic career.

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Search Terms And Jargon

With technology playing such a huge role in the hiring process, it is extremely important to make sure your resume gets flagged for the right positionsbut do not oversell yourself on your resume. If you mention agile skills but do not know what kanban is, think twice. If you mention that you are skilled in Java but haven’t used it in five years, beware. If there are languages and frameworks you are familiar with but not necessarily current in, create a different category or divide your experience into “proficient in” and “familiar with.”