INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT and Software Engineering positions are at a much faster than average growth rate, which is 22%. With that said, there are currently 1,847,900 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 409,500 to 2,257,400 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the IT and Software Engineering jobs was $110,140 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $65,210, and the highest 10% more than $170,100.
Our conclusion? The IT and Software Engineering job market is facing competition due to decreasing demand.
Top principal software engineer sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
Things to remember when writing your principal software engineer experience section
Principal software engineer experience section checklist:
- Keep it short: use no more than 4-6 bullet points per position;
- Go for short, easy-to-read sentences to keep recruiters engaged;
- Focus on relevant job experience that will enhance your application;
- Describe your experience using the C-A-R (challenge, action, result) methodology;
- Ditch buzzwords and go for power words instead.
To illustrate it more clearly, we’ve collected some of the best experience section examples from real Principal Software Engineer resumes. Check them out below!
- Always come up with out of the box ideas in software development.
- Working as a team lead in a dynamic international organization as a Full Stack developer.
- Producing quality products for TEO and its clients.
- Following and promoting TEO culture, environment and processes
- Working as a good team player.
- Design and implementation of Cloud based SAS offering, to protect customer against malicious users, scanners and BOT(s).
- Re-architected multiple barracuda products such as Web Application Firewall(WAF), Application Delivery Controller(ADC) to fit them into modern cloud platforms.Tasks included designing for high availability, fault tolerance and scale out capability.
- Design and implementation of control path for an enterprise grade 60 GBPS throughput load balancer(Fast Distribution Controller).
- Design middleware for legacy application to provide 100% auto-generated API coverage. This helped in automation and shorter release cycles.
- Contributed to strategy and design of Recommended Troubleshooting Platform, improving user satisfaction and ease of acquisition, deployed progressively to 100 million+ devices
- D&I lead for implementation of Storage Reserve feature in Windows, unblocking or improving Windows experience on 100,000's of devices with low storage configurations
- Contributed to the successful launch of the Africa Development Center
- Led the Implementation of Windows Insider badging feature
- Continually drive product improvement thru ownership of Windows Bug Bash for Fundamentals team
- Led increased efficiency in Windows Feedback Systems thru Insights, ML and Telemetry
- Design, architecture, and implementation of 'cloud scanner' project which scans public domains which in turn will help the sales team and product team to increase revenues
- Design, architecture, and implementation of discovery-service and automation-service using micro service architecture pattern
- Manage the software development cycle, including research, architecture, development, testing, release, upgrades
- Build Microservices using Go, Nodejs, Python, C# and Java
- CI and CD Microservices deployments with Docker and Kubernetes
- Create in-house ERP software
- Handle all things related to AWS setup and configuration
- Atlassian SME (JIRA/Confluence)
- Tools Lead - Confluence and JIRA
- Design and develop process automations for SDLC tools
- Confluence and JIRA Migrations/Consolidations
- Jira and Confluence Customizations and Upgrades
- Scaling Atlassian Applications
- Understanding the Business Requirement.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and ship new features.
- Development and management of iOS projects.
- Communication with clients & teams on daily project status, risks and future cycles.
- Developing iOS project activities and assessment of client requirements.
- Code reviewing, explore technical feasibility, solutions, milestones and project estimations.
- Monthly developer session on new leanings and new technical update.
- Resolve team members issues.
