entry level swe resume reddit

SWE Resume Review

Looks like there are some good skills and projects on there at a glance, just a shame we can’t see the GitHub/project/portfolio links

Hi, this is good and I think it needs some refinements. First off - are you tailoring your resume to each one of the jobs you are applying for? You’d need a summary statement at the top that also needs to be customized for your desired job. There’s a step by step guide that walks you through how to write an entry level resume. It needs some changes in the layout, the projects - rather than calling it project 1,2,3 give it a title, for example, first one would be social media app connecting students for classwork collaboration. Please revise based on these guidelines

Software engineer resume examples (Google, Amazon, etc.)

Acceptance rates for jobs at the very top tech companies tend to be  under 1% .  As you can imagine, most candidates don’t get past the resume screening.

To increase your chances of getting to interview stage, use our step-by-step guide to writing a top software engineer resume.

As well as tips and expert insights, it includes examples of SWE resumes that earned candidates offers or interviews at Google and elsewhere.

Here’s an overview of what we’ll cover:

1. 6 key skills for your software engineering resume 2. 5 examples of software engineer resumes that worked for Google, Amazon, etc. 3. How to write a software engineer resume (section-by-section) 4. Your software engineer resume checklist

Let’s get into it.

Get expert feedback on your resume with software engineer ex-interviewers

Note: Credit to Suman (SWE coach on our platform) as well as this excellent Quora discussion) for providing some of the insights and advice in this article

1. Key skills for your software engineer resume

There are some key skills that are important in any software engineer resume, and we're not just talking about the obvious technical skills.

1. Leadership skills, even if you're not applying for a leadership role. Recruiters and hiring managers want to see that you can have what it takes to become a leader if you're not one already. So include examples where you led a project, took the initiative, or influenced other people.

If you haven’t got many strong examples from your work experience, try to find examples from personal projects or university (if recently graduated).

2. Coding languages . Obviously. Google recommends listing these right at the start. 3. Communication skills are needed if you're going to progress at any top company and get more important as you become more senior. If you're applying to a management role, include experience of working with cross-functional teams and aligning various stakeholders. 4. System design skills are needed for engineering roles at FAANG companies. You'll need to be able to discuss engineering architecture and make decisions relating to efficiency, scalability, and performance. So if you have any experience in designing systems, or related experience, make sure it’s prominent on your resume.

5. Domain knowledge. Recruiters want to get a sense of your knowledge across different areas and technologies.

If you don't have much work experience yet, include personal projects as a way to demonstrate domain knowledge (see section 3) .

Right, let's see some example resumes.

2. Examples of SWE resumes that worked for Google, Amazon, etc.

Before we start guiding you on how to write your resume step-by-step, take a look at some real examples that got their owners interviews at the very top companies.

You'll notice they follow different formats, and none fully follow the guidelines we set out below. We think this shows two things:

• there's many acceptable ways to write a resume
• your resume doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it demonstrates your skills and achievements effectively.

Let's take a look.

2.1 SWE resume example 1 (Google)

This is a great example of a strong fresher software engineer resume. It got "Ana" interviews at Google despite having almost no professional experience.

Here's what Ana does well on this resume:

• Education first: Ana doesn't have much work experience so she starts with Education, detailing specific topics in both her undergraduate and Masters courses.
• Projects: As a fresher candidate, Ana does well to list some relevant Projects to fill the gap where more experienced candidates would list recent employment.

2.2 SWE resume example 2 (Amazon, SDE)

The candidate, let's call him Sunil, got interviews for a Senior Software Development Engineer role at Amazon with this resume.

Here's our feedback on this resume:

• Experience : We had to blank them out, but Sunil had worked for some really top tech companies. This is what makes the resume really strong.
• Quantifying impact : Sunil could perhaps enhance the resume by better quantifying his actions and demonstrating their impact. For example, he says he "Revised Telemetry dashboards to improve signal-noise ratio". How much did he improve it by? Including specific metrics more often would take this resume to the next level.
• Key skills : Sunil lists key skills and tools that were likely listed as requirements in the job description. This makes a recruiter's life easier.

2.3 SWE resume example 3 (Google, front-end developer)

The resume below is from "Lana". It got her interviews for a front-end developer role at Google.

• Skills: Lana lists her relevant hard skills in a way that's very easy for a recruiter to understand at a glance.
• Languages : Don't make the mistake of thinking languages aren't relevant for a technical job. Lana's five languages signal that she's a strong communicator and helped her get an interview.
• Impact : Lana doesn't include examples of impact and results that she's achieved at work. Doing so would have greatly improved this resume.

