How To Create A Rocking Software Engineering Résumé? (Have The Best First Impression)
Tags: resume, webdev, programming
Published: 2022-06-29 13:45:52

If you believe that resumes are not important, then you are wrong. (Yes, more wrong than Thanos)

It is an important piece of paper for the candidate and for HR. That's how HR gets to know you.

So, let's not wait more and get to the point. After reviewing thousands of applications, talking to experts, and reading a lot and lots of articles, in the course of the past 1 year, our HR team piles up these super important points that can help you create a rocking resume.

### First, let's take a look at this resume sample...

First, let's take a look at this resume sample to have an idea of what you are going to learn by the end -


<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQEQt1uuaNnnOQ/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0/1642686487545?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=Z1PpPd3pVgr_7qAL49arbFNZMBBpOCQEpX5m6m7HPqU">

<u>_**Note -** This is just a sample resume whose data we have collected from the internet but designed the way it was supposed to be._</u>

### Important Points From The Resume To Note

- Clean Design
- Simple Formatting
- Delivers, what was supposed to be delivered ⭐
- Can pass through ATS (Applicants Tracking System)
- Concise - One Page Resume

### Why Is This Resume Awesome?

Before jumping on this, let's talk about HRs mindset. Since they are the ones who are going to check your resume, it is better to know how they think

- They have things to do and putting effort into checking a single resume is not on their list. This is because they need to go through hundreds and thousands of resumes, if they spend a minute to know even the basic information then they might not do it. In the book "Work Rules", Lazlo Bock mentions that Google has a 6-second rule to check resume, if it didn't impress them in 6 seconds - BOOM! So does many company. HRs just checks your resume in seconds, but can tell a lot about you in those seconds.

- Some basic information like location, duration, achievements, or time period of your college or internship is important for them. Any information that is present and not present on your resume, tells a lot about you.

- (Not necessary for every position) They may not know how to code. So if you have something to show, then show it. Don't just put the Github code repo link. Make the project live or create a short video of it or create a short GIF to put it in the readme, but show your project. Especially for roles like React developer, where the major work is to create a better frontend.

This resume is created in such a way that is 

- Easy to read
- Shows everything necessary
- Does not take a lot of time to check 
That makes it awesome 🚀

### Let's Beginnnnn

First, let's divide the resume into parts according to the numbers in the image and go one-by-one through it.

#### Simply Tell About Yourself (1)

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQGS0qCvSI4RJg/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1642686606606?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=B0_0_JrO1j8_V-PXH7Txot12Ci23OaYJwigj9frv1UE">

The first section is about you.

<u>Name</u> - You don't need any fancy font style or color to show your name. Just plain and simple large size font for your name will do the work. 

<u>Address</u> - Just write the city, state, and country. Writing a full address takes a lot of space in the resume and it is quite unnecessary as no one is coming to your home.

<u>Social Links</u> - A good and complete profile can tell a lot about yourself that you may not have mentioned in the resume, especially on LinkedIn and Github. 

The biggest mistake a lot of people make is by not checking the links themselves and using a different link for a totally different text. What happens is that while copying and pasting the same text, the URL gets copied as a hyperlink and then you change the text. So the text redirects to different URL. While adding a link, make sure the text and URL matches. Github text has a Github link and the LinkedIn text has a LinkedIn link.

<u>Phone Number</u> - Startups usually prefers to call candidate directly as they want to know a lot of things and share about themselves too. So having your phone number on your resume can make the process smooth. 

<u>Email ID</u> - Don't miss this. This is going to be the single biggest medium on how a company is going to contact you.

The biggest mistake a lot of people make is having a non-professional email id. Simply use your name and probably your date of birth with it to create an id. Don't use words like an enthusiast, nerd, or your phone number in your email.

❌ ninja_nerd007@gmail.com

❌ rockingengineer.one.two.three@gmail.com

✅ steve.rogers@gmail.com

#### Work Experience (2)

The 4 main parts of this section are:

1. Job Title

2. Company Name

3. Duration in date format (don't write 2 years, write Jan 2020 - Jan 2022)

4. What you have done in that role

4th point is really important - it should communicate what is supposed to be communicated.

Let's check an example from Jonathan Javier resume which he shared on LinkedIn

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQECCzgoApGaXw/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0/1642681614079?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=GNqHDodEhdQVw9LmvzAzHaFVggoPMOOVazLvIFzlRwY">

<u>Red </u> = Action Verbs: He started each experience with an action verb. Example of great action verbs: Collaborated, managed, improved, created, organized...

