When you’re a computer science student looking for an internship or your first full-time role as a developer, understanding what a CV is, deciding what to include in a good CV, and how to format it correctly can be challenging.
We analysed countless computer science CVs and chose the top 21 examples to help you get started. Whether you’re looking for your first high-paying job without a degree or are a seasoned professional, we have a computer science cover letter and CV designed to match your current career stage.
We’ve helped technical job seekers secure interviews at companies like Facebook and Microsoft, so these 21 computer science CV samples are a great place to start.
Enhance the bullet points
- Don’t fall into the trap of writing unquantified work experience bullet points. Whether it be identifying problems in a system, building solutions, deploying applications, or automating monotonous tasks, include metrics in your computer science CV.
Outline career progression
- Choose the reverse chronological CV format. Your most recent experience will appear at the top of your computer science student CV. Select the three best roles that demonstrate your ability to develop apps, test new programmes before release, troubleshoot systems, and generally be a great tech person to work with.
Show off your certificates
- Here’s a professional CV tip to show hiring managers that you’re a tech expert: List credible certificates. For instance, if you’re applying to be a software developer where proficiency in Python is essential, then add a Certified Associate in Python Programming achievement.
View more computer science internship CVs >
Adding context
- When creating a computer science engineering CV to apply for a job that requires expertise in certain skills like Python for data extraction or Jenkins (Java) for automated testing, don’t just add them to your skills section and leave employers guessing. Discuss how you’ve utilised them in real-life situations and the impact on the business.
Let education speak
- If you’re applying for a role where minimum education qualification is a requirement, use a CV builder to place your education section on the left/right side of your computer technician CV towards the top. Also add specialised courses like Data Structures, Software Engineering, and Machine Learning.
Understand the company
- Before applying for your next job, take a good look at the company you’re applying to. Do they follow strict corporate culture practices? Or are they lenient and more informal? Let your computer programming CV reflect the type of company you’re applying to.
Create a career objective
- A career or CV objective is a welcome addition to a computer science major CV. Use it to outline your motivation, ambition, technical skills, and future goals at a new company.
Impress with CV format
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with CV templates and see which design best fits your profile. As long as you check your CV and ensure that all your tech-based experience, skills, and computer science degree(s) are readable with a hint of warm colours, you’re good to go.
Use customised template
- Use a CV template that provides enough space to add your tech-based roles, programming skills, and any software certifications. You can also build a CV from LinkedIn to edit/arrange any sections, change the font size/family, and add various colours.
Indulge in skills
- You don’t need to list every programming language on your computer science no experience CV, but including widely used ones like Python, JavaScript, C/C++, and SQL in your skill set will be beneficial. Additionally, it’s advisable to categorise skills as languages, frameworks, database management tools, etc., to stay organised.
Do homework on Employer
- Tailoring your computer science LaTeX CV is a smart move to win recruiters over. How do you do that? Detail previous applications of Python and TensorFlow, which could be a prerequisite outlined in the job advert.
Utilise past successes
- Send a computer science research CV demonstrating that you know the ropes and could be a real asset if given an opportunity. Include your research projects’ successes to clearly emphasise your value.
Add all important information
- Your computer science design CV header is better equipped with your full name, updated phone number, current location, a LinkedIn profile link, and a professional email address, such as [email protected].
Explain employment gaps
- You may not be hired by a tech company every month and that’s fine. Whether they were planned or unplanned, be completely honest about any gaps in your computer science tutor CV. For such breaks, include what you achieved: Programming skill, personal software development project, or a new computer course certificate.
View more computer science tutor CVs >
Discuss your competencies
- If your next potential job is a fusion between computer science and another field, then be smart with your CV’s skill set. For example, a computer science teaching assistant CV requires the skills of a programmer and teacher, so maintain a fine balance between your abilities to act as both.
View more computer science teaching assistant CVs >
Use ready-made template
- Emphasise your range of soft skills in your master’s in computer science CV. That will present you as the complete package, a well-rounded candidate ready to contribute more than just intelligence to the team.