2.4 SWE resume example 4 (CrunchyRoll, Android Developer)

This resume got Sam (not his real name) interviews at CrunchyRoll for a Senior Android Developer position.

Here's what we liked about Sam's resume:

• Structure : Sam lists his technical skills, including programming languages, at the top.
• Impact : His work achievements are mostly well-quantified. E.g. 'increasing... downloads by 80% in 2 months."
• Action verbs : He always starts the bullet point with powerful action verbs such as "Created", "Designed", "Fixed", etc.

2.5 SWE resume example 5 (Audible)

The below resume belongs to Jerry, an iOS engineer who at the time of writing was interviewing at Audible.

Right, now you've seen some example resumes, let's look at how you should create yours.

3. How to write a software engineer resume (section-by-section)

Let’s go through the resume-building process, step-by-step, section-by-section.

To illustrate our tips at each stage, and to help you visualize our recommended layout, we’ve created an example resume for you to use as a reference.

Unlike the examples listed above, this is not a real resume. It belongs to an imaginary mid-level software engineer called Karl. It's an amalgamation of the many high-quality resumes that candidates have shared with us before going on to work at Google , Facebook , Amazon , etc.

Click here to download the example software engineer resume template

Right, let’s take the first step in building a software engineer resume.

3.1 Step 1: study the target company and job description

Before you start writing or editing your resume, our tip is that you do some research.

Find the job specification, read it thoroughly, and use it to shape your resume in the following ways:

• First of all, work out what type of SWE profile the job description is looking for. Which skills will be most crucial for the role? What are the keywords it's looking for and does your resume contain them in a way that makes sense? Prepare to adapt your resume’s content accordingly.
• Zoom in on a few of the responsibilities in the job description that you think are most important. Search for specific examples from your past that demonstrate experience in doing the same thing or something very similar. Find the numbers to back it up where possible, so you’re ready to include this information in the work experience section later on.
• Take note of the language used in the job description so you can, where appropriate, match specific verbs and phrases.
• Research the company. For example, imagine you’re targeting a SWE role at Facebook . Facebook has  5 core values , so you’d want to make sure that your resume transmits these values too. That might mean including a volunteering activity under Interests to show that you like to "build social value."  Do the same if you’re applying for Google , Amazon, etc.

Does all this mean you’ll need a different iteration of your resume for every tech job you target? Ideally yes, but there will be a lot of overlap, so usually you’ll only need to make a few strategic edits.

Right, once you’ve done the research, you’ll be ready to start writing.

3.2 Step 2: Choose a layout

The design of your resume should have one objective: to convey all the relevant information in a way that is clear, easy to digest, and professional. Use our sample resume as your template, and you’ve already achieved that!

Some people add a second objective: to demonstrate strong design skills in order to stand out from the crowd and impress the recruiter.

However, we recommend treading carefully with this. Recruiters for large companies are unlikely to be impressed by a resume’s design; they’re interested in the content. Some might even be put off by a “creative” or unique design. To avoid this risk, aim to stand out through your resume’s content, not its design.

" No amount of fancy formatting is going to make up for a lack of experience. So reign it in. Also, it's important to keep in mind that if you're applying to a position online, whether it's a PDF or not, many companies' applicant tracking systems parse your resume for information and convert it to pure text as the most immediate viewing format ." (Facebook recruiter, Source: Quora)

So since often the recruiter won't even see your resume in the format you've designed it in, we recommend keeping it simple.

3.3 How long should your resume be?

Many candidates ask us if they should stick to just one page. The answer is not necessarily.

On a software engineer resume it’s fine to go to two or even three pages, as long as all the content you’re including is strong and relevant to the role. We can confirm this because many of the candidates who use our coaching service got their SWE interviews using three page resumes.

Engineering resumes are often a bit longer than non-technical resumes, as you need to go into more detail on the different technologies you're familiar with.

However, if you’ve only been working for a few years, or you’ve recently graduated, we recommend sticking to a single page. It recruiters easier to digest your best achievements and it forces you to cut out the weakest content.

3.2.1 Sections / categories

We recommend using the following section layout for a software engineering resume. The exact titles and order of the sections are open to debate, but we find this one works for most people and is also what Google recommends to engineer candidates.

