Software Developer resume examples & templates

Software Developers have never been more in-demand. If you’ve got the skills, you’re almost to the finish line when it comes to landing a great job, but you’ll need a resume that’s created to impress by showing off your ample skills in the best light. 

Entry Level Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

Full Stack Developer

Devops Engineer

Front End Developer

Programmer

Web Developer

Python Developer

You don’t want to hit the job market with a generic resume. There are a lot of developer jobs out there, so it’s important to take the time to decide what your goals are and how to best present your skills and achievements. You can do that by creating a resume that is targeted, ATS-friendly, uses compelling language, and is easy to read. We’ll show you how!

Resume guide for a software developer resume

Program your resume for success with Resume.io. Covering 500+ professions, our guides and resume examples, along with our resume builder, makes it easy to craft an effective, targeted resume faster than you can say, “JavaScript.”

This resume guide and corresponding software developer resume example will cover the following:

• How to write a software developer resume
• Choosing the right resume format for software development
• How to add your contact information
• Using summaries
• Adding your software development experience
• Listing education and relevant experience
• Picking the right resume design/layout
• Software development job market outlook and salary information

How to write a software developer resume

The best place to start writing your software developer resume is at the beginning, and that first step means learning what sections you need to include. Your resume should contain the following components:

• The resume header
• The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The resume skills section
• The education section

Your resume is like a homepage. You want to give the user a good idea of what they can expect from a website. It’s the same with a resume. You want to give the reader the information they need to determine if you’re a good fit. But you can’t just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. You need to research each position you’re applying for, including the company itself and the people you’d be meeting with. See if you can decode the organization's role within the industry and any needs they might have, and then position yourself as the right person to resolve those needs. When you do that, you’re highlighting your USP— unique selling proposition—and it’s the key component of your resume.

This process starts with crafting an attention-grabbing resume. To design yours, incorporate the following elements:

• Highlight accomplishments rather than your day-to-day tasks. Good software developers will have roughly the same skillset, so you’ll want to focus on your professional accomplishments and the value you bring to the table. Don’t limit yourself to only including them in your work history: weave them throughout your resume.
• Tailor each resume for each position you’re applying for. Just as every piece of software will be different for each client, your resume will target the needs and requirements for each company with whom you’re seeking a job.
• Project a professional image by choosing a resume template that shows off your talents without being bland or boring.
• Don’t let a computer program be your undoing. Most companies utilize ATS screening software to find the candidates with the required skills, so use the right keywords in your resume so that you’re not overlooked. An ATS resume template can also help you to land in the “yes” pile.

Choosing the right resume format for software development

Your resume needs to be clear, concise, and easy to navigate—just like a good app or piece of software.

The optimal format for a software developer depends on the types of jobs you’ve held. If you’ve followed a more traditional career path holding full-time jobs for various employers, your best option is probably the reverse chronological resume format, where you list your current/last job first and your first job last. 

If you’re a contractor or freelancer who has done multiple projects for a wide range of companies, consider the functional resume format, which allows you to list your work experience by project or by specialization. 

When exploring the many resume templates in our resume builder, choose a format that aligns best with your experience and job history. You’ll find myriad options for all formats available as resume examples so you can find a resume that fits you.

Include your contact information

You could have the most impressive developer resume in the world, but it won’t do you any good if the hiring manager doesn’t know how to get in touch with you. The header is the place where you’ll list your contact information.

Your contact information needs to be front and center and professionally presented.

• Full name & title. List your first and last name and include the title of the role you are pursuing, such as “Software Engineer.”
• Professional email address. Using a simple email address such as  firstname.lastname@gmail.com that is separate from your personal address. Don’t use any “creative” or overly casual addresses.
• Phone number. Provide your number where you can be easily reached, and have a professional-sounding voicemail greeting.
• Location. Don’t provide your street address, as it’s unnecessary and possibly unsafe. List only your city and state. If you’re open to relocating, note 'Willing to Relocate' under your current location.
• LinkedIn. If you have an updated LinkedIn profile, include it here.
• Online portfolio. If you have a professional online portfolio that showcases your recent projects and accomplishments, include this as well.

Don’t include:

• Date of birth. It’s not relevant, and may result in age discrimination.
• Personal details. Don’t include information such as your marital status, social security number, passport number, political affiliations, etc.

Make use of a summary

When you create a new app, you want to make it appealing and useful so that a potential customer will download it to their phone or tablet. You want them to think, “I want that app” and work with it to utilize its functions, whether it’s gaming, shopping, or finding information. 

Your resume summary serves the same purpose. In 2-3 sentences, you’re putting yourself forward as the best person for the job and someone who fills a company need. An effective resume summary places the spotlight on your talents, specific accomplishments, and the overall value you bring to the table.

To accomplish this goal, incorporate action verbs in the simple past or present tense – developed, architected, automated, restructured, segmented – and include quantifiable data to back up your achievements whenever possible.

When writing your resume summary, don’t just reiterate things that can be found elsewhere on your resume. Resume summaries should provide a “story arc” of intersecting skills, abilities and character traits that set you apart from other developers: your unique value proposition. For example, “Solved complex problems using the latest in cloud, mobile, and web technologies.”

This is the first section where you’ll present a specific image of yourself as a professional. Are you a drone who just inputs code? Or are you a proactive, imaginative developer on the cutting edge of technology? In the resume summary, you get to define your own parameters as a software developer.