- Worked as a disaster Recovery Quality Automation team with the Application Server Technology group and Bug Diagnostics and Escalation Engineer for (Oracle Discoverer, Oracle Business Intelligence, Oracle Data Integrator, and Oracle Warehouse Builder products)
- Customer Self-Service Life Cycle (CSLC): With CSLC initiative enabled modernized experience by offering "Self Service capabilities for external customers" subscribing to Managed Applications Unlimited Service and for existing MCS customers migrating from Tech Cloud to OCI
- CSLC Release 20.2 enables Crash / Burn features for People Soft HCM and FSCM pillars for environments managed by customers in "Customer Managed Compartment", and bare shell VM provisioning (single Middle Tier, Single Database) enabling customers to deploy their own products within Customer Managed Compartment
- CSLC Release 20.2 also enables existing self-service PSFT Refresh via CSLC for Oracle Managed PSFT environments providing simplified and unified interface to initiate refresh requests without need for logging into multiple PCMs for customers deployed with multiple PeopleSoft Pillars
- Planning Recovery priorities, technology dependencies and alternatives, and overall recovery and creation of Disaster Recovery architecture configuration overview diagrams
- Design of Disaster Recovery Engineering and automation for Fusion Middleware product (e.g
- Oracle BI 12c, SOA, etc.) with an understanding of application classification, tiers, and dependencies and capture any relevant application to host mappings using different Ansible playbooks, which involves PaaS and IaaS in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using terraform
- End-to-end automation of Peoplesoft Environment Provisioning Oracle Cloud Infrastructure which involves infrastructure creation in cloud for DB and Peoplesoft Cloud Manager
- End-to-end automation of OBIEE+ODI, Peoplesoft Environment Provisioning Oracle Cloud Infrastructure which involves infrastructure creation in cloud for DB and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) with Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) and is presented in oracle open world 2019
- Designed and implemented the new state-of-the-art telemetry ingress pipeline using streaming architecture with Apache Kafka.
- MQTT Gateway & Processor
- Device Registry Service
- Positioning Processor
- Unified and improved all proprietary UDP based legacy protocols and telemetry handlers in a single sharable package.
- Rebuilt legacy telemetry forwarding services to produce messages into Kafka topics.
- Created Gjöll, a .NET 5 library to streamline the usage of Kafka based applications by providing all best practices and sane defaults to message consumers and producers and also lightweight stream processors inspired by Kafka Streams and Pulsar Functions
- Represented the team to third-parties (such as Hitachi) involved in technical integrations.
- Implemented the architecture for connectors (Java)
- Generated and presented weekly reports around project development status, operations, and performance to upper management
- Reviewed and revised software designs to ensure technical compliance and propose design improvements
- Led the effort to build and deliver a highly visible application for in-house automated loan document processing using Angular 8
- Facilitated technical and client discussions across 4 different development teams and 3 time zones
- Product will be implemented by credit unions across the country in early 2021 and is estimated to provide savings of $2 million dollars in yearly costs
- Managing a team of Medical Imaging Engineering with the best technologies in the market
- Owning the team deliverables w.r.t to planning, design, development, testing, deployment and production support.
- Building a perfect technology stack for the development team and help them in achieving the sprint deliverables on time.
- Addressing the complex performance problems in the applications and make sure they meets the Non-functional requirements given by the business owners.
- Individual key contributor towards the complex problems during the SDLC
- Making sure all the developer meets the quality aspects like jUnits, Code Coverage, Code review, CI/CD and QA support
- Communication among Engineering, Architecture, Business, L2 Support, L3 support & Azure team
- Making sure the QA understands the business requirements and complete them on time by following the SDLC.
- Bringing in the right talent to the team by taking the interview.
- Helping business in understanding the technicalities of project and help them in T-Shirt sizing, planning, grooming and give rough estimates.
- Help managers to give feed back on the team and help them in grow in their career.
- Designed, Poineered and implemented HTML based document designer app in REACT/Redux for our customers like Anthem, United Health Care, Broadridge, Michigan.com, SE2, Zeneth American etc
- Developed ~70% of the code of the company application stack (c++, React)
- Reviewed and revised software designs to ensure technical compliance and propose architectural improvements
- Migrated elixir's main product Tango, Elixir Tango gives everyone involved in member communication exactly what they need to respond quickly to regulatory changes and Go to Market, without exponential cost and risk., to cloud AWS. microservices containerization, kubernetes scripts for deployment with autoscaling, ELK & grafana for app/infrastructure monitoring, HELM/teraform/rancher for k8s scripts/deployment management
- Poineered, Supervised and Contributed puppetteer based UI automation project, purpose of this project was to automate Tango UI to ensure stability of UI changes during development.