• Personal information (inc programming languages)
• Work experience

Awards & Leadership

Skills & Interests

If you're a junior engineer and you don't have much relevant work experience, switch Education and Work Experience sections, and include some personal projects after your work experience.

• Work experience and personal projects

Whether or not you stick exactly to our suggested categories, we highly recommend keeping these general layout/design tips in mind:

• Choose a professional-looking font: Size 10-12, black and white. Arial and Calibri work well.
• Save it as a PDF
• Use bullet points
• Make sure the formatting is 100% neat and consistent
• Include enough white space that it doesn’t look overcrowded

DON’T

• Include a “summary” or “objective” section at the top (unless you have an unusual profile that needs explaining). Your resume is already a summary in itself, so this just wastes space
• Include references
• Pick an unusual font to try and stand out

In the remaining steps, we’ll help you craft each section. Let’s go!

3.3 Step 3: the Personal Information section

This section is not the place to try and impress. Just make sure you get your details across in as few words as possible and avoid mistakes.

Notice how the above example is extremely clean and easy to read.

It's a good idea to provide your LinkedIn page so that a recruiter can find out more about you if they wish. As a software engineer, you should also consider linking to some open source contributions you've made. This might be on a site such as GitHub, or similar.

• Use a larger font for your name than for the rest of the section to make it stand out
• Include your name, email address, phone number, city/county you live in
• Include your programming languages and a link to your profile on GitHub or similar
• Ideally, include a link to your LinkedIn profile

DON’T:

• Title this section. It’s not necessary in this type of layout, so save the space
• Include a street address, as it’s unnecessary and unsafe
• Include a photo, date of birth, or gender, unless specifically requested to do so
• Don’t label each piece of information e.g. “email,” “tel,” etc. It’s obvious what they are, so save the space

3.4 Step 4: the Work Experience section

This is probably the most important part of your resume to get right, and the easiest to get wrong. Many candidates think that their work experience speaks for itself, and simply list their role and a few of their main responsibilities.

However, we recommend a much more powerful approach.

Instead of listing responsibilities, you need to talk about actions. This means starting each bullet point with an action verb. These verbs should relate to the key skills from section 1 that companies look for in software engineer resumes (Leadership, system design, technologies,  etc). "Executed," "Unblocked," "Led," and "Delivered" are some good examples of such verbs.

Choosing actions that are relevant to the essential tech skills will also mean that your resume contains the keywords that recruiters (and sometimes Applicant Tracking Systems) will be looking for.

3.4.1 Lazlo Bock's X,Y,Z formula

You should also focus on the results of what you did and quantify them as much as possible to highlight the tangible contributions you have made. Ex-Google SVP Lazlo Bock talks about a common method for doing this that you might find helpful, called the “X, Y, Z” formula .

In essence it is: ' Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]'.

Following the X,Y,Z formula is a simple way to make sure you are more specific as possible about your work achievements and quantify them where possible. Let's take a look at some examples:

• "Reduced AWS spending by 15% by designed and implemented resource scaling policies to optimize cloud infrastructure."
• "Improved code quality (40% decrease in post-release bugs Y-on-Y) by implementing a more structured code review system."
• "Reduced server downtime, resulting in 99% server uptime, by deploying automated monitoring tools and establishing proactive alerting system."

Don't feel that all your bullet points have to exactly follow the X,Y,Z formula but it is a really useful mechanism for making sure you give clear, specific and quantifiable examples of your impact.

3.4.2 Junior software engineer candidates

If you don't have much relevant work experience, for example, if you've recently graduated, move your Education section above Work Experience.

You can then add a "'personal projects" section under your work experience section. List some technical personal projects you've done that demonstrate knowledge in key domains. Here's an example:

"Personal project: Algorithmic Trading Bot  Designed and implemented an algorithmic trading bot in Python, leveraging financial APIs and machine learning models to make data-driven trading decisions.  Achieved a 15% annualized return on investment (ROI) in a simulated trading environment."

If you don't have any personal projects worth mentioning...then create some! They not only help you demonstrate technical skills but also show you are someone who has a genuine passion for your field, and enough initiative and organizational skills to start something yourself.

Ready to start writing this section? Use the tips below to keep you on the right track.

