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| id | title | description | keywords | toc_max_heading_level | ||||||||||
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| write-effective-content | Write effective resume content | Learn how to effectively write your resume for FAANG software engineer roles |
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Next, fill up your template!
It is daunting to start on a fresh slate, so I recommend you 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 Expert 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.
:::
1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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]
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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