34 Software Engineer CV Examples & Guide for 2025

How to Format a Software Engineer CV

You understand the importance of maintaining clean code and ensuring that what the user experiences on the front end is aesthetically pleasing and functional. This line of thought needs to translate to your resume format.

The following will keep your technical CV template solid:

Bullet point formatting

Your goal with your CV for software developer roles isn’t just to include your best talking points; it’s also to make the life of the person reviewing it as easy as possible. Avoid long paragraphs of text so it’s easier to read. This is especially important if you have a non-technical recruiter reviewing your software engineer CV. Break up your potential paragraphs into singular ideas that are more manageable for the reader.

Poor bullet point formatting

Effective bullet point formatting

You can present the same information in a much more digestible way using a couple of bullet points:

How to Write a Software Engineer CV

When you apply for an engineering job, the first thing looking at your CV is typically not a person. Companies use something called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to filter out candidates based on keywords.

If you pass this initial screening, it’s likely a recruiter will review your CV next—and there’s no guarantee this person will have a technical background.

So, how do you write a resume that ticks all the boxes to secure the first interview? That’s what this guide is designed to help you achieve! Let’s go through the following:

How to write work experience in a software engineer CV

Your work experience section is, without a doubt, the most important part of technical CV templates. It’s here that a recruiter will decide whether they want to move you onto the first stage of the interview process. So, this is not the place to be modest. Highlight the good work you’ve done.

If you’re a junior developer, this section will be shorter (in favour of a longer projects section). If you have more than two years of work experience, this should take up the majority of the space on your software developer CV.

How do you discuss your work experience convincingly? The key is to be specific and quantify the impact of your work whenever possible.

Developers rarely work in complete isolation, especially at larger companies. So you must highlight your specific contributions for each project. If you worked as part of a team to transform a multi-page web app into a single-page app, and you were responsible for redesigning the back-end infrastructure for the new app, make sure to mention that.

Poor work experience description

Have a look at this poor bullet point description that overlooks the individual’s contribution to the project.

Effective work experience description

But note how this job seeker highlighted their specific contributions to the project in this good example.

Remember, when discussing your actual work, you want to be specific about your particular contributions. However, when talking about the project’s impact, you can discuss the overall effect that the team achieved.

How to quantify your impact in developer CVs

Businesses employ engineers to drive the company forward, and the best way to demonstrate you can do that is to show you’ve had a measurable impact in your previous roles. Rough estimates of impact are acceptable if you don’t have exact figures; just be reasonable and logical in your assessments.

Here are some other ways you can try to measure your work:

The formula for discussing your work experience is “my specific contribution to a project” + “the overall quantitative impact.” This describes the same work experience, just in different ways.

Have a look at this example, which demonstrates specific work contributions and measurable impact:

Best skills for software engineer CVs

The skills section is a vital part of your software engineer CV. This will determine whether you get through the first phase of the CV review, also known as the dreaded ATS scan.

Your resume’s skills section shouldn’t be a long list of frameworks and programming languages. Don’t try to include anything you wouldn’t be comfortable coding; simply reading about Java is not enough to include it in your skills section.

The worst thing that can happen is that you claim knowledge of a programming language and then can’t answer basic questions about that language in an interview. It’s far better to have expertise in one programming language than to claim knowledge of 10.

Good companies recognise that quality engineers can learn new frameworks as needed. So, it’s a major warning sign if you list every programming language under the sun. Remember, a list of 30 skills and tools doesn’t equate to a good software engineer CV.

There are a few options for organising the skills section on tech CV templates. First, you can organise them by your proficiency level. You can use categories like “Advanced” vs. “Familiar” or “Expert” vs. “Working Knowledge.”

Skills organised by proficiency

Alternatively, you can organise them by the type of skill you’re discussing. This way, you can separate the programming languages you know, the frameworks, the tools, and the databases you’ve used.

Skills organised by type

Finally, you can list the programming languages you know and include the frameworks associated with that language you’ve used. You can also list your years of experience with that language. This is useful for recruiters, but it can take up a lot of space on your CV, so make sure your CV format allows for an extended skills section.

Skills organised by years of experience

Including education & certifications on your software developer CV

Regardless of your seniority, you should always include the school you attended, the year you graduated, and your degree subject.

If you’re applying for anything other than an entry-level role, that’s all you should include in your education section. Why? Because space is valuable on a CV, and your work experience and projects will convey more about your qualifications than your university courses or grades.

Suppose you’re applying for a software engineering internship or looking for your first full-time position. In that case, your education section should be more detailed to accurately convey your qualifications.

You might want to mention relevant modules for the position you’re applying for. For software engineering roles, this means any modules related to software engineering (obviously). Did you take a databases module? Completed a course in algorithm design? You get the idea.

If you want to include your degree classification, make sure it’s at least a 2:1. Otherwise, leave it out.

Education for a Junior Software Engineer

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Education for a senior software engineer

Other software engineering CV sections

Projects, an objective/summary, and/or hobbies and interests may be appropriate to include on your software development CV, depending on your level of experience and the company.

Projects

The size of the projects section on your software engineer CV should be directly related to your level of seniority when applying for a developer job. The more junior your role, the more space you should allocate to your projects.