• Use reverse chronological order, putting most recent employment at the top
• Add a "personal projects" section if you don't have much relevant work experience
• Write in the third person, but leave out the pronoun. E.g. ("Led") is better than "I led").
• Use past tense verbs, even in a current role. (e.g. "Led, Coordinated, Executed")
• Consider including the programming language you used for each project ( Google's recommendation )
• Describe your actions and what they achieved
• Include metrics to quantify what your actions achieved where possible
• Study the language of the job description and where appropriate, match it
• Make sure you’ve naturally included several relevant keywords
• Be shy and humble. Now is not the time!
• Just put your responsibilities
• Go so overboard with numbers that it looks like a math problem. It still needs to be easy to read
• Include lots of buzzwords just for the sake of it

3.5 Step 5: the Education section

This section should be extremely concise and clear. Hopefully your educational achievements can do the talking for you, as all you can really do here is present the necessary information with the right level of detail.

Let’s take a look at what it should look like.

Note that if you have recently graduated and only have internship experiences instead of relevant work experience, this section should follow the Personal Information section, and you may want to go into a bit more detail. Otherwise, you can include it after work experience.

Follow the tips below to make sure you get it just right.

• If you have multiple degrees (e.g. a BA and an MBA), you should write a subsection like the one above for each degree, starting with your highest level of education first (e.g. your MBA)
• For each degree, include the name of the degree, university, and dates in the headline. If you’re a recent graduate, you can also list any subjects you have taken that are relevant to software engineering.
• List your grades (e.g. GPA) as well as results of other standardized tests you have taken (e.g. SAT, GMAT, etc.) that demonstrate your intellect
• Detail any awards and scholarships you received at university level and most importantly how competitive they were (e.g. two awards for 1,000 students)
• If you don’t have much tech work experience you might want to include tech bootcamps (e.g. General Assembly) and link to your projects, or online courses (e.g. Udacity)
• Panic if you don't have a degree. You don’t have to have gone to college to get into a FAANG company. Instead put your high school grades and any relevant educational qualifications you gained after school
• Include high school experience if you've already graduated
• Include your thesis / dissertation unless you're a fairly recent graduate, in which case you should summarize the topic in a way that's VERY easy to understand

3.6 Step 6: Awards and Leadership section

We've labelled this section "Awards & Leadership" instead of "Extracurricular" section for two reasons:

1. Google uses it as its recommended resume template ( see here )

2. Extracurricular activities are less important for technical roles like software engineer.

The more experience you have, the easier it should be for you to find two or three strong bullet points that demonstrate leadership (outside your day-to-day work) or awards.

If you haven't won any awards or can't think of any strong leadership examples outside your day-to-day role, then consider leaving out this section entirely.

• Put awards in context. E.g. "1st out of 22 applicants".
• Consider leaving this section out if you're lacking content.
• Use awards from school or university if you graduated more than ten years ago
• Include weaker achievements (e.g "employee of the week") just to fill space

3.7 Step 7: Additional Skills & Interests section

" What I really hope to find is a list of technologies you’ve listed in which you are both technically sound and prefer working in. " A software engineer recruiter (Source: Quora )

Additional tips:

• If you need to save vertical space, list skills in sentences rather than  bullets
• Include generic, uninteresting things that everyone likes doing, like “watching films” or “hanging out with friends,” as interests
• List basic skills that almost everyone has, such as "Google Docs" or "MS Word".

3.8 Step 8: proofreading and feedback

Don’t skip this step! Use a grammar-checking tool and then proofread until it’s perfect. This is harder than it sounds because multiple reviews and tweaking after the initial proofread can easily create new hard-to-spot errors. The only solution is to proofread again after each tweak.

We recommend saving it as a PDF file unless the job description says otherwise, and checking it opens properly (with the correct formatting) on a Mac or PC.

Receiving feedback is also important. Share it with a friend or partner, and they’ll be very likely to see mistakes that you haven’t noticed. Of course, if you can share it with an experienced tech recruiter / interviewer , that can give you a big advantage over other applicants.

• Proofread from top to bottom and then read it in reverse to check spelling
• If you’ve tweaked it, proofread again before sending
• Check the file opens properly on Mac and PC
• Get feedback on it before sending
• Send it with typos. Your resume is your product!

4. Your software engineer resume checklist

Almost ready to send your technical resume? Use this checklist to make sure you’re following the best practices we’ve recommended above.

If you can answer “Yes” to every question, then you’re ready to send it.

• Does your resume present you as the type of candidate the job description is looking for ?
• Does your resume contain the keywords in the job description in a natural way?
• Do you have the experience to merit that many pages?
• Is the formatting 100% consistent and neat?
• Is there enough white space to breathe?

Personal Information

• Have you checked your contact details are correct?
• Have you listed your programming languages?
• Have you linked to any open source contributions or technical personal projects?

