Show What You Achieved Using Your Skills
In addition to including your skills, you need to back up the accomplishments on your resume with hard numbers. This helps illustrate your value to an employer by breaking down exactly what youre capable of achieving.
Heres an example of how to do this effectively:
- Designed internal website for agents and management, saving an average $8,000 in labor costs per week.
In this example, the candidate emphasizes their ability to successfully take on a large-scale development project .
Mastering the Dos and Donts
- Find your crossover skills relating to the job posting
- Research as much as possible in the company before applying
- Write a resume summary like an elevator pitch
Dont:
Create A Projects Section
Software engineers are usually expected to have a projects section on their resume, or a link to an external portfolio like Github. List towards the bottom of your resume, your projects section is a chance to show employers what skills youve applied to make a project come to life.
As an entry-level applicant, you may be thinking you dont have anything to put in this section. But think again.
Coding projects you carried out for your education are great additions to your projects section.
In fact, any projects you list here will prove to the employer you have the engineering skills needed to complete projects from beginning to end, even if you dont have formal work experience.
Heres an example of how to include software engineering projects on your resume:
Resume Projects Example
PROJECTS
Quicksilver Booking | Developer
Description: A mobile hotel booking solution for iOS. Pulls and compares the best hotel prices in a geographical area.Used: Swift, Javascript, C++
- Worked across the development lifecycle to build and maintain code, eliminating 150 unique bugs.
- Developed dynamic components for the app and created a new landing page that streamlined customer experience.
- Built a new feature using Swift to automatically compare competing discount offers.
Include A Cover Letter With Your Resume
Cover letters are just as important as they always have been.
You see, a cover letter instantly makes your application specific and more personal.
Unlike a generic resume that has been sent to ten other companies, a cover letter shows the recruiter that you want to work for their company.
For a winning cover letter, you need the correct structure. Heres what we recommend:
You should complete the following sections:
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Key Takeaways For A Software Engineer Resume
How To Write A Software Engineer Resume
Before you start writing, make sure you know how to write a resume in a way that best emphasizes your strengths.
With your numerous software engineering skills, languages, and methodologies, you may be asking, What should I leave in? What should I leave out? This guide will help you navigate these tough questions.
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How To Create A Software Engineering Resume In 5 Steps
Jennifer Herrity is a career coach at Indeed and has worked with job seekers from various industries over the last 10 years. She creates content to help people navigate their career challenges with tools and techniques she has shaped through practical experience.
Whether you are just starting out as an entry-level software engineer or are more seasoned and looking to update your existing resume with current technology and skills, its important to know what employers are looking for in your resume. In this article, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to structure your software engineer resume, key information to include and an example and template to help you build your own.
Related:
Senior Software Engineer Resume
Summary : Software Engineer with over 10+ years of experience in the Healthcare domain is seeking a full-time position in the field of Software Engineering.
Skills : Java, Groovy, Web Services, JavaScript, JQuery, CSS, HTML, XML,C#.NET, VB 6.0/VB.NET, C/C++/VC++ RDBMS: Oracle SQL, MS-Access, Sybase Domain Knowledge: Windows 7, MS Windows
Description :
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Software Engineer Resume Objective
This talks about what you want to achieve professionally, again in 2-4 sentences.
Example for Software Engineer Resume Objective:
Hardworking software engineer looking for the opportunity to follow a successful career in software development at . Experience with coding, troubleshooting and testing for various projects at . Good skills in debugging and machine learning.
Work Experience Section For Software Engineering Resumes: Telling A Good Story
There are three qualities that differentiate a tossed out work experience in a software engineer resume from the one that a recruiter will read to the end:
- Results-oriented
WRONG
Most software engineer job descriptions that perform badly do so for that exact reason: they are awfully generic and boring.
In order to write an engaging, results-driven resume template, you should state not only what you did, but what you achieved by what you did, framing it in terms of numbers.
In other words, Process, Technology, Accomplishment.
Lets rewrite the previous example.
Bad: Developed a prediction algorithm Good: Reduced the loading time of a 10 million photo library by 68% by developing a preloading algorithm
Pro tip
Want to make it even more convincing? Mention tech that you used to do that. If those are mentioned in the description of a job that youre applying for, thats double win.
Better: Reduced the loading time of a 10 million photo library by 68% by developing a preloading algorithm using Pythons SciPy library.
However, dont use too many abbreviations, otherwise the resume will become hard to read. Youll have a relevant Skill section to list more of your technical skills.
Below is an example of a results-oriented software engineer resume template experience section:
RIGHT
Want to learn more about why accomplishments and achievements are a must in a resume professional experience? Then read on our blog post: Resume Highlights: Why Resume Accomplishments Get You Hired .
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Writing The Perfect Cover Letter For Your Resume
A cover letter is important because you submit it alongside your resume at the interview as a part of your application. An average cover letter is 250 400 words long and acts as an introduction to yourself while mentioning about your professional background. You can utilize your cover letter to grab the interest of your recruiter by showing them why you want to work for their company. So, how should you structure your cover letter? A good cover letter would include all the following details in their relevant sections.
Remove Outdated Or Irrelevant Information
Here are several tips regarding what not to include in your resume:
-
References. Instead, provide these if the recruiter asks.
-
Outdated employment. Some recruiters see skills gained 15+ years ago as obsolete.
-
Graduation dates. If you graduated five or more years ago, remove graduation years from your education section.
