Crafting an Impressive Resume: 5 Tips to Stand Out as a Software Engineer
As a software engineer, your resume plays a crucial role in showcasing your skills, expertise, and potential impact on a company’s growth. In this blog post, we will discuss five tips to help you create an outstanding resume that will impress employers in high-growth startups.
Focus on Accomplishments and Business Impact:
Highlighting your accomplishments and their positive impact on the business is essential. Rather than providing an exhaustive list of all your responsibilities, choose a few impressive achievements for each role. Structure your accomplishments by mentioning the deliverable, your role, and the resulting impact on the business. For example:
- Led development of a cost management and insights product, used by Fortune 500 customers to analyze and predict spend.
- Worked on a team to rebuild the user onboarding flow, resulting in a 17% increase in conversion for new user registrations.
- Architected and developed an API integration layer for a CRM product, leading to onboarding over 20 partner organizations and expanding the addressable market.
Trim Down the List of Technologies:
Avoid the common mistake of listing every programming language and tool you have ever used. Instead, focus on technologies that you have a deep understanding of and can confidently discuss. Adding a technology section under each role provides a clearer picture of your experience. Remove IDEs, software management platforms, and version control platforms from your resume, as these are considered easily learnable tools and do not add significant value.
Before: Technology: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Java, C#, Git, Jenkins, Sublime, Eclipse, Windows, OSX, Jira, Pivotal Tracker, Rest API, Soap API, XML, JSON, MySql, Oracle, MongoDB, Postgres
After: Technology: React, Node.js, Postgres, Docker, AWS
Standardize Your Job Title:
Different companies use varying conventions for job titles and seniority levels. To provide clarity, choose a stack (e.g., Full-Stack, Front-End, Back-End, DevOps) and a seniority level (e.g., software engineer, senior, staff) that accurately represents your experience. For leadership roles, consider titles like Engineering Manager, Director of Engineering, VP of Engineering, or CTO, depending on your responsibilities.
Structure Your Content for Readability:
Make your resume easily scannable by moving the experience section to the top. Replace lengthy paragraphs with concise, impactful statements. Remember that hiring managers typically spend only a short time reviewing each resume. Omit interpersonal skills from your resume as they can be assessed during interviews. For example: “A Full-Stack Software Engineer with over 5 years of experience building SaaS applications. Looking for a remote role in a growing fintech startup.”
Include a Project Section:
If you are transitioning between roles or have limited work experience, having a project section can be highly beneficial. Contribute to open-source projects or create your own projects to demonstrate your ambition, love for learning, and passion. Each project should have a description, a list of technologies used, a GitHub link, and a live demo link. This will showcase your practical skills and provide tangible evidence of your abilities.
Crafting a standout resume is crucial for software engineers seeking opportunities in high-growth startups. By focusing on impactful accomplishments, streamlining the list of technologies, standardizing job titles, improving readability, and including a project section, you can create a compelling resume that captures the attention of employers and sets you apart from the competition. Take these tips to heart and boost your chances of landing your dream role in the software engineering industry.
Mariane Bekker is a passionate advocate for women in tech, an angel investor, and the founder & CEO of Upward Recruiting, a premier boutique recruitment agency connecting companies with exceptional diverse tech talent. With over a decade of experience leading diverse engineering teams at VC-Backed startups, she’s navigated the intricacies of the startup landscape and understands the unique needs and aspirations of founders. Follow her LinkedIn and Twitter for insights, industry trends, and valuable resources about Startups, Tech, and Diversity.