Work Experience

• Have you talked about your actions rather than your responsibilities?
• Have you quantified the impact of your actions, preferably using the X,Y, Z formula?
• Have you demonstrated a range of relevant skills?
• If you graduated >10 years ago, are your examples post-university?
• Have you listed all the programming languages, relevant software and tools that you’re familiar with?
• Are your interests in some way relevant to the role or do they at least add some personality to your resume?

Proofreading and feedback

• Have you proofread since you last edited it?
• Have you received feedback on your resume from a few different people?
• Have you saved it as a PDF to make sure it displays correctly on all devices?
• Have you emailed it to someone to test if they can open and read it easily?

Did you say “Yes” to every question? Well done! If you’ve used all the tips in this article, then your resume should be in good condition and will give you a fighting chance of getting that interview.

5. Is your resume truly outstanding?

If you're going for one of the top tech jobs, having a resume that's "fine" may not be enough. Getting your software engineer resume from "fine" to "outstanding" usually requires feedback from someone who really knows their stuff - as in an ex-recruiter or hiring manager at one of the top companies.

We know it's hard to get access to those types of people. That's why we've created a resume review service, that allows you to get immediate feedback on your resume with a top recruiter/coach of your choosing. Take a look !

How to write a killer Software Engineering résumé

An in-depth analysis of the résumé that got me interviews at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and more.

This résumé got me interviews at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple.

I obtained these interviews by sending my résumé to the résumé black hole , also known as applying online.

Applying online is the most common way people go about applying for a job and therefore the least effective way to land an interview due to competition. Yet that is exactly how I obtained all my interviews.

How did I accomplish this?

In this article, I will go through a line-by-line analysis of my résumé for the following purposes:

• explaining the choices that I made in creating my résumé
• why I believe this résumé worked to help me land those interviews, and
• how you can create an even better résumé!

I decided to write this article because I struggled a lot with landing interviews when I first started looking for a job. It would have been extremely helpful for me to have a real-life example résumé to look at.

This article is organized into the following sections:

• The All Too Familiar Way of Not Landing an Interview - a short anecdote of my frustrations when I first started applying for jobs
• Evaluating the Options: Moving Forward - a reflection on different strategies to improve the odds of landing interviews
• Learning How to Write a Killer Résumé By Example - the step-by-step analysis of my résumé with each of the following sections corresponding to my résumé:

The Essentials from a Glance

• Who Are You
• Contact Information
• Personal Projects

The All Too Familiar Way of Not Landing an Interview

Applying online.

You probably know the link that every company provides for online applications. It’s the classic career site that shows you a bunch of job titles which you think you are totally qualified for until you open the job description and read the minimum requirements.

A job description with a bunch of words that you have never heard of, may have heard of, or hoped you had heard of. And it has an innocent-looking “ Apply” button .

Despite the uncertainty you may feel about your qualifications, you apply anyway because you want a job.

So you fill out the application form, press submit — and wait and hope for a positive response.

Your results will be varied:

• Phone Interview ? (yay, a chance at employment!!!)
• Immediate Rejection ? (darn, back to the drawing board)
• No reply  ? (ugh, at least give me the courtesy of having some closure)

Repeat Until Success… Right?

Sadly, this is the typical process that many people go through when looking for a job/internship.

Apply to a couple of companies. Get a couple of rejections or no replies. Apply to a couple more companies. Get a couple more rejections or no replies. Over, and over, and over again.

Why do we do this to ourselves? We spend all this time doing the same repetitive task to obtain the same, disappointing results.

Because this is what everyone does to get an interview, right? Because at least we’re working towards the right direction and have a glimmer of hope, right? How else are you supposed to get an interview?

Evaluating the Options: Moving Forward

“Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” - Dale Carnegie, (author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”)

We can think of approaching the problem of not getting interviews in two ways:

• Putting your application/ résumé under the microscope
• Questioning the process in which you go about obtaining an interview

This article focuses on the former, because no matter what avenue you end up taking to get an interview, essentially every company utilizes your résumé as a basis for evaluation . Therefore, we will examine my résumé under a microscope and focus on learning how to write a remarkable résumé.

Getting an interview via online application is extremely challenging because your résumé has to pass numerous stages before it gets into the hands of the hiring manager.

It has to bypass online keyword filters , stand out to a recruiter who reviews it for about 6 seconds and meet the expectations of the hiring manager who decides whether you are worth interviewing.

