When a recruiter or a CTO looks at a python resume, their first instinct is to ensure they separate “wheat from chaff”.
A badly written resume can leave an impression that you are a Python dev who learned Python from a “Learn Python in 24 hours” book, and actually finished it in less than 24 hours.
But don’t worry, with these Python resume examples and our extensive guide, you’ll be able to write your Python resume as if you were Guido Van Rossum.
In this guide, you’ll see:
- 3 Python developer resume examples that would land a job every time;
- How to add projects, resume skills and summary on your resume;
- How to put your resume experience and achievements on your resume;
- Convert applications to more job interviews by writing the perfect Python resume.
Once you finish reading this guide, you’ll find your resume completely reinvented.
How to write a great Python developer resume
When someone is going to spend as little as a few seconds judging your resume, you can’t afford to send across a cluttered, vague and irrelevant resume.
You saw that one page resume trending on Hackernews, and decided to build one for yourself.
Just to be sure, you uploaded your resume to Reddit, looking for advice.
The two worded feedback from an anonymous Redditor said simply that your “resume sucks”.
Did you find that helpful at all?
No, right?
Because, the viral HackerNews resume was made for a specific context, specific experience, and a specific job.
In reality, Entry level Python resumes have everything from C++ to Node.js listed in them. Making a recruiter feel that the resume is irrelevant.
On the other hand, most senior Python dev’s resumes still contain the same old junior python dev content they wrote ten years ago.
What that tells you is that your resume should have a proper layout and should be the right fit for your experience and the job needs.
2 Formats for a Python Developer Resume:
- Reverse chronological layout - organizes your work experience in a timeline;
- Functional layout - More focused on your skills, and doesn’t represent your work history linearly.
The reverse chronological layout is best for most of the job applications. Especially when you have some form of work experience to show as a Python developer - even if it’s a small internship.
When it comes to a Functional layout, we would suggest caution. Getting a functional resume layout right takes a lot more creativity and is risk prone.
But, a format alone isn’t going to get you the job.
5 tips to write a great python developer resume:
- Make sure to add Python frameworks, tools, and project management skills within your resume.
- Display the scale of work and quality of code you wrote.
- Customize your resume to the job you’re applying for.
- Remove everything that’s not relevant to the Python job you’re applying for.
- Add your achievements, research papers, publishing and your open source projects.
Let’s now start building these resume sections.
The first section that we will look into is the resume header.
Writing a good Python developer’s resume header
Imagine a recruiter going through your resume header.
They see your name, then a bunch of information and then move on to other sections.
And, that’s when you lost a huge opportunity to impress them.
Examples of good and bad Python resume headers
The second example has been designed to perfection to make sure that hiring managers gets to know the best of you.
Imagine applying at a big name org as a junior Python dev. Now, if a recruiter opens your GitHub profile and sees that “green” heatmap throughout the year - you’ve made your impact!
As a rule of thumb, you should always include the following to your resume summary:
- Name
- Phone number
- Location
- Your GitHub profile
- Your website (if you maintain one)
Writing a good Python resume objective or summary
Let’s first establish one thing - you are writing this resume for someone else's eyes.
When you write a resume summary without thinking what a recruiter wants, you write to boost your own ego and end up adding irrelevant stuff to your resume.
Here’s what a recruiter might look for in your resume summary:
- The total work experience - make it coherent and consecutive. Often, devs break down their experience in timeline chunks based on when they used certain libraries;
- Python frameworks you’re familiar with;
- Whether you are a junior or senior dev;
- Your passion or area of focus e.g. Financial applications, data pipelines, etc..
The word out there is that resume summaries are used by people who've got plenty of experience to summarize.
We live in the era of MOOCs, GSocers, Kagglers, just to name a few. And it is not uncommon to find an entry level Python developer who has never worked for anyone, but has knowledge and capabilities that are equivalent to that of a 5-year experienced dev.
However, don’t let the lack of experience discourage you from writing an impactful resume summary.
Examples of good and bad Python resume summaries
Here's what the good example has that the bad one lacks in:
- List your total Python experience;
- Show what you’ve done with Python (projects/ industry/ application category);
- Mention if you’re a recognized speaker or if you maintain a local Python chapter;
- Should mention if you have received any special awards;
- Should contain notable open source project(s).
Resume summaries can also be incredibly powerful when you’re are building a career change resume.
How to include Python experience on your resume
Honestly, a Python developer’s resume experience can easily be a book. But, no one except you is going to read that.
A few things to consider while writing your resume experience section:
- List what projects you did during your current and past employment;
- Explain what technology stack you used (languages, frameworks, tools);
- Mention how you handled testing/Continuous integration/devops;
- List the scale of the projects (number of customers, requests per second, read writes to database, LOC, etc.);
- Mention if you were responsible for the architecture and team management.
Your resume experience should be tweaked based on whether the job requires someone to do very specific things like “database modelling and design” or whether they want someone with a more generic skillset.
