Ways You Can Fix Your Coding Resume

Programmers can breathe a sigh of relief as more and more positions in the workforce require their expertise. Certain roles have become completely obsolete due to technology, and coders are coming in to bridge the need to properly utilize these ever-developing Boot Camps and skills. Even though you may feel unstoppable with all the projects you’ve worked on at school or at a coding bootcamp, your resume is still hugely important.

The trick is to get your resume seen by employers in the first place. Working on yourself is a great place to start. Improve your resume with these five easy tactics:

1. Lead With Your Strengths

Do you worry about your lack of work experience? Maybe you only have coding bootcamp experience or perhaps you only learned a handful of programming languages in college. Even if you’ve never held a professional position where you used your coding knowledge, you still have the power to impress.

Take a moment to consider your last job. Don’t think about your day to day tasks, instead ask yourself what exactly you accomplished for the company. Did your position allow you to see something that saved the company 30 percent in revenue? Did you organize the emergency safety plan for the entire department? By what percentage did sales increase after your implementation went live? The more detailed you are, the more impressive you will come across to employers.

Always lead with your accomplishments! List the last project you completed, regardless of you having completed it during school or a boot camp. Tell potential employers what you can do and how.

2. Make Your Resume Look The Part

The majority of people usually remember first impressions. Why should resumes be any different? You must make sure your resume looks professional. Here are ways to clean up your resume and make it more consistent:

Font

Small font can be difficult to read, along with using too many different fonts. Employers look for consistency in candidates. Make sure that your fonts remain consistent.

Content

When it comes to how your resume looks, grammar and spelling play a large role as well. A poor proofreader may indicate the individual does not care enough about their work — the last thing any employer would want. Make sure your resume is grammatically correct and able to be sent as a standard PDF. Anything over one page may run over and cut off important information.

3. Efficiently Use The Space You Have

Having the right file format and size is only the beginning. Remember, you have limited space, so you must write as efficiently as possible. Don’t try to play the system with extra keywords that don’t belong. Your resume will just be discarded once the employer sees how many out of place or repeat phrases there are. Think about the purpose behind each word, as wordiness can lead to your downfall.

It’s also important to remain on topic. Refrain from stating the obvious, such as the ability to use Microsoft Word. Less obvious, don’t list every application or programming language you know either. Think about it in terms of context; If you don’t think the skill applies to the position you’re applying, don’t put it down. Your space is better used in regards to what the employer is specifically looking for.

Put the most relevant information first in the space you have. A lot of the time, employers have already made up their minds in the first few lines of your resume. Get right to the point.

4. Take To Heart That You Must Stand Out

In order to truly stand out from other applicants avoid cliche words or phrases. When employers continually see the words “go-getter” and “team player” enough times, the terms lose their value.

Be original and remember to use words that correlate to the job post you are responding to. Don’t send the same resume to every place you apply. Instead, tailor every application to fit what each employer is looking for.

Lastly, do not assume employers will instantly recognize your previous organization. Make sure you briefly state what your former places of employment did as a business. This way, potential employers will have more of an idea of how your accomplishments tied into the company’s mission. It’s these little things that will make you stand out from the rest.

5. Be Sure To Keep Your Knowledge Up To Date

With technology always on the move, make sure you’re constantly learning on your own— Even after your classes end. If you truly wish to get hired into a position that utilizes your coding knowledge, you must stay up to date. Even though it’s true you must not put every little thing you’ve ever done on your resume, it certainly does help to know you have a certain skill when it’s needed.

Whether you realize it or not, the main advantage of going to a coding boot camp is learning how to learn on your own. Participate in contests and make apps on your own to further develop your skills. The more current your last project was completed, the more impressive you can look.

Conclusion

Failure in job hunting is unavoidable. However, you have the opportunity to use failures as a catapult for learning and growth, and you can start by using what you’ve learned to fix key mistakes on your resume. This new self-awareness has the possibility to lead you to find the coding career of your dreams. With these tips, you are ready to create a better resume. And eventually, the coding job you’ve been searching for may be yours.