Yet, despite all those hurdles, I obtained all my interviews by applying online. How? Trial and error . I’ve applied to hundreds of different software engineering positions since my sophomore year of college.

When I first started applying, I faced a staggering number of rejections, but over time I learned how to adapt. By the time I was a senior, I was extremely successful in landing interviews from almost every company I applied to.

The résumé that landed me all those interviews is the exact one in this article.

It took me four years of iteration and real-life testing to get to this point. From this experience, I have come up with a list of résumé writing principles to help you write an even better software résumé. These are principles that have helped me land my dream job and are principles that can help you land yours.

While it took me four years of college to figure this all out, you don’t have to go through all the leaps and bounds because you can learn all of it right here, right now.

My goal is to be the one-stop hub for all your questions on how to obtain a software engineering interview. That way, you don’t have to waste countless hours cross-referencing Google search results to find the best answer on how to write a software engineering résumé that gets interviews.

Your valuable time could be better spent on writing your killer résumé.

So start here and now with this article. Reap the benefits from my past experiences and let’s begin the step-by-step walkthrough of my résumé!

Learning How to Write a Killer Résumé — 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

Let’s take another look at this résumé:

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 (Header, Education, Employment, Software Projects, Skills)

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? Let’s explore the numbered bullet points.

Who Are You (1)

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.

Contact Information (2)

Your contact info should be as easy as identifying your name. This is so important. Of all the things in the world, please do not mess this one up because how else on earth will the recruiter contact you?

Recap: Put in the correct contact information or you’ll never be contacted.

Education (3)

Target Audience: Anyone writing a résumé with a degree

If you are attending or attended college, this should be the first section of your résumé, because going to college is a huge accomplishment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only “66.7 percent of 2017 high school graduates age 16 to 24 enrolled in colleges or universities”. So be proud of it and include it!

Right off the bat, this tells the recruiter that you are invested in education and learning, which is crucial because technology is continuously changing. Furthermore, this information serves as an indicator of your successes, so be sure to put it down.

Recap: Put down where you got educated.

Be sure to include relevant coursework corresponding to the position that you are applying for. While a course on the History of Italian Gastronomy sounds exceptionally appetizing, it doesn’t have a place in a résumé that is trying to get you a job in computer science.

This will significantly improve the ability of the recruiter and the hiring manager looking at your résumé in deciding whether you are a good fit for the position. And as previously mentioned, a happy recruiter is more likely to give you an interview.

Recap: Only include relevant coursework.

Okay. GPA. Before we talk about this, let’s remind ourselves of the main purpose of a résumé.

The main purpose of a résumé is to highlight your knowledge, skills, and accomplishments succinctly. You want to include things on your résumé that you are proud of, but also things that will impress. You want to paint a picture of yourself in the best light possible so that recruiters and hiring managers want to interview you.

Now back to your GPA. It should be fairly obvious whether or not your GPA is impressive. If your GPA is below a 3.0, don’t put it on your résumé. There’s nothing wrong with excluding your GPA from your résumé if it only harms your chances.

If you have a GPA between 3.0–3.2, this is a judgment call. From personal experience, I have talked to some companies that require a minimum GPA of 3.2, but these were primarily financial or quantitative companies. Most software companies have little regard for your GPA. If you have anything above a 3.2, I would place it on your résumé.

If you have a low GPA, fear not, as this gives you the opportunity to be creative! My overall GPA was a 3.2 due to poor grades from my freshman engineering prerequisites and humanities classes. But once I finished and started taking courses within my major, my in-major GPA (GPA calculated from courses in my major) was a 3.44, which was significantly higher. So that’s what I put down (but make sure to qualify it as a departmental GPA).

There are many ways of going about presenting yourself in the best light possible, even when it may seem like the odds are stacked against you. I only provided one example of accomplishing this, but there are many more ways waiting to be discovered by you. Fully embrace your failures and accomplishments because they make up who are you. Be honest and truthful, and always focus on highlighting the best parts about yourself.

Recap: Your GPA does not define you. The purpose of your résumé is to present yourself in the best light. Never forget that! Be creative when going about this and DON’T LIE.

Employment (4)

Target Audience: Students with software engineering work experience

If you are a college student without any experience, don’t be afraid! This was my senior year résumé when I was applying for a full-time job. I was fortunate enough to have accumulated relevant work experience from summer internships, but this isn’t absolutely necessary to get an interview. If you find that you don’t have much to put in section, jump down to the ‘ Personal Projects ’ section.

