After reviewing 200+ dev resumes from software engineers who are job hunting - new grads, seniors, principals - here are the 9 most common pieces of feedback I've given.
A thread - blog post and longer, (free) e-book also coming on how to nail the dev resume for tech companies.
A thread - blog post and longer, (free) e-book also coming on how to nail the dev resume for tech companies.
1. Too many personal details on the resume. Many devs have their photo, birth date - some even martial status, number of kids.
DONT DO THIS. You are exposing yourself for biases, have nothing to gain & much to lose. These details are not required by tech companies.
DONT DO THIS. You are exposing yourself for biases, have nothing to gain & much to lose. These details are not required by tech companies.
2. Not having the things easy to find on the first page that hiring managers and recruiters look for. Relevant languages & technologies, work experience (titles, companies), and dates to give an idea of the number of years' experience you have.
3. Talking about the "what" you did, but not the results, impact and contribution, with specifics. Too many resumes list "Company X, worked on System X". You want to convey the impact your work had, and how you (significantly) moved the needle.
4. Being verbose about things hiring managers don't care about. This is especially for experienced candidates. I don't care about the Symbian project you did 15 years ago, or the 3 internships you did 10 years ago. Focus on the recent impact, achievements, and skills.
5. "The basics" missing. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar convey poor attention to detail - especially in the age of free spell checkers. Hard to read formats, BOLDING every SECOND word, date formats flipped, compared to the country you are applying to. Get these right.
6. "Abusing" the one-page resume. This is especially for ambitious new grads. I've seen tiny fonts, so that two pages of projects with intricate detail could be listed on that one page. Be concise and focus on the most important things. Project #6 is not that important.
7. Having the exact same resume for all positions. In the day of ATSes (Appliaction Tracking Systems), you NEED to customize your resume for the position, especially when you will be up against hundreds of them. Tailor and cut down your "master" resume for *that* job listing.
8. Putting your weaknesses front and center. A backend-heavy fullstack dev attached links to the terrible UI of the app they built. Another dev listed all their "novice" languages. Your resume should sell you - you can talk about weaknesses on interviews. This is not the place.
9. Links on the resume pointing to poor work. Github links pointing to a repo with no decent projects - not even a readme. A link to Medium bringing the first post about on how this person hates their team. You don't have to add links. But if you add them, make them count.
I could not keep up giving in-depth feedback for every resume. So I put together a 35-page good/bad practices guide that I shared with people who asked for feedback. Feedback has been stellar so far.
You can sign up to get this guide for free here: thetechinterview.com
You can sign up to get this guide for free here: thetechinterview.com
If you'd like to get more tips on what mistakes to avoid for developer resumes, see this other, excellent thread by @RandallKanna after she reviewed hundreds of resumes: .
+1: EUROPASS. This CV format encourages half of the major issues with resumes. Sharing of far too much personal information, unimportant details (driving license type!) and poor format.
Many developers still -incorrectly - assume you need to use it for EU jobs. Not true: avoid.
Many developers still -incorrectly - assume you need to use it for EU jobs. Not true: avoid.
