Senior Software Engineer Resume Example
Use this template
Why this resume works
- As a senior software engineer, the need for a comprehensive career objective dwindles. The focus of your senior software engineer resume needs to be on proven work history, excellent KPIs, and leadership.
- Highlighting a lengthy career in multiple software engineering roles with quantifiable data from various sources to back it up is guaranteed to land an interview.
Start With Our Outline For Your Software Engineer Cover Letter
Outlining your software engineer cover letter is a great way to make sure you dont forget any key points. And just as formatting your resume is important, format matters in your cover letter, too weve got you covered.
Your contact info: List your name, phone number, location, and email .
Formatting: Leave out your name here if youre using a business block format for your address.
Date: Use the exact date that you submit your application materials
Formatting: Write out the full date instead of shortening it, e.g., May 4, 2022.
Inside address: This is the recipient’s address. Include their name, company and position, and the companys address.
Example:
4562 Larwin Ave Cypress, California 90630
Formatting: Each part of the address should be on a new line. Remember to double-space between the inside address and your greeting, too.
Greeting: Your greeting/salutation is your crucial first impression! Do your homework and uncover the name of the hiring manager or employer, avoiding generic terms like To whom it may concern, and please, at all costs, never start with Dear Sir or Madam. Ick!
Formatting: Use a colon instead of a comma after your greeting for more formal companies. Companies like Rushdown are far more casual a comma will do just fine.
Body: The body of your software engineer cover letter should be 3-4 paragraphs that demonstrate your interest, show off your credentials, and exhibit an appropriate level of enthusiasm for future discussion.
Example:
Example:
Cover Letter For Software Engineering
In case the job description says you need to provide a cover letter, do include yours. Otherwise, you can always leave it out.
Nowadays, job application forms include questions like why do you want to work here, or explain why youre the best fit for us, which makes you wonder are cover letters really necessary?
Still, they help you tell your story in a way that, if written right, its captivating and engaging.
In any case, you should pay close attention to the following tips when a cover letter is a must:
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Tip : Dont Underestimate Your Tone & Message
As you can probably imagine, theres a lot more that goes into your software engineer cover letter besides technical information. The overall message of your letter should mirror the qualities that the job listing calls for and demonstrate the values and vision of the company as a whole. You dont want to just convey that youre a software engineer who can work whereveryour message needs to convey that you want to work there!
As a software engineer with a vast array of technical skills and fascinating professional experiences, it might be trickybut youll need to keep your cover letter to a page. And within that space, youll want to consider your tone of voice.
Your tone should match the role: Senior software engineer candidates should convey confidence and experience, and all applicants should demonstrate enthusiasm and eagerness to contribute to the company.
Additionally, consider the company culture and vibes. Working for a healthcare company likely means you should take a bit more formal tone while employers at a gaming company will probably appreciate a little pizazz and a more conversational approach.
Lastly, set aside time for editing and revising. It may take several tries to get the message and tone of your cover letter just right, but the extra effort is worth it! Ensure you clean up embarrassing typos or copy-paste mishaps in your cover letter, and be deliberate about word choice to refine your tone.
Do Not Take Job Application Forms Lightly
If the company you are applying for requires you to fill in the “Work Experience” and “Education” sections into their own form, do not take it lightly! Most of the time, these are internal HR applications which help parse job applications and filter out candidates from the information provided. In fact, it is possible that your resume is never seen by the recruiter or hiring manager – only the information that you fill up in their forms!
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Use Action Words To Make Your Software Engineer Resume Pop
are all common words that the recruiter sees time and time again.
However, you dont want your resume to resume the competition, which means you should use power words to make your achievements stand out:
B.A. in Software Engineering
The University of Chicago
2012 – 2016
Relevant Courses: Software Engineering Project, Distributed Systems Development, Information Systems Modelling, Specification of Software Systems, Software Evolution, Software Quality, Agile Methods
GPA: 3.8
Now, you may need more information. If so, here are the answers to some of the most frequent questions that we get:
What if I havent completed education yet?
- Regardless of whether youre an engineering graduate or still studying, you should still mention every year of education to date
Should I include my high school education?
- Generally, only include your highest form of education. Therefore, include your high school education if you dont have a relevant degree in engineering
What do I put first, my education or experience?
- Experiences are the priority, so those go first. If youre a recent graduate, you will likely need to start with education
Need more information? Check out our guide on how to list education on a resume.
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 .
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Create A Compelling Application Letter
Showcase your heart and personality by attaching an application letter to your resume. This gives hiring managers a chance to know who you are as a person. This letter also gives you the opportunity to explain why you want to work for the company and what you have that can benefit the organization if they hire you.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Software Engineer Cover Letter Samples Guide In 2022
Stephen Greet, Co-founder
May 4, 2022
As a software engineer, your job is all about analyzing the users needs and then developing and testing software to meet those needs. With excellent communication and collaboration skills, you apply the engineering principles and strategies to software development to make it happenall while integrating data and tucking it away for future problem-solving.
Your process likely includes recommending software upgrades, translating data into actionable improvement strategies, coordinating and working with software development and programming teams, and documenting improvements made to easily address clients questions or concerns in the future. You also do your fair share of planning, strategizing, and hands-on work with programming and database tools.