If you have more than two years of experience, you should only list one project you’re especially proud of. Most of your CV should be composed of what you did in your previous jobs.

Try to discuss your projects in the same way you would talk about your work experience. The aim of your projects is to demonstrate your technical skills in context. Show how you used a language or framework to create something that satisfied your curiosity or solved a problem.

Your projects should add more colour to your skills section. While it’s great to say you’re proficient in Ruby, it’s even better to explain how you built the back end of your movie recommendation engine in Ruby. Anyone can list a skill on their CV, but showing how you used that skill demonstrates mastery.

If you worked on substantial coding projects during your studies, you should include them here. Whenever possible, always include the projects you’ve listed on your CV in your GitHub profile or on your personal website.

Here’s how you should present your projects on your software developer CV template:

Again, you’re trying to demonstrate two things to a hiring manager with your projects. First, you want to provide context to the skills you list on your CV. Next, you want to show that you can identify a problem and then implement a solution to resolve that problem.

Career objectives or CV summaries

Unless it’s done exceptionally well, we strongly recommend that you don’t include a resume summary or objective in your software engineer CV. Why? Because they rarely convey meaningful information. While there are some differences between a summary and objective, they have a lot of similarities, so we’ll break down the typical objective statement for you here, starting with a poor example:

There isn’t anything new in this objective that can’t be easily found in the CV. Their 3+ years of experience and Django expertise should be demonstrated in their work experience. There’s no tailoring for the specific job, and it’s far too brief.

Remember, recruiters typically glance at your CV for mere seconds. Don’t make them waste precious time on anything that doesn’t demonstrate new information about why you’re a great fit for the role.

It is possible to write a career objective that genuinely offers something new to the reader, but it requires a sharp eye and an understanding of the issues the company is aiming to resolve with the available position. If you’re ready for the challenge and willing to invest the extra time to create a tailored objective, go for it. It might look something like this.

This example specifically addresses the company by name, and the candidate discusses how their particular skills can meet a need for the company.

Anything unique to your situation or circumstance (for example, you’re undergoing a career change) should be discussed when creating a cover letter. You can elaborate on what you’re looking for in your next role without the constraint of space.

Interests & hobbies

Most of the time, this section is unnecessary and takes up valuable space. However, if you’re a graduate software engineer or in an associate/junior position, it might be a good idea to include one to two specific hobbies or interests in your resume.

This is where you need to exercise some judgement, however, and “read” the company. Some companies value personality and emphasise cultural fit, so this would be the time and place to highlight a couple of hobbies or interests that might complement your CV and demonstrate that you’re well-rounded.

Personal hobbies such as game development, hackathons, or contributing technical articles to a blog are a few good ideas that can provide a more complete picture of who you are in the professional world of engineering.

How to tailor your software engineer CV to the job

The best way you can increase your odds of landing interviews is by tailoring your software engineer CV to each job you apply for.

We understand—taking the time to tailor your CV for each application sounds tedious and frustrating, but the good news is that you don’t need to completely rewrite your CV. You just need to make adjustments that align with the software developer job description.

As you browse the company’s job listings, consider the projects you’ve been involved in and the tech stack you’ve utilised in previous roles that align with the job advert. You’re looking for overlap—and that’s what you really want to focus on to create the best software engineer CV.

Now, let’s say the job advert mentions the following:

Clearly, they want an engineer experienced in developing APIs. You’ll want to make sure you discuss the work you’ve done associated with APIs (and its impact) in your work experience and skills section.

For example, one bullet point might look something like this in your experience section:

Designed and implemented a RESTful API for integrating third-party payment gateways, which reduced transaction processing time by 22% and subsequently decreased user drop-off at checkout by 42%.

Be specific about the skills you include in your skills list as well: Django, Postman, and AWS CloudWatch are just a few that might be relevant. Again, consider your past experience alongside what the job advert requires.

Beyond Your Software Engineering CV

While your CV is your single most important document in your job search for the right software developer role, think beyond it. Recruiters and hiring managers expect to see a CV, so considering how you can get your foot in the door through other avenues has the potential to pay off significantly.

Even if you’re not planning to leave your current job for another year, think ahead by using the above to extend beyond the reach of your CV. Now is the time to start working on securing your dream software developer job. Remember, to get your foot in the door, you have to start moving towards that door now!

Key Points

• Format your software engineer CV so that it’s one page, in reverse order, includes your contact information, work experience, skills, and education at a minimum, and uses manageable chunks of text rather than paragraphs.
• In your work experience, avoid simply listing job responsibilities and focus on concrete achievements, such as transforming a multi-page app into a single-page app.
• Show the business impact in your bullet points with metrics, such as revenue generated, time saved, and increased user engagement.
• Be selective with your skills list, choosing 10 or fewer that demonstrate your ability to work within the tech stack outlined in the job description.
• Keep your education and qualifications section concise and relevant to the role you’re applying for, and consider including projects, an objective/summary, or interests/hobbies only if those elements would enhance your application.
• Customise your software engineering CV template to the job by discussing skills and experience that align with the challenges and requirements mentioned in the job description. Check out various resume examples for inspiration.
• Aim to be a well-rounded job seeker by taking steps to connect with software engineering experts and colleagues and by reaching out directly to companies you’d be interested in working for one day.