How to make the best Software Engineer Resume?

While looking for a Job, the first step is to have a resume that can represent you and your skills in a way that is readable, presentable, and understandable. Resume templates are different for individuals with different years of experience, for example, if you are a fresh graduate, then you will have certain sections in your resume that a Senior software engineer will not have in the resume.

Hence, you should be very careful in picking a template and setting the content in your resume, based on the job profile, and years of experience you have. In this article, I will share with you some very important points that you must keep in mind while preparing your resume, for your next job switch.

Your resume is the first thing that your recruiter and the hiring manager will see and if you really want to make a good first impression, it might just begin with a good resume.

1. Junior Software Engineer Resume

It is very important to keep certain things in mind while preparing the resume for the job of a Junior Software Engineer.

• The first is that you are applying for a junior, not a senior post, so you don't need to show much work experience, rather you need to focus on the other aspects of your knowledge and skills that make you suitable for the job.

• The most important thing that is expected from a Junior Software engineer is passion and a strong will to learn and work.

• Along with being motivated, some open-source code contributions, participation in Hackathons, or some side projects/internships are good add-ons to the resume.

• Along with all this, you must have hands-on knowledge of the programming language that is used in the organization where you are applying for the job.

• You must also showcase that you are open to learning new things, in fact, you enjoy learning new things.

1.1. Resume Structure

There are a few things that your Junior software engineer resume must have:

• Contact details

• Employment history (or Internship, or Industrial training)

• Software projects

• Education

• Awards, accomplishments, and/or hobbies

• Technical skills

You must include all these sections in your software engineer resume. The structure of the resume can be flexible with a few points to remember.

• The first section should always be Contact details, including your name, current address, contact number, email address, etc.

• Then comes the section for employment and education. If you have no Employment history, Internship, or Industrial training, then your education-related section should be the main section of your resume.

• If you have done some Internship or Industrial training then that should be the main section, followed by education-related information.

You should not make your resume too lengthy. It should be short and straightforward with proper headings, easy-to-read fonts, with a well-laid structure and spacing.

1.2. Contact details

A small but very important aspect of your software engineer resume is your contact details. They should be aptly provided and you need to make sure that there is no error in your phone number, your email address, or your postal address. You can also add the links to your Github profiles and LinkedIn. And that would be all that you will need here.

1.3. Employment History

If you don't have work experience, don't worry, you are applying for the role of a Junior developer, hence it is understandable. So instead of work experience, you can share about your projects, internships, etc.

If you have work experience, then you can provide the details of it. You can add the employment history, starting with the most recent one. In the employment history, mention your role, name of the company, duration of tenure, and list down your work responsibilities and projects in bullet points. Follow the same format for each employment, if you have multiple.

You should highlight the skills in previous employments, that are required in the new Job role for which you are applying next so that the recruiter can see that you already have the required skills.

1.4. Software projects

Even if you do not have any relevant work experience, showing some quality projects might gain some attention from the recruiters and get you an interview.

• If have created multiple projects then you can choose the best 5 from them. You should prioritize the ones that highlight your skills and the ones that are required for the new job.

• You must describe each project properly.

• Mention the tech stack used, and why you chose that tech stack.

• If you faced any difficulties while creating the project, mention that along with how you solved the issue.

• Always emphasize how you followed proper design, architecture, and scalable approach for the project.

1.5. Education

If you don't have much experience but have gained a very good education, in your software engineer resume you should add all the information regarding your education, including any certificates that you have got. You can also include the final-year projects that you have done.

1.6. Hobbies and Accomplishments

Mention the extracurricular activities and the awards and achievements that you have in the different fields. Also if you have attended any technological conferences and meetups, you can add those too.

You can also mention if you have participated in Hackathons or any coding competition, be it online or offline.

1.7. Technical skills

Then in the end you can list all your technical skills so that the recruiter knows exactly what you are capable of.

You can also provide proficiency level in each skill that you list here.

2. Senior Software Engineer Resume

If you are a Senior Software Engineer, and you are applying for further senior positions, there have to be a few important points that you must keep in mind while preparing your resume.

1. Because you have a lot of work experience to show, don't fill multiple pages of your resume with it. Only explain your current work in detail, and for the rest of it, only a line or two is enough.

2. Do not write down all the skills that you have gained up until today in your resume. Specify 7-8 skills that you are most confident about.

3. Highlight projects that are in line with the Job role for which you are applying next.

4. If you received any awards in your last employment, do mention about it.

5. Don't worry too much about your schooling and other details about your education. If you have done any professional certification, mention about it.

The rest of the structure remains the same for both resumes.

3. Conclusion

These are the points that you must keep in mind while making your resume. Also, you can go with any template or style, just make sure that the resume is readable, and don't use a small font size. Use proper line height, headings, and formal colors, if you are using colors for text.

You can easily find many templates online, or you can also use resume builder services. You can also find a lot of FREE samples for one-page resumes on Canva.