Full-Stack Developer Resume

Your resume is a way to showcase your talents, skills, expertise, and experience to potential recruiters. It plays a major role in getting a job interview and eventually landing your dream job. So it’s crucial that you know what information to include and what to omit when you’re competing against other qualified full-stack developers for a great gig. .

There are a lot of opinions and misconceptions about what makes a good resume; it can become really hard to know what information to trust. The job hunting process is hard enough, so there’s no need to make it more stressful than it needs to be.

Whether you’re creating a new resume or updating your old one, these tips will help you create a strong application. Let's perfect that resume so you get a call-back for the interview.

Skills to Highlight on Your Resume

A tech stack is the collection of technologies a company uses to build an application. Typically, a stack includes one or more programming languages, libraries, servers, databases, frameworks, and developer tools.

Tech companies often discuss the components of their tech stack. Some even use their stack to attract potential employees. So it’s advisable that you do your own research to figure out the tech stack for companies you’re interested in applying to. Then, once you know what they are, compare them with your skillset.

You'll rely on a variety of skills to make it big in this career. Here are some skills which are simply indispensable for a full stack developer. Make sure you master these skills and be sure to include them on your resume.

• HTML and CSS: These two programming languages play a crucial role in determining how a website looks and feels. As a full-stack developer, you should have extensive knowledge of these languages as they will help you deal with front-end development.
• Back-End Languages: While HTML, CSS and JavaScript are used for front-end development, languages like PHP, Ruby, Python, and Java are essential for back-end development. Mastering all of these languages is not mandatory, but you must be familiar with at least one or two.
• Database Storage: Web applications need databases to store data so that developers can access it later. That is why you should be familiar with relational databases. You should also know how to design and manipulate a database.
• Design Skills: Design is crucial for impressing and attracting customers. Even as a Software Engineer, some design concepts will be helpful.
• GitHub: If you’re from the tech world, then you must have heard of GitHub. Having a GitHub profile will make you look more professional. Most recruiters like to have a look at their candidates’ GitHub profiles to analyze their skills and achievements.  
• Web Architecture: Knowledge of web architecture becomes important because the day-to-day responsibilities include structuring the code, structuring data into databases, and categorization of files.
• Soft Skills: Apart from technical skills and knowledge, you also need to possess some soft skills like curiosity to learn, analytical thinking, attention to detail, creative vision, team spirit, and time management skills.

When you have all of these skills showcased on your resume, it’ll be hard for any recruiter to ignore you. Just make sure that you justify all these skills during your interview as well.

Key Points to Keep in Mind

Since the role of a full-stack developer requires diverse skills, your resume has to convey a lot of information. The key is to keep it brief yet informative. The following tips will help you create an impressive resume.

Header

This is the first thing that draws a reader’s attention. That is why the header should be clear and straightforward. Your name, contact information, blog or website link, and GitHub link are some of the crucial aspects that you need to include in the header. When you provide these links in the header, it will reflect upon your skills, hands-on experience, and expertise.

Professional Summary

Instead of simply mentioning your professional accomplishments, your professional summary should also include how you want to keep learning and improving your skills. It should sum up your professional journey up until now, and what you want to achieve in the future.

Skills

You need to tailor your resume according to the job description. Emphasize the skills that are mentioned in the job description. If you mention irrelevant skills, it will take precision away from your resume. Also, don’t just focus on technical skills because recruiters also like to see the candidate’s soft skills, which includes communication skills, curiosity, team spirit, creativity, and analytical thinking.

Work Experience

This is one of the most important sections of your resume because every company prefers experienced candidates. Instead of simply writing down your previous job titles, try to include your job responsibilities and duties. This will give the recruiters a peek into your expertise and experience.

Other Sections

Sections like certification, achievements, and recognition are also important. You don’t have to follow any rules or guidelines for these. You can choose to simply list these or explain them briefly. Relate them to the job description, and get creative.

Reminders for Any Tech Resume

Here are some things you should do when you build your resume.

• Keep your font type and font size consistent for a clean, professional first impression.
• Create proper sections like work experience, education, certifications, skills, and more depending on the job description. Without proper categorization, your resume could look confusing.
• Use keywords that are mentioned in the job description. For instance, for most full-stack developer positions, you need to use keywords like JavaScript, Python, and team player.
• Mention links to profiles like LinkedIn, GitHub, Upwork, and StackOverflow, but don’t add links to personal social media accounts like Snapchat or Instagram.
• Use a PDF format, the most common file type for resumes.
• Try to use active voice and verbs like “planned”, “executed”, and “implemented” to highlight your experience and previous job responsibilities.
• Use bullet points or numbers instead of writing in paragraph form, wherever possible.
• Keep your resume short and precise. Try to keep it to a maximum of 2 pages.

Errors to Avoid

There are some common pitfalls out there. Here are some things you should avoid while preparing your full-stack developer resume.

• Try not to mention too much experience before college. The positions you held in high school won’t be of much interest to recruiters, and they’ll take up valuable space.
• Avoid mentioning skills that aren’t relevant to that particular role. This will just make your resume lengthy, and recruiters might think of it as a generic resume.
• Try to incorporate examples. If you’re listing out a skill or a technology, then you should mention your experience with that particular skill or technology.
• Don’t lie or exaggerate on your resume because when the recruiter asks you about it in the interview, you’ll get caught and lose their trust.
• Don’t explain something in detail unless it’s necessary.

Formatting Tips for Your Resume

Do you think the content of your resume is more important than the format? You’re right, but you can’t deny that a good first impression is also important. If your resume is properly formatted, then it’ll immediately catch the recruiter’s eye. Here are some tips to help you with that.

• Keep your fonts consistent.
• Make sure your margins are even on all sides.
• Try to avoid using the word “I” in your resume.
• To make the resume readable use bold, underline, and italics to highlight important things.
• Use reverse chronological order while mentioning your education or work experience. This means you should state your recent work experience or educational degree first.
• Don’t use a font that is too stylish or fancy. This will make it difficult to read for the recruiters. Use an easy-to-read font such as Calibri, Cambria, Corbel, Georgia, or Helvetica.
• Keep your headers in bold.

If you follow these guidelines, you’ll be set up for success to build a winning full-stack developer resume. Once you’ve completed your resume, you’ll also want to build a strong cover full-stack developer cover letter. With a winning combination of both a resume and a cover letter, your chances of landing your dream interview will significantly increase.

If you realized that you don’t have the necessary skills to start your journey as a full-stack developer, then you should consider Thinkful’s Software Engineering course. It’s a course that’s designed to land you a job you’ll love post-graduation.

Or, if you’d simply like some more information on the tech world, our blog has you covered.