Stick to the job description
- Instead of being among the list of generic candidates, make sure that you thoroughly go through the job description and check your CV to find areas for improvement. Does the job require experience in Java-based applications? Include all previous positions where you’ve used Java to create applications.
Making ATS-friendly
- To make your computer science & engineering CV ATS-friendly, include keywords such as proficiency in Rust or Certified Entry-level Python Programmer certificate. Also, steer clear of including add-ons like pie charts, graphs, or acronyms.
Utilise action words
- When it comes to an entry-level AGS desktop publisher CV, using words like Deployed, Built, Leveraged, Developed, Led, and Released demonstrate your proactivity in taking charge of daily job responsibilities.
Define your skills
- Utilise university projects if you’ve only just entered the IT industry. If you’ve led a team project, discuss your leadership. If not, detail your contributions as a member that align with the job responsibilities.
Emphasise your achievements
- For an employer who’s already dealing with a busy day, sending a generic senior computer vision scientist CV is not even an option. Focus on achievements more than your daily duties. These can include demonstrating financial impacts using technology or automating tasks to save time.
Related CV guides
How to Write a Computer Science CV
To make your computer science CV stand out, demonstrate your value swiftly by highlighting your technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and real-world results. Whether you are seeking a software engineering position or a machine learning internship, your CV should clearly display what employers and recruiters are looking for straight away.
It’s helpful to look at CV examples that use proven best practices. Before you submit, check your CV for ways to improve and make it stronger.
This section will cover:
- The best way to structure your computer science CV
- Which technical skills to list and where to include them
- How to write a strong summary that suits computer science roles
- How to create a work experience section using your projects, internships, and coding experience
- Tips for getting your CV through Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
- How to write a CV if you are a new graduate or do not have direct computer science work experience
What makes a good computer science CV in 2026?
A computer science CV that recruiters desire and impresses ATS should prioritise your achievements, be AI-friendly, and be tailored to the specific role you are applying for. Use it to demonstrate your ability to solve problems, write and execute clean code, interact with real data and make it count, deliver projects, and utilise tools to drive business impact.
In short, let your CS CV:
- Lead with influence, not duties
- Use keywords from the job description to pass the ATS
- Highlight your role and influence in projects that had a tangible impact in the real world.
- Showcase your technical and cross-functional skills
- Use a clean, modern format that’s compatible with all devices, easy for people to read, and ATS-friendly.
How to format your computer science CV
The layout of your CV is the first thing AI bots screen for before passing it to a real recruiter, who will scan it for no more than 8 seconds. The format you use must be clean, scannable, and optimised for the core sections that present the most important information.
You need a design that separates each section into headings, showcases your work experience in bullet points, and incorporates AI-friendly fonts, as well as other crucial components. This is exactly what the reverse chronological order does, in addition to presenting your most recent and relevant experience first.
What should a computer science CV look like?
For a complete computer science CV, ensure you have the following sections:
- Header, complete with your name, contact details, LinkedIn, GitHub, portfolio
- Professional summary (optional)
- Skills section comprising tools, languages, frameworks
- Work Experience integrating outcomes and technologies used
- Projects: Especially if you’re in the early stages of your career
- Education: Degree, strong grades, relevant coursework
- Industry and role-specific qualifications
Begin with a compelling professional summary
Early in your computer science career, you must keep your CV to one page. As such, space on your CV is valuable. You should only include a CV objective if it adds value and increases your chances of getting an interview.
So, what is a CV objective for a computer science student? It’s a statement that succinctly outlines your skills, what you’re seeking in the job you’re applying for, and how you’ll add value in that role.
That sounds like a lot, but it’s not that bad in practice. You should keep it to two to three sentences and tailor it to each role for which you apply. Here are a couple of examples from the CVs above:
- I’m looking for a work placement where I can utilise my experience with natural language processing and building web apps for non-technical users to further the mission of Coursera in democratising education across the world.