You can find adaptable software developer resume examples summary below:

Outline your software development work experience 

In this section, you’ll list your current /most recent position at the top and work backward to your first job. Don’t go back any further than the last 10-15 years, as the technology changes rapidly and you’ll want to show only your current, up-to-date experience. If you wish, older positions and those not directly related to the job you’re applying for can be listed in a separate section called “Other experience.”

Under each employer and title heading, use bullet points to provide an overview of your contributions, and don’t use the word, “I.”  Be specific, use quantifiable data when possible, and use dynamic action verbs: developed, tested, designed, diagnosed, strengthened, installed, calculated, coded, deployed, or architected.

Rather than giving a rote list of your everyday tasks and duties, provide tangible outcomes from your projects. For example, have you ever seen task-related statements like these in a software developer’s resume?

• "Made minor project decisions.."
• "Implement and maintain new features, making modifications as requested."
• "Onboarded and mentored new colleagues."

These bland, almost meaningless statements could describe anyone who sat behind a computer keyboard, and they certainly don’t give a clear picture of what you’ve accomplished as a software developer or what value you’d bring to a team. Show what makes you unique, not that you’re a code-drone.

Instead of these empty phrases, use results-based points. Place the emphasis of your resume on results you achieved on your own or as part of a team: performance enhancements, user increases, or a X% reduction in user-reported defects.

Check out these reworked versions of the phrases above:

• "Created system architecture that streamlined user bandwidth by up to 30%."
• "Repaired existing software bugs in collaboration with the development team to reduce customer complaints by 15%”
• "Developed and presented findings and solutions to audiences including senior executives and stakeholders."

Take a look at the software developer employment history resume sample below:

Include the relevant key skills that make you an outstanding software developer

Although software development is a tech-heavy field, you’ll want to include both hard and soft skills that highlight your expertise and talent. It goes without saying that you’ll need to highlight hard skills such as DevOps, full-stack development, Python, and IT automation, but don’t overlook soft skills like communication, time management, problem-solving, and adaptability, which can help you stand out as an attractive candidate in a crowded field of applicants.

The resume builder offers several pre-written key skills to choose from with proficiency ranges you can set. You can also write in your skills.

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our software developer resume template. 

Keep in mind that the Skills Section isn’t the only place to include your skills. Incorporate them throughout your resume by demonstrating how you used those skills on the job. Support these skills with quantifiable achievements and data.

For example, in your work experience section and professional summary, highlight your 

• Collaboration skills by describing your role on your team, including team size, projects, and outcomes
• Technical skills by listing platforms and software, and how you used them to complete projects.
• Leadership skills by demonstrating how you facilitated the positive outcome of team collaboration.

Look to the job description as a guide for what key skills to include.

Detail your education & relevant software development certifications

The education section is pretty straightforward for software development. List your academic achievements, in reverse chronological order, just like your work experience (if you’re using a reverse chronological format). Since many software developers have degrees in computer science or IT, start with your college degree.

You most likely also possess multiple certifications or internship experience, so this section is the perfect place to list those certifications or other software training. For example:

• Training and certifications. Courses, bootcamps, or webinars that support or enhance your developer skills.
• Internships. Company-provided training or internships.
• Professional development. Memberships in professional associations, like Association of Women in Computing (AWC) or the American Association of Information Technology Professionals (AAITP) show that you’re developing knowledge and skills in the software field.

Remember, if your education or training is particularly impressive or more relevant than your work experience, consider placing this section before your employment history. This is known as a functional resume that emphasizes your qualifications and shows your commitment to professional growth in software development.

Pick the right resume layout and design for a web developer resume

In terms of visual impact, a software developer resume should use an uncluttered modern layout that is easy for a hiring manager to navigate.

When you design a new app or webpage, you want it to be eye-catching as well as functional. Your goal is to entice the user to continue utilizing all the functions, ensuring that any information that the user needs is attractive, intuitively planned out and available with a minimum of aggravation.

When you think about it, your resume is like the homepage of a website that’s all about your career. It should grab the hiring manager’s attention and give them a clear picture of you as a professional. Your resume should be modern, uncluttered, reader-friendly, and professional – but not dull or generic.

For a software developer resume, we recommend clean lines for separating sections, a modern font and no or very limited color. You’re a professional who designs, builds, and maintains software applications, and your resume design should reflect that. This software development resume sample is a great example of our New York template – a clean, uncluttered layout with black lines, small graphics, and an easy-to-read, modern-looking font.

Putting together an effective, well-crafted resume takes some time, but using our resume templates takes care of the most tedious formatting and structure tasks, allowing you to spend more time on the content. 

Software developer text-only resume example

Software Developer job market and outlook

We have become a computer-dependent global society, with software developers at the forefront, designing the architecture of software apps based on the needs of their users as well as coding, testing, and maintaining those apps so that they can remain functional and productive. 

What type of salary you can expect in web development

Web developers are in-demand, and  have a median annual wage of $132,270.

Key takeaways for building a web developer resume

Web development can be a rewarding career for those who love computers, are good at problem-solving, are creative, and enjoy being on the forefront of technology. Strong communication and time management skills are important for web developers in order to meet the needs of their clients and end users in a timely, efficient manner. 

If you need more assistance building a top-notch web developer resume that sets you apart from the crowd, check out Resume.io’s Resume Builder tool. 

You can also unlock 18 powerful tools to search for jobs, track your progress, ace your interviews, and negotiate the best salary—all within our comprehensive career toolkit.