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How to Create a Software Engineer Resume Hiring Managers Will Love

36 points by rileyt 6y ago

knute 6y ago
One thing that's not on here: Proofread your resume. Have a friend look over it for you. Spell things correctly. I don't care if you use "JavaScript" or "Javascript" but pick one and stick with it. If you're a software engineer, the ability to type and attention to detail are important so show it in your resume. The number of resumes I've seen with glaring mistakes is too damn high.
- rileyt 6y ago
  Totally. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are the easiest way to destroy an otherwise good resume.
- drglitch 6y ago
  +1 on spelling. Having gone through thousands of resumes, I've seen some hilarious things. I'd never take away points for a couple of errors, but blatant ones are definitely a turn off. Also, a public service announcement: if you were leading a project in the past, its "led", not "lead" :)
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    At the very least, make sure you get rid of all the red squigglies, and ask someone else to read it for you.
    - derekp7 6y ago
      What is the easiest way to do that in Word, when it flags many technical terms as spelling errors? You can turn off spell check, but that setting doesn't stay with the document. Also, if you spell check and mark the item as correct, sometimes that action will stay with the document, however grammar items don't seem to stick with the document even after you mark it as correct. The only way I can think of is to turn it into a PDF, but many places still want a Word doc.
      - pmiller2 6y ago
        You should be able to add words to your dictionary. I have no idea what to do about the grammar items. Those are the green squigglies. :) Alternatively, maybe don't use Word? If you must submit a Word doc, maybe export to .DOCX format at the very end of the process?
  - lemoncucumber 6y ago
    > Also, a public service announcement: if you were leading a project in the past, its "led", not "lead" :) I always wish there were verb form of "tech lead." You can say "led X" or "served as tech lead for X" but neither is quite ideal.
    - colanderman 6y ago
      "Foobar project [tech lead]" Resume items do not need to be complete sentences or even fragments, if they communicate information clearly.
- JJMcJ 6y ago
  I have found errors in sections of my resume from ten years ago, looked at by me and many others dozens of times. They can lurk.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  I don't know if you meant to imply this, but if you think having "Javascript" in one place, and "JavaScript" in another is a "glaring mistake," I think you might just be too damn picky.
  - jedberg 6y ago
    It shows a lack of attention to detail, and is a big red flag.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      No, it doesn't. It shows a human wrote the text. If this were the one and only inconsistency in the entire resume, it doesn't even rate as one of those tiny flags they sometimes put in mixed drinks.
  - rsrx 6y ago
    I disagree here. I think this is a valid way to distinct 10x engineers vs other ones.
    - jimmaswell 6y ago
      Yeah, because the 10x will probably have a sloppier resume and still go where they want while the average people who need to take every advantage will be more likely to meticulously fret over their resume like this.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      I'm interested to see your data showing this is the case.
  - prewett 6y ago
    In a profession where void f(const std::vector<std::string>& arg); and void f(const std::vector<std::string> arg); do very different things, I'd say that you should at least sell yourself as paying attention to detail. You could say that this is a poor design of C++, but pick your language, there's usually something like this somewhere. At least in any of the commonly used languages. (Although, C++ is particularly bad about it.)
jedberg 6y ago
Do a lot of employers still ask for resumes? I haven't applied to a job in a while, but as a hiring manager, I usually just ask for their GitHub and LinkedIn, making the resume optional if it's more up to date than LinkedIn or the don't have LI.
- rileyt 6y ago
  From our experience, that's still relatively uncommon, but a growing trend. Standard Resume gives you a web resume, in addition to the PDF. The web resumes are a good replacement for a LinkedIn profile if you don't have one, and are a better branded and easier to read version of your profile, if you do have one. Here is an example: https://standardresume.co/r/dana-andrews https://standardresume.co/r/dana-andrews
  - jlokier 6y ago
    The formatting is fine, but I learned surprisingly little about the candidate's work, skills, specialisations, character or aptitude, considering what they must have done over the course of 20 years. So the example resume doesn't seem to me like something to aspire to. (That said I've been struggling to write mine for a while, so I don't want to imply it's easy.)
    - rileyt 6y ago
      That's a fair analysis. We are working on better sample resume content, to match the quality of the template designs. That copy was from our very first sample resume, when we created the app as a side project, five years ago. What resources have you been using to help you write your resume?
- drglitch 6y ago
  Yes. In finance, pretty much all you do is proprietary and all opensource work must be painfully precleared, so most of GHs for people are empty. Most companies (even megabanks) also have strict rules what you can and can't put on your linked in. A resume is therefore crucial.
colanderman 6y ago
Most important to keep in mind is the immediate goal that each recipient of your resume is trying to achieve. The hiring manager is trying to narrow down a (potentially large) field of candidates. Make it easy for them to spot on your resume the reasons they should consider you. Your interviewers (i.e., future co-workers) are looking for things to talk to you about, ways to connect with you. Include on your resume conversation starters which will provide you the opportunity to connect positively with them and demonstrate the value you will bring. I have not been a hiring manager, but I am often the "future co-worker". Often we are handed your resume minutes before interviewing you. If I cannot quickly find anything interesting to ask you about because your resume is too difficult to scan, contains too much jargon, or has too much extraneous information, you may not get the opportunity to tell me those interesting things. The classic writing advice applies: remove anything unnecessary to convey your message and help the reader achieve their goal.
raghava 6y ago
Before a human reads it, a machine will read it. It is 2020, every other HR who wants to squeeze out a little more time for themselves (may be to use it to browse insta/whatsapp/FB) would end up using some shit "AI/ML tool" sold by some snake oil vendor portraying it as suberb intelligent automation that aguments recruiters' intelligence for recruitment, at scale. Every one first has to please the API/ML-model even before a human casts a look at the resume. Tune resume to be read easily by a machine.
- rileyt 6y ago
  The best move is to get referrals. A referral almost always allows you to bypass the nonsensical "AI/ML tool", as well as many clueless recruiters.
- JustAPerson 6y ago
  Does anyone have suggestions for how to check if your resume is correctly parsed by these tools?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
cosmotic 6y ago
The post says to use a 'modern font'... what is that?
- pixelbath 6y ago
  I'm a designer who usually cares a great deal about typeface usage. On your resume, I don't care if you use Times New Roman (but pick one) as long as you can present your information well.
bcrl 6y ago
I still prefer to send my resume as a plain ASCII .txt file.
stonecharioteer 6y ago
I have a question that I haven't seen answered. How do I put mentoring skills in a resume? I am currently mentoring 2 interns, two new college graduates, 3 new college grads from last year and a few others that I met over at other companies or online. How do I put those skills on a resume? Because I've seen that my colleagues aren't very good at this. They're neither patient enough nor expressive enough to mentor someone and share learning resources, sympathise with newcomers, or slow down their pace and not make it seem so obvious that mentoring or pairing with an inexperienced engineer sometimes does slow us down.