- Test Driven Development frameworks (gtest, junit, enzyme) adoptation
- Design and develop NodeJs based microservices with the help of AWS services as per the use case.
- Design test scenarios, Write automated tests using Jest, Mocha Chai, and Supertest.
- Collaborations with other teams and platforms for integration as well as designing the shared services.
- As a Squad Lead, Responsible for taking requirements and managing the delivery of our Agile Team.
- Help the new team members in grooming and problem-solving.
- Maintain the stability of the overall product by continuously identifying and clearing the tech debts.
- Review, approve and Merge the merge requests from within and outside of the team.
- Help production support to troubleshoot and fix production bugs.
- Validate the solution and Demo it to stakeholders frequently and close gaps if any.
- Enhance, design and build Slack bot plugin to automate certain GitHub workflow using NodeJS and Javascript - Feb 2020 - Dec 2020.
- Automate Terraform code generation to provision and update infrastructure. The project was built using Go - Aug 2020 - Dec 2020.
- Adopt and extend Drone CI to replace current Jenkins CI using Go - Aug 2020 - Dec 2020.
- Maintain and enhance Identity Platform as a service. The project was built using Go - Jan 2021 - Current.
- Lead Platform team of 5 engineers - Jan 2021 - Current.
- Led the experimentation platform enabling the Flighting capability for the Online Services Division Ads Platform
- Led the architecture, design and implementation of the Flighter v2 & Agora applications using technologies such as .Net Framework 4.5, MVC 5.0, Web API, Entity Framework 6.0 and SQL Server, Azure Compute, Azure Storage, SQL Azure, Redis Cache, ExpressRouteManaging a team of 5-7 developers including mentoring & growing team members, setting up project standards, establishing engineering excellence practices, conducting design and code reviews
- Partnering with the PM team & interacting with business partners to identify core requirements, managing project Schedule and Quality, creating and executing the roadmap for Experimentation Tools.Design and implement large core features as an IC developer on a day-to-day basis
- Led design and development of cloud based (AWS S3, CloudFront) i18N library for assisting localization of AOS at Tenant level.Built and maintaining distributed Planner microservice that scales to 150 concurrent users, communicating with cross-functional teams regarding product and design.
- Built and maintaining distributed Planner microservice that scales to 150 concurrent users, communicating with cross-functional teams regarding product and design.
- Designed & implemented Spring-Kafka to consume the data changes at Product-level in microservice.
- Designed real-time streaming app in Kafka Streams to handle large volume data streams in a scalable, reliable and fault tolerant manner for projecting the deals.
- Reduced data loading time by 65% by implementing Kafka & Elasticsearch.
- Ability to lead projects with timelines and real-time updates to meet delivery dates.
- Scrum master for a team having 6 members and mentored the team members.
- High Priority Production Defects been analyzed and appropriately fixes patched to production.
- Responsible for designing and developing the architecture of the system
- Integrated HEREMap web component in application using Angulat
- Responsible for maintenance of product and components
- Developed Appointment Scheduler screen for Transportation Lifecycle Management
- Created Technical Design documents for entity changes
- Research, conceive and develop technology solutions to extend and improve IB's back-end applications.
- Responsible for owning and maintaining Digital Account Management, Real Time Highly Available Web Service that clients (Advisors and Brokers) use to create and manage accounts.
- Setup and led team of engineers.
- Held scrum calls with stakeholders and allocated JIRA stories to the engineers.
- Implemented APIs that use REST calls for account creation and management.
- Implemented multiple post trade calculations.
- Handled day to day tech operations of closing of the books and post trade calculations.
- In depth understanding of Accounting System, Closing of the Books, Trade and Transaction Journaling, Post Trade Calculation and Statement generation.
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 principal software engineer resume
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The Best Way to Write Your Principal Software Engineer Resume’s Skills Section
Principal software engineer resume: skills section checklist
- Scan the job advert for keywords worth including in your resume;
- List both hard and transferable skills;
- Leave room for discussion: include some of your skills in other sections of your resume;
- Focus on skills that prove your expertise and leave the irrelevant ones behind.
