5 Key Points for Creating a Developer’s Résumé
5 Key Points for Creating a Developer’s Résumé
Looking to land that first job or seeking new opportunities? Creating a clear, succinct CV is an essential step in today’s professional world. Often viewed as boring, this step nevertheless offers an opportunity to highlight your background through your professional experiences, soft skills, and any computer languages you’ve mastered. Here’s an overview of nexten.io’s tips for creating your CV in two steps, with an aesthetic result that will grab the attention of IT recruiters and CTOs.
Play it Apple style
If there’s one lesson Steve Jobs taught us, it’s that a clean and clear aestheticism catches the eye. That’s a good thing, too, since you’re in IT — not graphic design! So, opt for a no-frills, sober and elegant design.
No more than two colors should be present on your CV, so choose ones that represent you well. You already know this: colors convey emotions. For example, choose blue to reflect serenity, optimism, involvement. Yellow conveys relational ease and green, stability.
Depending on the position and the function you’re seeking, take a few moments to define your brand.
Our advice at nexten.io: keep a white background to make reading easier for recruiters.
Simple and basic: put essential information in titles
When IT recruiters receives résumés, he first makes sure that the profile in question will match the needs of his company. Your mission is therefore to emphasize what type of developer you are right from the start, keeping in mind that you need to be specific. If your title is too general, the recruiter (who’s not always the most comfortable with all technical terms), will opt for a profile that will have used the right keyword to appeal. Therefore, highlight the computer language that interests you the most (Python, SQL, PHP), and/or specify if you specialize in full stack, for example.
Afterwards, don’t forget the essentials: name/name, phone, email, LinkedIn profile and any other links where your projects are accessible: websites, blogs, etc.
The nexten.io tip: your CV should fit on one page! Don’t skimp on bullets and synthetic sentences, and reduce the font if needed.
Show what you can do
“A gesture is worth a thousand words.” To differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack of candidates, give priority to the work you’ve already done. So dig in your head and carefully select 3 beautiful projects that you are proud of. This can be the creation of a website, your portfolio, open source projects you have contributed to, or the highlighting of work done on your GitHub profile.
Certifications are also gold mines for a IT recruiter or CTO. They will be reassured of your technical skills, and your hiring will in fact involve less risk for them and the company. Head over to LinkedIn, EZ Platform, France Compétences and other labels. Take the time to answer these questionnaires — then highlight them on your CV.
Another nexten.io tip: highlight your personal projects! This shows all the curiosity and interest you have for your job — beyond just the basic expectations.
Computer languages: the language of your heart
This is the heart of your job, and this is what should stand out the most in your CV: the computer languages you master.
Create a dedicated paragraph called “Technical Skills” and separate them into three columns: beginner, expert, advanced. Introduce these different technos and don’t hesitate to add logos/pictos as a complement, in terms of design, it’s much more fun for the recruiter to read.
This is also the time for you to show that you’ve got English covered as well: add your TOEIC, TOEFL, or IELTS score to highlight your knowledge of this language.
nexten.io’s tip: next to your different experiences/projects, you can also show the tech recruiter and/or the CTO in which professional context you’ve used this language in the past.
Proofreading your CV!
Spelling mistakes are unforgivable. This goes for any profile — even in IT! Luckily for you, there are plenty of little tricks and tips to catch them. First, proofread your CV with a fresh pair of eyes, a few hours after you’ve created it. Better yet, reread it the next day.
Second, have someone close to you who’s well-versed in spelling and syntax errors proofread — someone with eagle eyes that can spot any typos that have crept in anywhere.
Thirdly — and this will be our last nexten.io tip — use a little ingenuous gem called “Scribens,” a text correction tool that will highlight any potential mistakes.
In itself, creating a CV doesn’t take much time: this exercise can be completed in less than two hours, and you’re guaranteed to have peace of mind for the rest of your professional career. That said, it will of course be necessary to update it from time to time, but the initial grunt work done, you’ll only need to search for that dream job and apply.
To conclude, one last little tip: go to CV builder sites such as VisualCV, resume.com and Novoresume to generate a CV in the wink of an eye. This is guaranteed to save time on the design end and offer an aesthetic that will capture the attention of all recruiters with whom you share your résumé — we guarantee it