36 points by rileyt 6y ago

One thing that's not on here: Proofread your resume. Have a friend look over it for you. Spell things correctly. I don't care if you use "JavaScript" or "Javascript" but pick one and stick with it. If you're a software engineer, the ability to type and attention to detail are important so show it in your resume. The number of resumes I've seen with glaring mistakes is too damn high.

rileyt 6y ago
Totally. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are the easiest way to destroy an otherwise good resume.
drglitch 6y ago
+1 on spelling. Having gone through thousands of resumes, I've seen some hilarious things. I'd never take away points for a couple of errors, but blatant ones are definitely a turn off. Also, a public service announcement: if you were leading a project in the past, its "led", not "lead" :)
- pmiller2 6y ago
  At the very least, make sure you get rid of all the red squigglies, and ask someone else to read it for you.
  - derekp7 6y ago
    What is the easiest way to do that in Word, when it flags many technical terms as spelling errors? You can turn off spell check, but that setting doesn't stay with the document. Also, if you spell check and mark the item as correct, sometimes that action will stay with the document, however grammar items don't seem to stick with the document even after you mark it as correct. The only way I can think of is to turn it into a PDF, but many places still want a Word doc.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      You should be able to add words to your dictionary. I have no idea what to do about the grammar items. Those are the green squigglies. :) Alternatively, maybe don't use Word? If you must submit a Word doc, maybe export to .DOCX format at the very end of the process?
- lemoncucumber 6y ago
  > Also, a public service announcement: if you were leading a project in the past, its "led", not "lead" :) I always wish there were verb form of "tech lead." You can say "led X" or "served as tech lead for X" but neither is quite ideal.
  - colanderman 6y ago
    "Foobar project [tech lead]" Resume items do not need to be complete sentences or even fragments, if they communicate information clearly.
JJMcJ 6y ago
I have found errors in sections of my resume from ten years ago, looked at by me and many others dozens of times. They can lurk.
pmiller2 6y ago
I don't know if you meant to imply this, but if you think having "Javascript" in one place, and "JavaScript" in another is a "glaring mistake," I think you might just be too damn picky.
- jedberg 6y ago
  It shows a lack of attention to detail, and is a big red flag.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    No, it doesn't. It shows a human wrote the text. If this were the one and only inconsistency in the entire resume, it doesn't even rate as one of those tiny flags they sometimes put in mixed drinks.
- rsrx 6y ago
  I disagree here. I think this is a valid way to distinct 10x engineers vs other ones.
  - jimmaswell 6y ago
    Yeah, because the 10x will probably have a sloppier resume and still go where they want while the average people who need to take every advantage will be more likely to meticulously fret over their resume like this.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    I'm interested to see your data showing this is the case.
- prewett 6y ago
  In a profession where void f(const std::vector<std::string>& arg); and void f(const std::vector<std::string> arg); do very different things, I'd say that you should at least sell yourself as paying attention to detail. You could say that this is a poor design of C++, but pick your language, there's usually something like this somewhere. At least in any of the commonly used languages. (Although, C++ is particularly bad about it.)

