📄 Resume Guide for Engineers
Get past the ATS, impress recruiters, and land interviews.
TL;DR
Your resume has 6 seconds to make an impression. Make them count.
Action Verb + Quantified Result + How = Strong Bullet Point
The Perfect Resume Structure
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NAME email | phone │
│ LinkedIn | GitHub | Portfolio│
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SKILLS │
│ Languages: Python, TypeScript, Go │
│ Frameworks: React, Node.js, FastAPI │
│ Tools: AWS, Docker, Kubernetes │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ EXPERIENCE │
│ │
│ Senior Software Engineer @ Company │
│ Jan 2022 - Present | City, State │
│ • Bullet point with XYZ formula │
│ • Another achievement with metrics │
│ • Third accomplishment │
│ │
│ Software Engineer @ Previous Co │
│ ... │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ PROJECTS (if relevant) │
│ • Project Name — Tech stack │
│ Description with impact │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ EDUCATION │
│ BS Computer Science, University (Year) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
Section by Section
1. Contact Information
✅ Include:
• Full name (make it large)
• Email (professional: firstname.lastname@gmail.com)
• Phone number
• LinkedIn URL (customized: linkedin.com/in/yourname)
• GitHub URL
• Portfolio (if impressive)
• City, State (optional)
❌ Exclude:
• Full address
• Photo (in US)
• Age/birthdate
• Personal social media
2. Skills Section
Put this near the top - recruiters scan for keywords.
✅ Good Format:
Languages: Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, SQL
Frameworks: React, Node.js, Django, Spring Boot
Cloud & DevOps: AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3), Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform
Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis
Tools: Git, CI/CD, DataDog, Grafana
❌ Bad Format:
• "Proficient in various programming languages"
• Rating bars (Python: ████░)
• Soft skills: "Team player, hard worker"
Tips:
- Match keywords from job description
- Group logically (languages, frameworks, tools)
- Don't list things you can't discuss in interview
3. Experience Section
The most important section.
Format
Company Name City, State
Job Title Start Date - End Date
• Achievement bullet with XYZ formula
• Another accomplishment with metrics
• Technical contribution with impact
The XYZ Formula
Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]
❌ Bad Bullets:
• Responsible for backend development
• Worked on the payment team
• Participated in code reviews
✅ Good Bullets:
• Reduced API latency by 60% by implementing Redis caching
layer, improving user retention by 12%
• Led migration of payment system from monolith to
microservices, handling $50M daily transactions with
99.99% uptime
• Automated CI/CD pipeline reducing deployment time from
2 hours to 15 minutes, enabling 5x faster releases
Power Action Verbs
| Category | Verbs |
|---|---|
| Built | Developed, Implemented, Engineered, Created, Designed |
| Led | Led, Managed, Directed, Coordinated, Mentored |
| Improved | Optimized, Reduced, Increased, Streamlined, Enhanced |
| Achieved | Delivered, Launched, Shipped, Achieved, Completed |
4. Projects Section
Important for: New grads, career changers, or to showcase side projects.
Open Source Contribution — React, TypeScript
• Contributed 15 PRs to major OSS project (5K+ stars)
• Implemented accessibility features adopted by 10K+ users
Personal Project: Expense Tracker — Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL
• Built full-stack budgeting app with 500 monthly active users
• Implemented real-time sync using WebSockets
5. Education Section
For Recent Grads (< 2 years):
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science 2020 - 2024
University of California, Berkeley GPA: 3.8/4.0
• Relevant Coursework: Distributed Systems, Machine Learning
• Activities: ACM Chapter President, Hackathon Winner
For Experienced Engineers:
BS Computer Science, UC Berkeley (2020)
Include if impressive:
- High GPA (3.5+)
- Honors/awards
- Relevant coursework
- Leadership roles
Exclude:
- High school
- Low GPA
- Graduation date if it reveals age
Tailoring for FAANG
Google
- Emphasize scale (millions of users, petabytes of data)
- Show technical depth and problem-solving
- Include open source contributions
- Keywords: distributed systems, algorithms, scalability
Amazon
- Align with Leadership Principles
- Quantify business impact ($, %, customer metrics)
- Show ownership and bias for action
- Keywords: customer obsession, operational excellence
Meta
- Highlight impact and shipping velocity
- Show collaboration across teams
- Include growth metrics
- Keywords: move fast, social impact, React/mobile
Microsoft
- Show collaborative experience
- Include diverse technical breadth
- Mention enterprise-scale projects
- Keywords: Azure, enterprise, growth mindset
Before & After Examples
Example 1: Backend Engineer
❌ Before:
• Worked on backend systems
• Fixed bugs and wrote tests
• Attended meetings
✅ After:
• Designed and implemented order processing service handling
100K+ daily transactions with 99.99% reliability
• Reduced critical bug backlog by 70% through implementation
of automated testing suite with 90% code coverage
• Led weekly architecture reviews resulting in 3 adopted
patterns now used across 5 teams
Example 2: Frontend Engineer
❌ Before:
• Built user interfaces with React
• Made the website faster
• Collaborated with designers
✅ After:
• Rebuilt checkout flow in React, reducing cart abandonment
by 25% and increasing conversion by $2M annually
• Improved Core Web Vitals (LCP: 4.2s → 1.8s, CLS: 0.25 → 0.05)
resulting in 15% SEO ranking improvement
• Established component library with 50+ components, adopted
by 3 product teams, reducing UI development time by 40%
ATS Optimization
Most large companies use Applicant Tracking Systems to filter resumes.
Do's
- ✅ Use standard section headers
- ✅ Include keywords from job posting
- ✅ Use common fonts (Arial, Calibri)
- ✅ Save as PDF
- ✅ Use standard date formats (Jan 2023 - Present)
Don'ts
- ❌ Tables or columns (ATS can't parse)
- ❌ Graphics, icons, or charts
- ❌ Headers/footers (sometimes ignored)
- ❌ Text boxes
- ❌ Uncommon fonts
Keyword Matching
Job Posting says:
"Experience with distributed systems, Kubernetes, and
microservices architecture"
Your resume should include:
"Designed distributed microservices on Kubernetes..."
Not:
"Built cloud stuff with containers..."
Common Mistakes
❌ Too Long
Problem: 3-page resume for 5 years experience
Fix: One page unless 10+ years of relevant experience
❌ Responsibilities vs Achievements
Bad: "Responsible for customer support tickets"
Good: "Resolved 50+ tickets/week with 98% satisfaction rating"
❌ No Metrics
Bad: "Improved application performance"
Good: "Improved application performance by 40%, reducing
server costs by $50K annually"
❌ Irrelevant Information
Remove:
• Part-time retail job from 10 years ago
• Hobbies (unless directly relevant)
• References section
• "References available upon request"
❌ Generic Objective Statement
Bad: "Seeking a challenging position where I can utilize
my skills and grow professionally"
Better: Remove entirely, or use brief skills summary
Quick Checklist
Before submitting:
- One page (unless 10+ years)
- No typos or grammar errors
- Consistent formatting (fonts, spacing)
- Contact info is correct
- Every bullet starts with action verb
- Metrics in most bullets
- Keywords match job description
- Saved as PDF
- File named
FirstName_LastName_Resume.pdf - Links work (GitHub, LinkedIn)
Template Resources
Next: Study Plans → - Structured preparation roadmaps.