Your Tech Resume Should Look Boring

True or false: As long as you have basic proficiency with everything on a job posting, you will get an interview for that job.

How much time does a recruiter spend reading a resume, on average?

True or false: Your resume should be boring and straightforward, especially with its format.

What's the main reason you should avoid the paid flashy resume formats you find online?

True or false: In order to stand out from other applicants, you can use a very unique format to make your resume more memorable to the recruiter, thus increasing your chances.

Not able to get the job opportunities you want? It's extremely likely that your resume is lacking. With this core professional document, you must make a stellar impression within seconds.

[Masterclass] How To Write A Stellar Tech Resume That Gets You More Job Opportunities

Writing an effective resume is crucial for succeeding within the tech industry, especially for software engineers. It's the primary step you need to clear before getting a chance with an interview opportunity. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation around how to write a good resume: For 80%+ of junior software engineers struggling to break into tech, a poorly written resume is one of the main causes.

All that being said, here are our Top 5 points from the sessions (in no particular order):
1. *Remember that a recruiter is reading your resume and will, on average, only spend ~10 seconds on it*
    - They are almost certainly non-technical. Make things very accessible and easy to understand: Avoid jargon!
    - Be ruthlessly concise. For the vast majority of cases, your resume should only be 1 page.
2. Having a spelling or grammar mistake is the easiest way to get your resume thrown out
    - You have an effectively infinite amount of time to polish your resume. If you can't even catch basic mistakes like these, it shows that you have poor attention to detail or bad prioritization.
3. Show, don't tell
    - Don't just say that you're great, prove it
    - Example: Talking about the Android apps you've built with 100k+ users is much more effective than just saying you're a great Android engineer
4. Traps to avoid:
    - Having a summary section at the top
    - Self-rating yourself across skills
5. In the end, your resume needs to be approved by a human, not just an ATS
    - Making your resume very weird to "optimize" for the ATS is the epitome of winning a battle to lose the war. It's pointless

For an effective example + template you can use, [check out Alex's latest resume here.](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/tech-career-growth.appspot.com/o/articles%2FAlex%20Chiou%20Resume%20-%20FINAL%20FOR%20SHARING.docx?alt=media&token=3a75b8b2-09e8-4b68-b80d-22761055c3b2) You can import it into Microsoft Word online and swap out all of his content with yours.

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - Data Structures And Algorithms](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/V4sTACzfOh22nMVcUV3w/masterclass-how-to-ace-your-big-tech-interview-data-structures-and-algorithms/)
- [[Masterclass] How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview - System Design](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/J3I9fTW9ulr6T9KjxpqY/masterclass-how-to-ace-your-big-tech-interview-system-design/)
- [Presentation Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15eLqE_WmePLA--lYTG0ZJVcHhpEld2qNTck_w0t_E9k/edit?usp=sharing)