-
GPA. If you graduated three or more years ago, your professional experience is more impactful to include than your academic performance. Current students or recent graduates in the process of getting professional experience should include GPA and academic or personal projects to highlight technical experience.
-
Company or project summaries. The recruiter can research this information. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to highlight relevant company and project info during your interview.
-
Work authorization details. Unless it’s a requirement for the role, including these details would be extraneous.
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Associate Software Engineer Resume Example
Use this template
Why this resume works
- Career objectives exist to support and enhance whatever work experience is listed, even if limited. Instead of writing a lengthy associate software engineer resume that includes irrelevant skills and knowledge, you can use your resume’s career objective to instill confidence in the reader regarding your history of driving value .
- As you progress through your software engineering career, resume bullet points will become fewer but have a greater impact. If the overall quantity of direct career expertise is low, include more bullet points per single work experience.
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 :
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Software Engineer In Test
- Wrote a distributed system to unify the build process with test automation programs reduced test’s mean time to completion by 4 hours
- Maintained a collection of government provided hash values reduced the collection’s build time from 30 hours to 4 hours
- Wrote database admin tool for tuning of Oracle 10g server memory usage this allowed customers to reduce large-data-set processing times by as much as a factor of 2
- Received Employee of the Month honors for excellent assistance to tech support
Full Stack Software Engineer Resume
Use this template
Why this resume works
- Not all full stack software engineers are created equal. Despite having similarities among skills, such as HTML, CSS, MongoDB, and Jest proficiencies, the main differentiation will be in whatever your main programming language isJavaScript, Python, Go, or other programming languages.
- Include multiple programming languages in your resume skills section to show your increased value to recruiters and better fit ATS screening criteria.
- Adding specific keywords is a must for a great full stack software engineer resume. This resume optimizes itself in a non-standardized job market by highlighting more than one main programming language.
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What To Include And Not To Include In Resume
Now that the formatting issue is sorted, you must be wondering what to include and what not to in your software engineer resume. Here are some of the main sections that you must have in your professional resume.
- Work experience
- Contact information
If you want to enhance your skill section, you can enroll in the KnowledgeHuts web designing development course. It can offer you an edge over your competitors.
In case you want to add more information, you can include the following:
- Certification and awards
Make sure to include all the information correctly under each of these sections.
How To Put Projects On Your Resume The Right Way
Projects are usually a section that is highly recommended for graduates that lack vast working experience, yet have some personal projects that are relevant to the job theyre applying for.
Add a Projects’ section to your resume if you have major achievements outside your work that are related to the job.
Those can be open-source contributions, professorship at prestigious tech Universities, or freelance work with major tech companies.
In any way, make sure those projects stand out and add value to your resume without taking too much precious space.
The project section is formatted the same way as an Experience section, yet you can leave the dates out due to their flexible nature.
Lets talk about how you should format your Education section now.
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Need Help Crafting Your Software Engineer Resume
We know the market, we know the top organizations hiring talent and we can be your job search partner so you dont have to walk the career journey alone. We can help you craft a free resume and cover letter that stands out in the applicant pool, get you prepped for the interview with the hiring manager, and beyond that, well ensure you have the info you need to make the right career decisions! Akkodis has a team of experts that will help make your dream job a reality. Take a look at our current open roles or contact us today to get started!
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Learning How To Write A Killer Rsum By Example
As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lets take another look at this résumé:
The Essentials from a Glance
One-page résumé
Recruiters do not have all day to read your résumé. On average they view it for less than 6 seconds. Keep it short and concise.
Sections
Place sections in order of importance from top to bottom. The Personal Projects section is a unique, must-have for people looking for a software engineering position.
Consistent layout + font per section
Make sure each section contains a uniform look. Consistent style is important as it enhances the readability. Readability is essential.
So why does this résumé work? Lets explore the numbered bullet points.
Who Are You
Target Audience: Anyone writing a résumé
Starting off real easy. Your name. Place your name at the top of your résumé in a large legible font.
No need to be all fancy about it with extravagant colors or fancy fonts. Plain and simple does the trick. You want the recruiter to see this easily from a mile away because you want them to know who you are. A recruiter who has to do minimum work is a happy recruiter. A happy recruiter is one who is more likely to give you an interview.
Recap: Make it ridiculously easy for the recruiter to read and find your name.
Target Audience: Anyone writing a résumé
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Use A Software Engineer Resume Template
Word is a great application for creating documents.
However
Creating a resume with text editors is a different story all together!
This is due to formatting issues.
In fact, theres a chance your entire layout will fall apart as you make alterations.
Want to skip any formatting issues? Use a software engineer resume template.
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.
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What You Should Include In Your Software Engineering Resume
Usually, a software engineering resume is broken into a few main sections such as:
- Contact Information
Want to highlight yourself even more? Try adding some of these sections:
- Awards & Certifications
- Interests & Hobbies
- Now that youve selected your sections, lets look at what to include in each of those.
How Important Is A Software Engineering Resume
A resume is the first level of screening that any company uses and its the stage where the field is pared down the most. The average corporate job opening sees 250 resumes come in but only between 4 and 6 candidates get an interview. So a strong software engineering resume can give you the ability to become part of the top 2% of applicants to a job.
Its also important to know how recruiters interact with resumes. Studies show that recruiters spend as little as 7.4 seconds on average looking at each resume they receive. Thats how much time you have to make an impression, so clarity and brevity are of the essence.
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