<u>Orange </u> = Hard Skills: He put the specific hard skills and platform-based skills throughout the resume to show that he fits the job description's qualifications.

Green = Impact Metrics: these are numbers and percentages from the positions he worked in and show what he did to impact the company.

<u>Cyan </u> = Impact statements before the number/percentages: This showcases if he improved, optimized, or increased XYZ.

<u>Yellow </u> = soft skills: more broad or simple statements, these are relative to collaboration, providing recommendations, and identifying solutions to potential problems

#### Education (3)

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQFe8gv-eYGhhg/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1642686659447?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=Tk8OBXjRNgqfz4_welvf_yCnR5NN-kMQkWZ7ql7fE7g">

The 4 main parts of this section are:

1. Name of the University

2. Name of the course you are taking

3. Duration in date format

4. What you have done during the time - achievements, and participations

Now the 4th point is similar to the 4th point of Experience. Just follow the same steps. You can also include your school info in it, but not necessary.

#### Projects (4)

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQHTtO0EcSbuxw/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1642686679116?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=myJcbT6NdCaLY9NaHRrCzxh4DwjPm_5NdoPvJt8rbfM">

This section is quite important for students who don't have experience and looking for internships.

If you don't have a portfolio website, then add a hyperlink in the name of the project. 

💡_<u>Pro Tip: Host your projects on free plans so that HRs can see it. Remember, showing is better than telling.</u>_

Also, add what your project does, what it is for, and the tech stack you have used on the resume.

#### Language and Technologies (5)

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQGzs4po_4-XiA/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1642686698211?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=S-xZuJ7Pr_HM49c4E6hh8KJJjQxMGkGCixEg_xHZHlM">

It gives HR an idea of what else you know. It is also useful in bypassing ATS as it searches for related words, but it is not a fool-proof method.

But still, don't put all the words you know in it. If 5 years ago, you have created 1 program of Java and now you are not confident in it, it does not need to be there. It will come back to bite you as you will be questioned on the skills you claim to know.

#### Skills and Interest (6)

<img width="100%" style="width:100%" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQEICnaLTCQzzw/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1642686716438?e=1661990400&v=beta&t=bBCdmmXd4YMGEdfCfApiN38EwVzN_U2F0sXy0QoV4EU">

These can include your non-tech skills like management or presentation that can help the role in some other ways.

You can even divide the skills based on your familiarities like Basic, Intermediate, and Advance.

Any Other??? (...7)
Yes, you can create some more sections based on your choice but make sure that it is relevant. 

Examples of such sections could be - Achievements, Volunteering Experience, Extra Curriculum, Certifications, Objective or Purpose and more...

Like, if you want to create an achievement section for your resume for a developer role, then make sure that the achievements are in tech field and not in some alien field.

Don't include certificates of courses you have completed or participated, they are not valid proof of your knowledge. You can add certificates of Azure exams, Redhat exams, and such other exams, but not courses.

What else to remember?
There are a few important points to have in mind:

1. It is not supposed to be fancy. If it is hard to read, then it won't work that well so instead create a plain and simple resume. Use a simple font style like this is in Calibri, that is easy to read.

2. Don't share fake info that can bite you later.

3. Don't share info that is not related to the role.

4. Check links before sending.

5. Name the resume as your FirstName_LastName. If you have a different versions of a resume then create a different folder, don't modify the name. Good Examples: Steve_Rogers.pdf. Bad Examples: Steve_Rogers_Final.pdf, SteveRogers_Designer.pdf, Compressed_Steve_Rogers.pdf.

6. If you are applying for different roles and companies, customize your resume according to that company and job description.

7. Use bullets but not too many. Your bullets should focus on your accomplishments - that is, the impact you had. What did you build, create, design, optimize, lead, etc...

8. If there is any gap in your career, write its explanation. Don't leave it as it is.

9. Save the resume in PDF format only. Word formats is not supposed to be used for resumes. They are not visible on many job boards and they are editable.

10. Proofread your resume, there should not be any typo.

11. Don't make it longer than 2 pages. If it is going above that, remove less important information. If you wanna still wanna talk about more stuff, write blogs about it and put it in your portfolio.

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Hope this would have helped! And if so then help your friends to by tagging them in the comments 🤗

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