Dear Graduating or Aspiring software programmers, developers, and engineers;

The job market is very strong! I know all of you will find a job in a relatively short time. I’d like to offer you a few words of advice to help improve your resumes, your chances of landing an interview, and hopefully cut the time you spend looking for a job.

Teamwork

Promote your soft skills. I am developer trying to fill openings on my team and I  have to sift through many resumes; soft skills are a differentiating factor. When you write your résumé, don’t forget to mention your projects and experiences working with others.

Describe the team makeup and the role you played within the team especially if you have experience in different roles. Common roles are broad like developer, programmer, or tester. Several roles are forgotten: gathering requirements and feedback, designing a user interface, and setting up source control.

Why should you mention these things? It tells the reader you are team aware and you can make decisions for the good of the team. Anyone can be a stereotypical developer (quiet, heads down, antisocial, loner) but the best software products are made up of teams who are focused on achieving a common goal. They put aside their differences and work together. I want to know you are this type of team member.

Communication

If you write code you have to communicate. You need to be able to communicate your message without rambling on whether its in written or verbal form. I’m sure you’re all thinking, “That’s obvious, tell me something new.” I look at your résumé in exactly the same way. Is your résumé a series of bullet points? Is it a list of the technologies? Add depth to your experiences. Briefly describe the project or product, what it does, what problem it solves, and most importantly what you contributed. Describe techniques you used to solve problems. If possible, describe real problems you solved.

I said it earlier, right now is a great time to find a job in technology. I hope these ideas help you land your next job. Please let me know if you have more tips you’ve found useful.