Youre eager to dive into your dream job, but first, youll need to write a software engineer resume along with an excellent cover letter that attests to your job skills and accomplishments. We get that most people dread writing cover letters, but were here to simplify the process. Refer to these three software engineer cover letter examples and helpful pointers to build yourself a solid starting point for your path to greatness!
How To Tackle Software Engineer Skills Section
When writing the Skills section, technical specialists in general tend to list all the platforms and programming languages they ever put their hands on.
This might be a mistake.
See, recruiters dealt with hundreds of candidates, and they know that 85% of applicants lie on their resumes.
Are you excellent with all the hard skills you listed?
Chances are, youre not. Even if you played with a piece of software for a week, that doesnt mean you’re as good with it as with other skills of yours.
So its good to prioritize what technical skills to list on your resume and what not.
First, dont list outdated, irrelevant technology that youve been working with 10 years ago.
We all know that the industry changes too fast, and listing Pascal on your resume might look a bit odd.
Second, dont list obvious skills like Microsoft Office, or experience with Windows OS. It goes without saying youre good with those tools, given the nature of your job.
Finally, carefully study the job description and the company youre applying for. Prioritize the skills in your resume that the company needs.
When you list a certain technology or platform on your resume, its a good idea to list adjacent technologies as well. For example, with Java its J2EE, Spring, JSTL, etc.
That shows you dont just put the buzzword there and actually have working experience with a whole stack.
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Resume Layout And Design
Nothing less than a superior-caliber resume document is acceptable for software engineers. As weve emphasized before, put yourself in the hiring managers chair. Deliver on the expectation of a clean, user-friendly layout that does you justice.
The result should be eye-catching without being flashy or gimmicky. Keep it sleek, streamlined and uncomplicated inviting at first glance and disappointing no one reading further. And it goes without saying your resume must be character-perfect and bug-free in every other sense. Subject it to multiple beta test runs under anyone scrutiny but your own. Tweak it further each time and do a proofreading reboot.
Fonts and size
Most tech-minded people widely favor sans-serif fontspopularized by web designers/developers and web-based companies. Fonts like Open Sans, Roboto, Arial, Calibri, Lato, Helvetica and PT Sans will feel right at home in a software engineer resume. Incidentally, most of them can be found in the Google Fonts library or as standard inclusions on PC/Mac systems.
For font size, stick to a range between 10 to 12pts .
While your designing eye could come in handy, were guessing you dont have hours to spend reinventing unbroken wheels. Consider using one of our field-tested resume templatesthat are used as a basis for all our resume examples.
Customize A Different Resume For Every Job Application
Ensuring that your resume matches with the key details of a job description posted by a company makes you seem fit to fulfill the duties being asked of a future employee. If you are applying for multiple establishments, you have to ensure that your credentials match what is being asked for each application.
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Python Software Engineer Cover Letter Example
Download and edit in Microsoft Word. Edit in . Edit in block business letter format .
Why this cover letter works
- Rushdown Studios has a strong, bold personality, so Sarah lets hers shine, too.
- She immediately references her experience as a gamer and a Python software engineer, both of which are focal points in the job description and the company as a whole.
- Python software engineers must typically meet very specific job requirements, so dive into these stat. Show your interest by citing examples that support it!
Best Developer Resume Templates
Your resume is the first chance to prove yourself to get the best first impression. Even if you are a fresher or experienced, before you, your resume speaks about you. So looking at some samples and crafting a good resume template will always help you get employed
A developer or software engineer plays an important role in the design, testing, and maintenance of a software system. Based on the companys requirement the developer has to develop the software.
Writing the code and maintaining is not that much easy. We can see the result only at the end which needs a lot of hard work in the background.
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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.
How To Make Your Software Engineer Work Experience Stand Out
Recruiters want to know that you can do the job, and do the job well. The easiest way to instil confidence in the recruiter is with your work experience.
Heres how we recommend you structure your work experience section:
Developed new infrastructure to easily handle over a million client files
Simply put, the first statement doesnt say much.
This is in direct comparison with the second statement that shows how your work benefited the company greatly. Hard numbers that prove your skills cant argue with that!
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Software Engineer Skills For Resume
The skills section is a vital part of your software engineer resume. This will make or break whether you get through the first phase of the resume review, aka the dreaded ATS scan.
Your skills section shouldn’t be a laundry list of frameworks and programming languages. Especially don’t try to include what you wouldn’t be comfortable coding just reading about Java is not enough to have it in your skills section.
We’ve put together a list of skills to put on your resume for software engineers to help guide you on what you should and shouldn’t include.
The worst thing that can happen is that you claim knowledge of a programming language and then cant answer basic questions about that language in an interview. Its much better to have true expertise in one programming language than to claim knowledge of 10 different languages.
Good hiring companies know that quality engineers can learn new frameworks as needed. Its a big red flag to a technical person reviewing your resume if you list every programming language under the sun.
There are a few options for organizing your skills section on your resume. First, you can organize them by your proficiency level. You can use categorizations like Advanced vs. Familiar or Expert vs. Working Knowledge.
Skills organized by proficiency
Next, you can organize them by the type of skill youre discussing. So you can separate the programming languages you know, the frameworks, the tools, and the databases youve used.