While it is great to have past work experience, not all work experience is treated equally when it comes to looking for a job in software engineering. Focus only on including work experience that has relevance to the job that you are applying for. For instance, if you have experience working as a cashier in retail or a waiter in the food industry, don’t include it! Unfortunately, your abilities to handle money or serve food did not provide any indication that you will succeed as a software engineer.

A recruiter’s goal is to match candidates with jobs that fit the candidates’ skill sets. Therefore it is essential only to include past work experience that has some relation to the position that you are currently applying to, on your résumé.

Part of accomplishing this means creating a collection of various résumés, each tailored specifically for the different job that you are interested in. This is analogous to the college application process, where you had to write separate essays for each university that you applied to. Each college has its own values, culture, and vision, making it nearly impossible to write a generic, one-size-fits-all college essay. Therefore, tailor your résumé to the job that you are applying for.

Lastly, a note on dates. Order your experiences in descending order starting with your most recent experiences. For undergraduates, this means being mindful of including experiences that are both recent and relevant. Sadly, no one cares about whatever accomplishments you had in middle school or high school. If the experience is outdated, leave it out.

Recap: Have various versions of your résumé tailored for each job you are applying for. There is no one-size-fits-all résumé.

The hardest part about résumé writing is having descriptions that fully encapsulate your accomplishments from past work experiences in a meaningful and impressive way.

What does it mean for your descriptions to be meaningful and impressive? It means getting the recruiter to think: “This is someone that has the skill sets we are looking for. This is someone that has made a significant impact in their past jobs. This is someone we would like to interview and potentially hire.”

The primary objective of the Employment section is to show the impact and value that you had while working at an established institution. Your goal is to show recruiters that you are a candidate that can get things done and do them well.

To best showcase my accomplishments in my résumé, I adopted the following powerful formula, created by the Former SVP of People Operations at Google, Laszlo Bock:

“Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]” — Laszlo Bock

You can see this very clearly in the very first bullet point of this section on my résumé.

Improved device’s battery lifespan by 8% by integrating a fuel gauge sensor and establishing a battery saving state

Let’s break it down:

Accomplished [X]- Improved device’s battery lifespan

Measured by [Y]- by 8%

By Doing [Z]- integrating a fuel gauge sensor and establishing a battery saving state

I leveraged this formula in some shape or form in almost every sentence in my résumé.

To help you along this process, below is a word bank of excellent verbs you can and should use:

Here are some examples of fill-in the blank sentences that I have come up with for you to get started:

• Reduced _____ by _____ by _____.
• Redesigned _____ for _____.
• Implemented _____ for _____ by _____.
• Improved _____ by _____ through _____.
• Utilized _____ to _____ for _____.
• Increased _____ by _____ through _____.
• Integrated _____ by _____ for _____.
• Incorporated _____ for _____ by _____.

Recap: Use the “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]” formula. It’s the most effective and most apparent way of showing recruiters/managers your impact.

Lastly, I end each work experience with a leveraged knowledge bullet point. The utility behind this last bit is it enables the reader to really get a sense of the technology I am familiar with by explicitly stating the technologies that I used for the project.

This also allows me to have a concise, but clean ‘Skills’ section located at the bottom of my résumé. Recruiters can then look at the bottom to immediately obtain a sense of my capabilities by seeing which computer languages I am familiar with. If they are looking to see if I have specific knowledge in a particular tool, framework, or library, then they can find this out by looking at my projects.

Recap: Including technologies that you used in your descriptions will help you bypass online keyword filters when applying online. This will also give recruiters a clearer idea of your experiences and knowledge.

Personal Projects (5)

Target Audience: Students looking for software engineering internships/full-time positions + Unique section for software engineering applicants

Maybe if I say it enough times, you will understand the importance of this section, especially for those that do not have work experience .

Personal projects are integral to piquing recruiters and hiring managers interest as it shows you are passionate about programming.

A personal project can be anything programming related, whether it be a Python script, Java program, web page, mobile application, etc. These projects show that you are genuinely interested in computer science and you have strong desires to work as a software engineer because you are willing to go beyond your schoolwork and create something on your own.

Taking the initiative to build something on your own is extremely impressive. It shows that you are dedicated to expanding your knowledge of computer science and that you are not afraid of putting in the extra work to do so. Ultimately, it is a fantastic way to demonstrate self-initiative and genuine interest in this field.

