How to quantify impact on a tech resume
As mentioned above, prospective employers will need proof that you can do the job.
It's essential to fill your resume with numbers that illustrate
the outcomes of your work. Below is a list of examples:
- Include the percentage increase
in website traffic due to your optimization efforts, demonstrating your ability
to boost online presence.
- Mention the amount of money
saved through efficient code refactoring, showcasing your contribution to cost
reduction.
- Highlight the reduction in
load times you achieved for applications to illustrate your skills in
enhancing user experience.
- Detail the number of users
added after launching a new feature, showing your impact on user
growth.
- Specify the revenue
growth achieved from a project you led to indicate your direct contribution
to the company's financial success.
- Report the decrease in bug
reports after you improved software quality.
- Note the number of automated
tests you implemented to highlight your role in ensuring software
stability.
- Describe the scale of data you
managed or analyzed, emphasizing your capability in data-driven projects.
How to write an entry-level tech resume
The tech industry is hungry for candidates, so starting out as a junior developer
should be a breeze, right?
Not really. The demand is so high that the job market gets inundated with people just
like yourself. Even those with up to 2 years of experience, spend months sending out job
applications.
So how do you make it?
You need to absolutely nail
your tech resume. Below are the three major qualities you should
showcase.
Show that you’re a continuous learner. New tools and technologies are popping up every day. Do your best to stay updated on the
latest technologies and sign up for every training course you can afford to gain that full-stack expertise.
This can be put in the certifications section of your resume, or even better—in the hard skills
section. When choosing what to do, consider matching the respective certificate with the job requirements.
Next, to build a tech resume with no experience, you must compensate with versatility. It’s vital to focus on skills
you’ve gained through personal interactions. Now’s the time to
remember that project you worked on in college when you divided tasks between team members and mediated
conflicts. Or maybe you resolved a customer support issue at your part-time job. Each of these can add to
the assets you bring to the table.
The third most important factor for a junior tech resume is the portfolio. The less exciting news, however, is that you may have to
do freelance work for a low fee to gather enough projects to be able to create a portfolio. Doing this will
not only teach you valuable new technical skills, it
will also make you more marketable. Hiring managers will see you as someone with drive, ambition, and a
lifelong desire to learn.
Make sure you state
your projects or tech portfolio prominently on your resume. We’ll
show you how in the sections that follow.
Technical resume skills section: do’s and
don'ts
Having a balanced skills section is crucial for IT resumes because it helps
recruiters understand whether or not you can perform the job.
But no one wants to read a list of 50+ skills that you've acquired over your
career.
Here are some tips to make your skills section more engaging and impactful:
- Put the tech that the company uses higher on your list.
- Group your tech skills for better readability, e.g. “Programming languages”, “Platforms”,
“Services”.
- List only the most recent and relevant technology. Outdated
technology may leave a poor impression.
- Mention methodologies on par with frameworks—the ability to
work with teams that follow Agile or DevOps workflows is as important as the hard skills you
have.
- Add
some buzzwords you weren’t able to include with the
experience section: DataOps, DevOps, VR/AR. But add only relevant ones; don’t overdo it.
- If you’re going for a leadership position, emphasize the
soft skills section.
Here are some of the most sought-after hard skills to put on your tech resume: