Building your developer resume

FinmouseMobile Product Development and Outsourcing

How to build a Resume

Andrei Kovacs

May 2011

General Tips

o Screening your resume takes less than 30 seconds

o Attractive opportunities receive more resumes

o Show some passion about your field of work

o Use reverse chronological order

o Word format better than eJobs and other website

templates etc.

o 1-2 page max is ideal for up to 1-2 years experience

o English language is the norm in the software industry

General Tips (cont)

o Cover Letter in email text is best – needs to answer to: Where

have you seen the add and Why you are applying

o Use Cover Letter to pinpoint some relevant experience or

interest in the job

o You can include your picture if you want (usually outside

North America)

o Keep in mind you are applying to a Technical not Sales

position so choose an appropriate picture

Main Sections – Resume Title

o If you are focused on a specific technology AND you have

worked on at least one personal project with it you can use it

in the title: Java Developer, Mobile Developer etc..

o Of course it needs to fit with the job description

o Else use Resume, Software Developer or similar

o “Curriculum Vitae” is used mostly in Academic and Research

o Not very used in Software industry

o Include your name: “Resume Easter Bunny” or Java

Developer with your name under it.

Contact Data

o Contact Data on the left side

o Should include:

Your Full Name

Email address

Phone No

City (or full address if you want)

Marital Status (optional – not usual in North America)

Leave Military Status out unless you served in the

Army

Relevant Work Experience (if any)

o Leave Work and Travel and Summer Jobs – non IT related

towards the end of Resume (Other Section)

o Include any internships here

o Include any relevant work experience with details

Name of Employer

City (Country only if you apply internationally)

Start Date and End Date (Month/Year)

Job Title

Subsections with relevant skills you have aquired

Personal Projects (if any)

o Project Title

o Subsections with relevant skills learnt (applies to work

experience too):

o Android Technology

Project was developed with Android 2.1 ..

o Requirement Estimation

One of my responsibilities was to estimate ..

o Multithreading

The mailing server uses multiple threads to process

School Projects

o Project Title

o Subsections with relevant skills learnt (similar to personal

projects)

o Must include Teamwork subsection with details

Team Size

How was the team organized/coordinated

Your role in the team

What were the challenges/issues you encountered

when working as a team

What were the benefits

Education

o Any School should have the dates (2009-2011)

o If still a student specify year

3rd year

1st year Master’s Degree

2nd year Phd

o If you have at least a Bachelor Degree then High School can

be optional

o However if you have a well recognized school you can leave it

there

o If interviewer went to same school it helps establishing trust

Trainings/Certificates

o List any Trainings or Certificates you might have

o List any technical books you might have read

o Least any internet tutorial/courses you might have gone

through

o List any technical related Awards you might have received

o All the above show desire to learn and passion for technology

Hobbies (optional)

o List any Hobbies which you might have

o Certain hobbies might point to personality traits

o Collecting something might mean attention to detail

o Arts might point to creativity

o Sports might point to Team Spirit etc.

Other

o List whatever else you think is relevant

o Might include

Any non job related work experience (Work & Travel

etc)

Any info you think is relevant

Explanations for very long blanks in your resume

(Travelled around the word, sickness etc)

Typical Mistakes – Part 1

o Starting with education instead of work experience/projects

o Resume does not have a Title

o Candidate name not included in the title – need to look up

the name in contact data

o Including full street address for former employer

o No Spell Check !!!

o List a zillion technologies because you saw them somewhere

or you were supposed to study them at University

o Big matrix tables for foreign languages or technical skills

(unless it is a job which required detailed language skills (QA

for Spanish version etc)

Typical Mistakes – Part 2

o Absolutely no details about the previous job – just job title

and that’s it

o Absolutely no details about projects – just Project Title and

that’s it

o Nickname email addresses : [email protected]

o Stating wrong job expectations: “I want a stable well paid job

with guaranteed retirement”

o Never put salary expectations unless you are really senior

and do not want to be headhunted by companies who can’t

afford you

Typical Mistakes – Part 3

o “ I want to work for a multinational” . Well, then don’t apply

at cool creative companies. Or don’t mention in your resume

o “I want to work for Google” is accepted however can be seen

as stating the obvious. However shows you have an idea

about the software industry nowadays

o One year experience and “Team Lead” or “Project Manager”

as a job title at previous company

Typical Mistakes – Part 4

o Applying for a job for which you have nothing in common and

you showed no interest in the past (at least put a book about

it and start reading like crazy before the interview )

o Sending resume with no email text (just follow up with

another email saying you forgot to paste the body of the

message)

o Including “Benefits” list from previous job – you can discuss

this at the offer stage is relevant

Thank you

Working Smart

FinmouseMobile Product Development &

OutsourcingWebsite: www.finmouse.com

Email: [email protected]