- Hardworking recent computer science graduate with a passion for innovation. Seeking a position at Sikka Software, where the strategic focus on delighting users aligns with my creativity and desire to enhance social events through technology.
Alternatively, if you’ve gained some valuable experience, you may want to consider a CV summary statement. Only include one if you can successfully and specifically highlight your greatest career achievements.
Computer science CV summary
Experienced software and cloud systems developer with over 10 years of experience. Managed a platform overhaul, which increased performance by 63% and reduced downtime by 41%. Proficient in Python, Java, and AWS. Committed to creating scalable, efficient solutions that drive innovation.
How to build an impact-oriented work experience section
Employers aren’t interested in hearing about your responsibilities and list of skills that you believe are important. Instead, they want a problem solver who can ensure that systems operate efficiently at all times. It’s all about the value you add to the business.
Here’s to ensuring that your employment history isn’t just a placeholder but an asset:
- Begin each bullet point with an active verb
- Incorporate skills into your bullet points
- Use metrics to quantify your contribution
- Be concise and use industry-aligned tone
Important metrics for computer scientists
As much as we’re discussing measuring your contribution, you need to be careful about the figures you use. For CS roles, these are the metrics that matter:
- Enhanced system performance
- Codebase quantity and quality
- Shipped features and users
- Bug reduction rates
- Time and resources saved through automation
How to quantify your impact
As a computer science professional, you have a wide range of career choices, so include your top three roles where you excelled above everyone else.
From software development to a systems architect, as long as you work with computers, you can include it. But don’t just stop at mentioning jobs; quantify the results of your contributions. A few examples include:
- Tested 9 software features before release, reducing recurring user complaints by 22% within one quarter.
- Mentored 3 juniors in agile methodologies, ensuring 98% of features were released on time.
- Managed the company’s IT infrastructure, maintaining 99.4% uptime for critical systems.
How to write a computer science CV with no experience
Fortunately, recruiters pay less attention to job titles but do care about your skills and what you can do with them. It doesn’t matter if you’re fresh from university or if this is your first job; show them what you’ve accomplished and the real-world impact you’ve made.
A good strategy is to move the work experience section further down to the bottom of your CV, while prioritising skills, education, projects, and relevant coursework. Most importantly, emphasise your transferable skills by aligning them with what the job expects you to do.
Here are some sections that deserve significant emphasis in your CV:
- Personal projects such as games, apps, or scrapers created
- Participation in hackathons, coding challenges, or open-source contributions
- Relevant coursework in areas such as Data Structures, Operating Systems, and Algorithms
- Academic projects detailing your team size and technology stack
- A clear skills section with tools and languages you can use confidently
How to add computer science projects to your CV
When you’re looking for a computer science internship or your first full-time role as a developer, projects are essential on your CV.
These can either be projects you completed as part of a course or something you went out and created on your own. Projects are the best way to show a potential employer that you can take what you learned in lessons and apply it to the real world.
Moreover, they’re an excellent way to demonstrate your interest in coding beyond your coursework. In your projects, specify exactly what you created and the languages/libraries you utilised. Here are some examples:
Social media planner
- Developed a responsive web app using Django and Node that enabled users to schedule social media posts across Instagram and Twitter
- Utilised the Twitter API and Instagram API
- Developed features using scikit-learn in Python that identified the optimal time of day for maximising engagement with social media posts, resulting in a 15% increase in overall user engagement rate.
- Released app for free for University of Pittsburgh students, and it quickly grew to over 500 monthly active users
- Used: Javascript, Python, SQL, HTML/CSS
Poker simulation
- Developed a full-stack web application to enable users to simulate and visualise outcomes of poker hands against opponents with different playing styles, using open-source cards.js on the front end.
- Used sci-kit learn in Python to simulate possible outcomes under different scenarios that the users chose
- Used: Javascript, Python, SQL, HTML/CSS
How to highlight your technical expertise to stand out
This is one of the hardest aspects of creating a technical, more specifically, computer science CV. There’s so much you can add, but there’s only so much space. So, be strategic.
