How to Write a Tech Resume That Gets Noticed

The 7-Second Rule Is Real

Eye-tracking studies confirm it: recruiters spend fewer than 10 seconds deciding whether to read a resume in full. Your layout must guide their eyes to the three things they care about — your title, your most recent role, and measurable impact. Everything else is secondary.

Format: One Page (With One Exception)

Unless you have 15+ years of continuous experience, one page is the standard. Two-page resumes are not penalised in senior roles, but they must earn every line. If your second page is mostly education, certifications, or early-career roles, cut it.

Fonts to use: Calibri, Georgia, or Lato at 10–11pt body, 14–16pt name.

Margins: 0.5–0.75 inches. No smaller.

Columns: Single-column is safer for ATS; two-column is fine for human-first applications (startups, creative agencies).

The Impact Bullet Formula

Every bullet under each role should follow this pattern:

Action verb + what you did + measurable result

| Weak | Strong |

|------|--------|

| Responsible for maintaining the codebase | Refactored legacy monolith into microservices, cutting deployment time from 40 min to 6 min |

| Worked on the mobile app | Shipped iOS redesign that improved App Store rating from 3.1 to 4.6 across 180,000 users |

| Helped with SEO | Grew organic traffic 210% in 9 months by rebuilding site architecture and eliminating 4,200 duplicate pages |

Start every bullet with a strong past-tense verb: Architected, Launched, Reduced, Grew, Led, Automated, Delivered, Negotiated.

Aim for 2–5 bullets per role, not a wall of text. If you can't add a number, estimate or use qualitative impact: "Became the go-to person for…", "First engineer to implement…"

The Five Sections (In Order)

1. Header

Name (large), professional email, LinkedIn URL, GitHub (if relevant), city/state (or "Remote"). No photo, no age, no full address.

2. Summary (Optional)

2–3 lines only. Useful when switching industries or after a long gap. Skip it if your experience speaks for itself.

Senior Backend Engineer with 7 years building high-throughput APIs at scale. Currently at Stripe, focused on payments infrastructure. Looking for a Staff-level role at a product-led growth company.

3. Experience

Your most critical section. Reverse chronological. Include company name, your title, dates (month/year), and 2–5 impact bullets per role. Drop roles older than 10–12 years unless directly relevant.

4. Skills

List tools, languages, and frameworks — not soft skills. Recruiters search by keyword. Include both acronyms and full forms: "ML / Machine Learning", "k8s / Kubernetes".

5. Education

Degree, institution, graduation year. Skip GPA unless you graduated in the last two years and it's above 3.5.

ATS: The Invisible Gatekeeper

Most companies run resumes through Applicant Tracking Systems before a human sees them. ATS scores your resume against the job description.

To pass the ATS:

• Mirror exact keywords from the job posting (not synonyms)
• Avoid tables, text boxes, headers/footers — ATS often can't parse them
• Use standard section headings: "Experience", "Education", "Skills" — not creative names like "My Journey"
• Save as a .docx or plain PDF (not a scanned image)

Free ATS checkers: Jobscan, Resume Worded, RezScore.

Common Mistakes to Eliminate Today

• Objective statement instead of a summary (they're not the same)
• Listing responsibilities without results ("Managed a team of 5" — so what?)
• Generic skills like "Microsoft Office" or "Teamwork"
• Using "I" anywhere — resumes are written in the third person implicitly
• Email addresses like hotjohn87@yahoo.com
• Gaps left unexplained (add a brief note: "Career break — caregiving" or "Personal project: built X")

Final Checklist Before You Send

• [ ] Tailored to this specific job description?
• [ ] Top third of page contains name, title, and strongest credential?
• [ ] Every bullet has an action verb and a result?
• [ ] Dates are consistent (all month/year or all year)?
• [ ] File named FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf?
• [ ] Spell-checked and read aloud?

A great resume doesn't get you the job — it gets you the interview. Make that the only goal.