tech-interview-handbook/contents/resume/write-effective-content.md

---
id: write-effective-content
title: Write effective resume content
description: Learn how to effectively write your resume for FAANG software engineer roles
keywords:
  [
    FAANG,
    software engineering resume,
    step-by-step resume guide,
    software engineer resume,
    FAANG software engineer resume,
    professional summary,
    skills,
    work experience,
    education,
    awards,
  ]
toc_max_heading_level: 2
---

Next, fill up your template!

It is daunting to start on a fresh slate, so I recommend you always start by making a laundry list of bullet points under each section, then optimizing it accordingly. This prevents excessive attention placed on premature optimization.

**Do's for ATS readability**

- If a divider is required between information, use "|" (pipe character) or tabs
- Use simple bullet points

**Don'ts for ATS readability**

- Do not use images, pictures or diagrams
- Do not use tables

:::tip

To maximize efficiency in applying for several job types, create and keep updated a "Master resume" which you basically use to maintain an exhaustive list of all points under every section of your resume. When applying for each job, you can make a copy of the Master and eliminate or optimize points as necessary.

:::

## Contact information

### Must-haves

- Name
- Personal phone number
  - Never include your work phone number here
- Location - City, State, Zip
  - Just enough for recruiters to determine if you are a local or international candidate
- Email address
  - Never include your work email here
  - I recommend Gmail if you are using other email services
- LinkedIn profile

### Good-to-haves

- GitHub profile URL
- Personal website URL
- Stack Overflow profile URL
- Medium profile URL
- Competitive coding profile
  - Codechef
  - Hackerrank

Where relevant, indicate achievements in coding platforms, for example, max ratings, ranking, number of stars, badges.

## Professional summary

The professional summary, if written well, will be the most effective and important part of your resume. From my experience as an interviewer, I generally may not have the time to read into the detail of resumes - hence summaries which directly address why a candidate is a good fit for the job greatly improves their chances of capturing my attention.

### Start with a resume headline

Always start with a concise, one line description of yourself

- Fewer than 10 words
- Summarizes your experience relevant to the job description

Examples:

- Staff Software Engineer at Facebook with over 5 years experience leading teams

### Summarize your best selling points

Below the resume headline, include a summary of yourself which expands on your resume headline.

- 4 or less points, in bullet or paragraph form
- Include most important skills and experiences relevant to the job applied, quantifying them where possible
- Keep in mind to answer the question of "Why am I a good fit for this job?" - while writing the summary

## Skills

Include programming languages and tech stacks:

- Structure in the following manner: `[Skill summary] : [List skills separated by "|"]`
  - Programming languages - If impressive, include your familiarity by the number of lines you have written, for example "Over 10,000 lines"
  - Frameworks
  - Databases

## Work experience

List your work experience in a familiar format and reverse chronological order. Every job listed should have:

- The company, location, title, duration worked following this structure
  - `[Company or Organization], [Location] | [Job Title] | [Start and end dates formatted as MM/YYYY]`
  - e.g. `Facebook, Singapore | Front End Engineering Lead | 08/2018 - Present`
- List of top accomplishments, including
  - Scope of job and skills required
  - Accomplishments listed following this structure
    - `[Accomplishment summary] : [Action] that resulted in [quantifiable outcome]`

## Education

Most software engineering jobs will require at least an undergraduate degree. However, unless you are a recent graduate or do not have much work experience, it should not be prioritized above your work experience.

Use the following format, eliminating information where it is not relevant:

```
[Degree Name], [Year of Graduation - write expected graduation date if not graduated]

[University Name], [Location]

- GPA: X.XX / 4.0 (List GPA if more than 3.50/4.00, or more than 4.3 under a 5-point system)
- List key achievements, including leadership positions, skills, societies, projects, awards, etc.
```

Example:

```
BSc in Computing, Computer Science, Graduation Year 2015
National University of Singapore, Singapore

- GPA: 3.82 / 4.00 (Magna cum laude)
- Dean's List, Valedictorian
- President of hacker society
```

## Projects

Include at least 2 projects you have contributed to, outlining your key contributions.

```
Docusaurus, Menlo Park, CA
Lead maintainer 01/2018 - 04/2020

- Maintainer and lead engineer for Docusaurus v2, a static site generator which powers the documentation of many of Meta's Open Source Projects - React Native, Jest, Relay, Reason, etc
- Used by 7.6k projects on GitHub
```

## Awards, accolades and certifications

Only include achievements related to the job application:

- Always quantify your achievements
- A good format to use would be: `[Year] [Quantification] [Competition]`

```
2016 | Best All-Round Product out of 50 teams | Facebook Hackathon
```