Focus on skills that are actually in demand (and no, “vibe-coding” is not a real skill, save it for social media, not your CV):
- Python
- C++
- Git
- React
- AWS
- REST API
- Agile methodologies
- Machine learning
- Algorithm design
- Technical writing
How to use skills on your CV
Beyond placing your skills in a dedicated section, you can use them strategically to demonstrate your value. Don’t just list them and hope that hiring managers will be impressed; incorporate them throughout:
- CV summary (if you use one)
- Job descriptions
- Certifications, training, and courses
How to match your computer science CV to the job description using skills
The tools and frameworks you include in your CV are not merely a list of the things you know. In fact, they should reflect the requirements in the job advert. Take the time to review the job posting, identify key phrases that recur, and incorporate a good number of them into your list of competencies. These keywords could be tools, frameworks, concepts, or languages that you must know to do the job well.
How to list your education
This is an obvious point but can be easily missed. Always include your Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or an equivalent qualification (Information Technology, Data Science, etc). If you’re a freelancer who’s completed a boot camp and has sufficient industry experience, you can manage with certifications such as CompTIA Security+ or Professional Cloud Architect Certification (Google).
First-year students need to focus on this section more than working professionals, so make sure you:
- Include your grade point average (only if it is 3.5 or above, however)
- Include coursework related to the job you’re applying for.
The key is to make this section work for you and not the other way around, even if you’ve got no experience.
What qualifications do you need to secure a computer science job?
Certifications are not essential, but if you have any that are relevant to the job, mention them. It’s also about demonstrating your suitability for the position and stating that you’re the best candidate. If you list certifications, include the title, the issuing body (if applicable), and the date issued or expiry.
Some examples of certifications for computer scientists:
- CompTIA Security+
- Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
Key points
- Format clearly for both ATS and human readers
- Demonstrate what you can do—not just what you know
- Use metrics to quantify your contributions
- Prioritise projects and skills if you lack formal experience
- Use keywords from job descriptions to boost match rates
- For an early career, utilise education and qualifications
Computer Science CV FAQs
A standout computer scientist resume clearly, concisely, and compellingly presents your technical and professional qualifications. It highlights problem-solving skills, programming proficiency, and ability to work on real-world projects.
It should also demonstrate how those skills have been applied through hands-on work experience, such as internships, research, or projects. Lastly, it should be well-organized, easy to read, and tailored to the specific job you’re applying for. Such a document has a high chance of impressing recruiters.
At the top goes the header with your name, personal phone number, professional email address, and, if relevant, your LinkedIn link.
Then follows a professional summary or objective, briefly describing goals and qualifications.
Education is next and includes degrees earned, colleges attended, and graduation dates. A skills section is also important and lists programming languages, tools, and software proficiency.
Finally, you showcase work experience, internships, and academic or personal projects, with descriptions that focus on responsibilities, accomplishments, and tools used.
A computer science resume should be one page for entry-level candidates because of limited professional experience. This ensures the most essential information is presented efficiently.
On the other hand, a two-page resume is acceptable if you have several years of relevant work experience or advanced degrees, as long as the content remains relevant and well-organized. The goal is to showcase qualifications without overwhelming the hiring manager.
The best format for a CS student CV is reverse chronological. This format allows you to list your most recent coursework, internships, or volunteer work at the top. If you’re short on experience, create a section to add any university projects or hackathons you’ve participated in.
Here’s a senior computer scientist resume summary example:
“Senior Computer scientist with a decade of experience in Java, Python, and cloud (AWS, Azure). Led microservices migration reducing deployment time by 64%. Skilled in CI/CD and team leadership. Committed to building scalable, high-impact systems.”
Summarise your computer science projects in 4–5 bullet points, each highlighting a unique aspect and your contribution. Refer to specific tools you’ve listed in your skills section and how you used them to achieve measurable outcomes.