Top skills for your principal software engineer resume
Python
Java
Javascript
GIT
SQL
HTML
Teamwork and communication
Creative problem solving
Analystical thinking
Owning up to errors
Self-learning
Time management
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
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Principal software engineer resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your principal software engineer 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
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PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your Principal Software Engineer resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
Writing a strong principal software engineer resume summary
Principal software engineer resume summary checklist:
- Mention your position and total years of experience in the field;
- Highlight 1-2 of your top achievements;
- Go for shorter sentences and keep them to the point – don’t include anything that doesn’t support your application;
- Add 2-4 keywords present in the job description.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a professional taster. Use it wisely. Effectively convey your professional profile and let the hiring manager know that if they hire you, they won’t be disappointed. Make sure to include keywords from the job description too! Elaborate on your abilities further in your experience section. Again, cater to the job description.
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Adding education, courses, and certifications to your principal software engineer resume
Education section tips and tricks:
- Add info about your highest degree level, incl. year of graduation, place of study, and degree subject;
- Mention some education-related awards you’ve received;
- Share a bit more about your certifications (if they are relevant);
- Entry-level applicants: Tailor your education section by including classes that are relevant to the position you’re applying for.
Top certifications for your principal software engineer resume
Software Architecture & Technology of Large-Scale Systems
Learn Architecting Software Systems with High Performance, Scalability, Availability, Security using Modern Technologies
Software Architecture Case Studies
Become an even better Software Architect by learning from real-world architecture case studies.
The Complete Guide to Becoming a Software Architect
The most comprehensive guide that will make you a Software Architect, the most desired role in the software industry.
SOLID Principles: Introducing Software Architecture & Design
Gain mastery over SOLID Principles and write clean and well-designed code in Object Oriented Languages like Java etc.
Software Architecture & Design of Modern Large Scale Systems
Master Software Architecture, System Design & Big Data Processing. Become a Software Architect or Technical Lead
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PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Principal Software Engineer. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
the best format for your principal software engineer resume
Choosing the right format for your resume might seem difficult, regardless of whether you’re a newbie or a master. In short, there are three basic resume formats for you to choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
The choice you make depends on your level of experience and the company you’re applying for.
The reverse-chronological resume format is great for you if you have at least 10 years of experience, no employment gaps, and are not looking for a career change. Here, you are expected to list all your previous jobs in a reverse-chronological format, starting from your most recent position and going back to the oldest one. It’s perfect for experienced individuals who are looking for a straightforward way to highlight their expertise.
The functional skills-based resume format, on the other hand, is great for recent graduates or professionals with large employment gaps. It focuses on skills and education, rather than experience. This makes it ideal for showing you’re the right fit without putting too much emphasis on your lack of (relevant) experience.
If you’re looking for something a bit more creative, go for the combination resume format. It’s a mix of the reverse-chronological and the functional skills-based formats, which makes it ideal for all types of applicants. What’s more, it’s considered modern and innovative, and isn’t this what you want your application to feel like anyway?
After choosing the right format for your Principal Software Engineer resume, it’s time to perfect the layout and style.
- Go for traditional 1-inch resume margins;
- Choose a simple resume font, sized 10-12p;
- Make sure that the length of your resume matches your applicant profile: try to fit in a one-page template; two-page templateare suitable only for candidates with over 10 years of experience.
- Save your resume in PDF to avoid issues around formatting and unauthorized editing.
Looking for more ways to make your application stand out? Read this article!
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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, your position, and your general desire to experiment and showcase your creative side, you might want to add some additional sections to your resume. Some examples include:
Creating a memorable principal software engineer resume
You want your resume to put you in front of other candidates even when the competition is high, right? Right!
One of the easiest ways to do this is by adding a drop or two of creativity. You can choose a colorful and out-of-the-box template, or maybe even put a ‘what my typical days look like’ section at the bottom of your resume
It’s totally up to you. Just make sure to match the level of creativity to the industry, the position, and the company.
What makes a great principal software engineer 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.