jedberg 6y ago

Do a lot of employers still ask for resumes? I haven't applied to a job in a while, but as a hiring manager, I usually just ask for their GitHub and LinkedIn, making the resume optional if it's more up to date than LinkedIn or the don't have LI.

rileyt 6y ago
From our experience, that's still relatively uncommon, but a growing trend. Standard Resume gives you a web resume, in addition to the PDF. The web resumes are a good replacement for a LinkedIn profile if you don't have one, and are a better branded and easier to read version of your profile, if you do have one. Here is an example: https://standardresume.co/r/dana-andrews https://standardresume.co/r/dana-andrews
- jlokier 6y ago
  The formatting is fine, but I learned surprisingly little about the candidate's work, skills, specialisations, character or aptitude, considering what they must have done over the course of 20 years. So the example resume doesn't seem to me like something to aspire to. (That said I've been struggling to write mine for a while, so I don't want to imply it's easy.)
  - rileyt 6y ago
    That's a fair analysis. We are working on better sample resume content, to match the quality of the template designs. That copy was from our very first sample resume, when we created the app as a side project, five years ago. What resources have you been using to help you write your resume?
drglitch 6y ago
Yes. In finance, pretty much all you do is proprietary and all opensource work must be painfully precleared, so most of GHs for people are empty. Most companies (even megabanks) also have strict rules what you can and can't put on your linked in. A resume is therefore crucial.

colanderman 6y ago

Most important to keep in mind is the immediate goal that each recipient of your resume is trying to achieve. The hiring manager is trying to narrow down a (potentially large) field of candidates. Make it easy for them to spot on your resume the reasons they should consider you. Your interviewers (i.e., future co-workers) are looking for things to talk to you about, ways to connect with you. Include on your resume conversation starters which will provide you the opportunity to connect positively with them and demonstrate the value you will bring. I have not been a hiring manager, but I am often the "future co-worker". Often we are handed your resume minutes before interviewing you. If I cannot quickly find anything interesting to ask you about because your resume is too difficult to scan, contains too much jargon, or has too much extraneous information, you may not get the opportunity to tell me those interesting things. The classic writing advice applies: remove anything unnecessary to convey your message and help the reader achieve their goal.

raghava 6y ago

Before a human reads it, a machine will read it. It is 2020, every other HR who wants to squeeze out a little more time for themselves (may be to use it to browse insta/whatsapp/FB) would end up using some shit "AI/ML tool" sold by some snake oil vendor portraying it as suberb intelligent automation that aguments recruiters' intelligence for recruitment, at scale. Every one first has to please the API/ML-model even before a human casts a look at the resume. Tune resume to be read easily by a machine.

rileyt 6y ago
The best move is to get referrals. A referral almost always allows you to bypass the nonsensical "AI/ML tool", as well as many clueless recruiters.
JustAPerson 6y ago
Does anyone have suggestions for how to check if your resume is correctly parsed by these tools?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

cosmotic 6y ago

The post says to use a 'modern font'... what is that?

pixelbath 6y ago
I'm a designer who usually cares a great deal about typeface usage. On your resume, I don't care if you use Times New Roman (but pick one) as long as you can present your information well.

bcrl 6y ago

I still prefer to send my resume as a plain ASCII .txt file.

stonecharioteer 6y ago

I have a question that I haven't seen answered. How do I put mentoring skills in a resume? I am currently mentoring 2 interns, two new college graduates, 3 new college grads from last year and a few others that I met over at other companies or online. How do I put those skills on a resume? Because I've seen that my colleagues aren't very good at this. They're neither patient enough nor expressive enough to mentor someone and share learning resources, sympathise with newcomers, or slow down their pace and not make it seem so obvious that mentoring or pairing with an inexperienced engineer sometimes does slow us down.