The other benefit of doing personal projects is that you inevitably gain the skills that apply to work in the real world. Things that you don’t usually do at school, but you will do at work such as using standard frameworks/libraries, understanding full-stack web development, creating mobile applications, setting up a development environment, or programming efficiently with Vim.

Tip: Create a personal website that showcases and documents all of your personal projects. This is a little hack that ‘virtually extends’ your résumé beyond the one-page limit.

To reiterate one last time, personal projects show your passion and dedication towards developing the necessary skills needed for a job that you don’t yet have. This is a must-have on any software engineering resume.

“Build some iPhone apps, web apps, whatever! Honestly it doesn’t matter that much what you’re building as long as you’re building something. You can build a fairly meaty project in one weekend. This means that with about 3–4 weekends of work, you can make your résumé go from so-so to fantastic. Seriously — I’ve seen lots of people do this.” - Gayle McDowell, former Google Engineer and Author of Cracking the Coding Interview

If there is a specific company that you really want to work at, one of the best ways to stand out is doing a personal project that is directly related to the job that you are applying for.

I got my internship at Autodesk by taking a free online interactive computer graphics course on Udacity. The course taught me to use a JavaScript library called three.js , and it just so happened that there was a software engineering internship opening at Autodesk looking for someone with full-stack website and knowledge in three.js (aka ME).

A word of caution on this technique. This strategy is not perfect. This only really works for companies like Autodesk which do not have generalized software engineering internships like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. When starting off early in your career, it is better to generalize and figure out the different disciplines of computer science. Nonetheless, this is an excellent method worth trying if there is a specific company you want.

Recap: Personal projects are imperative. If you haven’t already, start NOW! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Target Audience: Anyone looking for a software engineering job

The title explains it all. Keep this section dumb, simple, and clean. List all the relevant skills that you want the recruiter to know you have. The more skills you have listed here that match key technical words in the qualification section of the job description, the better your chances!

This will allow you to bypass the online keyword scanner easily. However, this is not a fool-proof method of circumventing the scanner. Ultimately it is a recruiter who gets their hands on your résumé that decides, but they will also be more inclined to give you an interview if they see you as a good fit for the job!

A thing to note about the skills section is to NOT simply list all the keywords on the job description just for the sake of showing you’re a good fit. It will come back to bite you as you will be questioned on the skills you claim to know.

Part of giving yourself some leeway in this is including an indication of your proficiency level. Since you are probably not practicing every language you’ve ever encountered on a day to day basis, including a proficiency level can help the recruiter know your strongest languages at a moment in time and other languages that you are familiar with.

I’ve opted to use two tiers:

• Proficient - Languages that I am very familiar with, feel very comfortable using, and can interview with right now.
• Familiar - Languages that I have utilized in the past but may not be as knowledgeable in currently, but can pick back up given time.

Other valid options include:

• Intermediate
• Working Knowledge
• Basic Knowledge

Recap: When applying for a specific job online, cross-reference the job description and add essential technical keywords on your résumé to increase your chance of getting an interview.

Key Takeaways

• Make sure your name and contact information is correct and legible
• Be sure to include your education. If your GPA is low, leave it out or be creative!
• Utilize the “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]” formula to effectively show the impact that you had in your past employment
• Do personal projects — especially if you do not have past experience working in tech

Final Thoughts

While this résumé got me interviews at numerous software engineering companies, there is no guarantee that following all the principles and techniques I have explained here will yield the same results for you.

This was my senior year résumé in 2017. It is a showcase of my journey and interest in software engineering. Copying it will do you no good, as technology is constantly evolving and the talent search is an ever-changing process. Instead, use this as a reference.

Use my résumé and this article as a resource to become a better résumé writer and a more effective communicator. Focus on learning how to best convey your skills and achievements to others. This in itself is an invaluable, lifelong skill that you will need wherever you go.

As you write your résumé, please remember — be yourself!

Your résumé is a list of your own accomplishments, achievements, and interests. Your goal is to craft the most polished version of yourself. Lastly, have fun and enjoy the process!

For anyone interested in using this resume template, I obtained it from CareerCup which was founded by Gayle Laakmann McDowell, author of Cracking The Coding Interview .

From personal experience, what’s most important is the content. The resume writing principles discussed above can be applied to any template!

Also, check out my new website, memlayout.com , which helps students learn programming through visualizing their python code line-by-line.

software engineer @tesla. consider donating to https://oeop.mit.edu/. visualize python code line-by-line with https://memlayout.com/

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