For example, someone applying for a job that asks for specific things could have an experience like:
Database modelling and design for a Walmart and end to end implementation of the warehouse application using Flask. My roles and responsibilities included:
- Database design and modelling to handle 100M requests per day
- Built API handling interfaces to add a layer of abstraction between Product APIs and 100s of customer APIs
- Built efficient record keeping with consistency and scale using a mix of MySQL, MongoDB and PostgreSQL clusters
Notice how the resume experience mentions database design and modelling? That’s what a hiring manager would notice, too!
Examples of good and bad python resume experience
Let’s say you’re going to send your resume to Mark, the (fictional) Head of Development for Intercom. You wrote your resume experience like this:
02/2015 - 11/2017 
- •Built an API-driven publishing service that delivered high performance.
- •Responsible for clearing performance bottlenecks in Mercurial for large-scale deployments.
- •Wrote the module for source control query service.
- •Ensured to remove large repository challenges.
- •Rebuilt the mercurial sparse subsystem.
What do you think would happen if Mark reads this? He’ll know that you worked with APIs, and wrote some modules, but there's nothing here that would tell him about the scale of your work, the impact you made, or the team size you worked with.
Let’s try to write it a bit better.
02/2015 - 11/2017 - •Built an API-driven publishing service handling 17 million pageviews per month performing at 94% cache efficiency
- •Cleared several performance bottlenecks in Mercurial for large-scale deployments
- •Build out the source control query service that queries information in a scalable and efficient manner
- •Extended the build system to integrate with the mercurial sparse feature cutting down on performance issues with overly large repositories
- •Rebuilt the mercurial sparse subsystem to move it from an implementation detail to an end-user-friendly tool
- •Mentored 5 junior Python developers and trained them to work independently
Notice how the rewrite helps you stand out with scale, impact and your team size?
But, what if you are applying to a job that demands wearing multiple hats?
On average, a Python developer handles more than ten responsibilities and handles more than five projects (big and small) in a year. To make sure you write the best work experience here, you need to pick your best five that make the cut.
01/2015 - 12/2018 - •Responsible for the entire development of our Plemento’s SaaS offerings.
- •Managed a team of 4 devs and reported to the CEO.
- •Implemented MVC framework for Plemento.
- •Wrote and executed various MySQL database queries from Python using Python-MySQL.
- •Responsible for debugging and troubleshooting the web application.
01/2015 - 12/2018 - •Designed architectures for all Plemento products and scaled them to beyond 1M users per month.
- •Implemented dev automation using Docker, Jenkins CI and test automation tools.
- •SDLC - Acted as the Scrum master managing onsite and offsite remote teams.
- •Introduced pair programming, architectural patterns and code quality reviews to reduce tech debt.
- •Reduced lead time for new feature requests down to 30%.
- •Managed a codebase of 250,000 LOC.
Adding these resume bullets would lead to a job interview for sure.
But, what if the job demands someone with a breath of experience? You have limited real estate on your resume summary and experience sections.
The best way to add more Python skills is by listing down a Python resume skills section.
27 important Python resume skills that you may want to add.
You have some (or all?) of them. All you need is a little inspiration which ones to feature. So, here’s a list of hard and soft skills that you might want to add to your resume:
22 technical skills for your Python resume:
- Python
- Django
- Flask
- Tornado
- Git
- SQL
- AWS
- Azure
- Linux
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- PostgreSQL
- Apache
- Bash Scripting
- Javascript
- HTML/CSS3
- OpenCV
- Machine learning
- Numpy
- Scipy
- Front end frameworks (Angular, React, Knockout)
- Unit testing (unittest, pyunit, etc)
Soft skills that you should consider adding to your resume:
- Communication
- Team leadership
- Presentation skills
- Collaboration
- Research
When it comes to soft skills, too many people underestimate what soft skills they really have.
If you happen to be stuck in such a situation, just run this list by a couple of your colleagues or friends and see what they say about you. You'll be pleasantly surprised that they will point out exactly which ones you should add.
Python projects, awards, and recognitions within your resume
Awards and certifications
- Cloudera Certified
- PCI Compliance Level 3
- Pycon 2019 Keynote speaker
- Numpy core contributor
When a recruiter looks at such a section, they know for sure that this isn’t just an ordinary resume.
If you’ve worked hard, made open source contributions or launched a repo that went big on GitHub - you should add this info in your resume.
Now, no one is going to tell you that they tossed off your resume just because you didn’t have an “awards” section in it.
When it comes to making your resume, lack of these sections leads to reduced confidence, and subsequent rejection. It’s an industry-specific thing - something no one can easily point out, but can feel.
Your final takeaways:
- Focus on building a reverse chronological resume.
- Write a resume header that has the right contact information and links to your portfolio.
- Reflect your passion and achievements in your resume summary.
- Write a work experience that makes your resume memorable.
- List your awards and certifications in a separate section.
Python Developer resume examples
Explore additional python developer resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.
By Experience
Junior Python Developer
Entry Level Python Developer
Senior Python Developer
By Role
Python Django Developer
Python ETL Developer
A Python ETL Developer must emphasize their experience in using Python for ETL processes, their proficiency in SQL, and their knowledge of data modeling and analytics. It's also important to showcase their experience with handling large data sets. Including specific examples of past achievements can strengthen the resume.
