INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Developer positions are at a 13% growth rate, which is faster than average. With that said, there are currently 199,400 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 25,500 to 224,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Developer jobs was $77,200 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $40,750, and the highest 10% more than $146,430.
Our conclusion? The Developer job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Developer sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Developer resume experience section
Developer Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Developer resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Worked on 2 projects for the company: CMS and a broker website.
- Learned to work with Ubuntu, Bash, Github.
- Implemented new features and helped solve problems.
- Collaborated with a small team to find solutions that will benefit the projects.
- Introduced to SAP ERP Operations Module.
- Created forms for mass printing in SAP Systems using Smart Forms.
- Participated in a working environment of 40+ developers and consultants who cooperated towards a common goal.
- Component integration
- Bug fixing
- Low level memory implementation
- HMI development
- Task estimation
- Software integration and version control
- Calculated aerodynamic coefficients for a fixed wing aircraft
- Designed an initial concept for a tidal stream generator in a renewable energy project
- Contribuited to several project proposals for CONACYT
- Elaborated technical reports for CONACYT
- Conducted simulations of a fixed wing aircraft in six degree of freedom
- Worked closely with senior project developers to establish an appropriate architecture of a flight control system for the whole flight envelope
- Developed part of a flight control system for a fixed wing aircraft
- Determined the set of parameters required for aircraft system identification. Also I defined a set of different maneuvers for aircraft system identification
- Gathered technical information, wrote requirements and participated in design sessions
- Estimated polar, thrust and power curves for a fixed wing aircraft
- Modeled thermodynamic processes of a turboprop
- Elaborated and gave technical presentations for costumers
- Involved in machine learning enablement of the product
- Part of feature engineering efforts and data provisioning
- Communicates with multiple teams across the globe for best results
- Leveraging big data technologies for ETL, near real-time stream processing and advanced analytics.
- Created visualizations to describe complicated data to business users and effectively communicate results.
- Implemented an end-to-end elastic web-based real-time data visualization application that helped visualize and analyze various technical resources of the bank across the country.
- Back-end development of web applications built with PHP, MySQL and the Laravel Framework
- Development of a small end-end JavaScript application with the MEAN stack
- Crafting small WordPress projects and plugins
- Created a cloud management system
- Worked on the system update process of the SAP HANA Platform
- Wrote scripts for Linux virtual machines
- Made software tools for internal utility usage
- Design and develop multi-threaded .NET, C++ windows applications and services
- Hands on development of various lenght projects from genesis to delivery
- Analysing and debugging code
- Maintaining the stability of all live systems
- Optimizing and refactoring legacy code
- Suggesting improvements on design and functionality of all systems
- Mentoring new team members in development and best practices
- Developing internal tools for making developers more productive
- Learned to interact with PHP/MySQL Servers
- Created a Content Provider to allow native sharing between different apps
- Worked with a team of designers to create custom views for the application.
- Always got positive feedback from my students
- More than doubled the student retention rate
- Worked both in large groups and with individuals alike
- Led small teams of students and co-workers
- Learned how to prepare course materials (slideshows, homeworks, assignments, code samples, proof-of-concept apps)
- Helped improve the SoftUni Learning System
- Established and lead a team of 18 people; covering every key role in the early stages.
- Main role - production and booking manager; image-maker and community leader.
- Managed 500+ projects and events a year - in-house and/or with outside promoters and organizers.
- Built a sustainable community in Sofia music scene; creating brand awareness and steady partnerships that turned club *MIXTAPE 5* into a factor in the music scene and the event management business in Bulgaria.
- Lead a firm policy in restricting under-aged attendance.
- Supported the local promoters and underground music communities by promoting the concept of buying pre-sale tickets and coming on time for gigs and events.
- Part of the team that turned bar "FRIDAY" (бар "ПЕТЪК") into an institution for the local community of young people and friends. Making it a first-in-mind choice for spending a great night out.
- Met a lot of people outside the corporate world and learned that life is out there.
- Built practical skills in copywriting, digital marketing, event management and cocktail making.
- Grew Facebook fan base to 50 000 likes for the first 2 years.
- Became one of the best bartenders in town.
- Conducted more than 40 training courses in Sofia, London, Varna, Ruse, Burgas, based on the method Suggestopedia - unlimited capacity of the human mind
- Became a managing partner at Metareading in less than a year
- Trained 250+ children in 15 programs, based on Suggestopedia, reading and learning skills, arts and other creative initiatives
- Trained 800+ students and conducted 40 courses in “Metareading”, developing skills in photoreading, speed reading, memory excellence, creativity, personal development and motivation in a specific environment
- Built and designed the front and backend of the iOS app in only 4 months.
- Maintaining a 30%+ retention rate, 16%+ purchase rate, and push notification engagement double that of the industry average.
- Accepted into Winter 2014 batch of First Growth Ventures' SG VC accelerator.
- Skills involved: Objective-C, Cocoa, Xcode, Javascript/Node.js, HTML, CSS, Version Control (GitHub), 3rd party RESTful APIs (eBay, Amazon, etc), Growth Engineering, and Fundraising.
- Implemented and tested metadata tagging of photos according to the 2014 IPTC-IIM standard
- Optimized sorting and searching of photos based on metadata tags through database indexing (SQLite)
- Incorporated Facebook, Twitter and Instagram APIs in image sharing
- Devised two different ways of facial detection: Using Android SDK / Using OpenCV libraries
PRO TIP
Make sure to relate your experience to your job description, but never lie. That’s not tolerated and will show up in the face-to-face interview later on.
Action Verbs for your Developer Resume
Recommended reads:
Developer Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Developer resume
- .NET Core
- ASP MVC
- Web API
- SQL Server
- EF Core
- Hangfire
- EF 6
- JavaScript
- JQuery
- AJAX
- Communication
- Organisation
- Analytical thinking
- Creativity and innovation
- Accountability
- Flexibility
- Eager to learn
- Perseverance
- Problem solving
- Resourcefulness
PRO TIP
Don’t feel obliged to spend a separate section for your soft skills - you can weave them throughout your job experience or career summary. But, don’t just write empty words - back them with examples.
Recommended reads:
Developer Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Developer Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Developer resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
Developer Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Developer resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Highlight specific past projects that you’re most proud of in your summary. It sets an excellent tone for the rest of your resume. You can talk about all of your former jobs in your work experience section later on.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Developer resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Developer Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Developer Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Developer resume:
Developer Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Developer resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Developer Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
