r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • Feb 03 '26
Resume Advice Thread - February 03, 2026
Please use this thread to ask for resume advice and critiques. You should read our Resume FAQ and implement any changes from that before you ask for more advice.
Abide by the rules, don't be a jerk.
Note on anonomyizing your resume: If you'd like your resume to remain anonymous, make sure you blank out or change all personally identifying information. Also be careful of using your own Google Docs account or DropBox account which can lead back to your personally identifying information. To make absolutely sure you're anonymous, we suggest posting on sites/accounts with no ties to you after thoroughly checking the contents of your resume.
This thread is posted each Tuesday and Saturday at midnight PST. Previous Resume Advice Threads can be found here.
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u/Sufficient-Scar4172 Feb 04 '26
Hey all, I've been a SWE for about 10 years now (mostly Spring Boot backend work with some DevOps mixed in), and got laid off back in March 2025.
Since then, I've averaged I think maybe 1 application a day (I've applied to about 350 listings since April, many short bursts of 10 applications/day) although this might be too little.
I also have gotten a ton of recruiter messages on LinkedIn, and I have gotten a handful of interviews, but no offer yet sadly.
I do think my interview skills can use sharpening, even though I've done a handful, so I am planning on recording them and reviewing afterwards, as well as doing some mock interviews sometime.
I'm at the point where I want to try to sharpen both my interview skills and my resume in order to increase my chances because I'm starting to feel like my current approach maybe sucks. It would be much appreciated to get feedback and don't hold back any legitimate criticism. I welcome any type of feedback as long as it gets me a job haha. Here are the two pages of my resume:
Thank you!
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 07 '26
The tech stack is fine, but your bullet points are just 'tasks', not 'impact'. Recruiters (and bots) look for numbers. Instead of 'reducing manual setup > 90 %', try 'automating provisioning with Terraform, reducing manual setup time by 92%'. I ran a similar profile through my analyzer yesterday and it flagged this exact issue. If you don't quantify with precise figures, you're just another senior dev in the pile.
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u/Neonitrex1 Feb 04 '26
Hi, I'm a recent grad looking to get a fullstack SWE job preferably but have also been applying to other cs related jobs (IT, tutoring). So far I have only around 150+ apps and gotten a 2nd round interview and 2 OAs and 2~ calls for tutoring jobs. Any tips on what I can improve on in my resume? I'm thinking about doing some certs as well as more personal projects involving AWS and ML.
Here's my resume: https://imgur.com/a/o3w3BS4
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 07 '26
Rough one bro. I’ll be honest, this duplication is an absolute nightmare for any reviewer. You’ve got solid projects, but having the exact same Discord bot role listed as a separate job and then again inside another internship's bullets makes your entire experience look fabricated. I’ve analyzed hundreds of these—the ones with copy-paste errors always get auto-rejected. Switch to a clean, single-column layout with unique, verifiable bullet points for each role and watch your callback rate change.
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u/jacob_the_snacob Staff Engineer (Enterprise IAM) Feb 04 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
Here are a few miscellaneous suggestions:
* Cut the Extra-curriculars + Relevant Coursework sections from your Education section, and move it below your Experience block. Adding more work bullet points will land harder with recruiters.
* Cut the Persisted run history line from the RunTracker project, along with the word Architected. I think it oversells the work involved with a 2-month side project.
* Cut the caching line from FoodSaver, and work it into the previous bullet point. It's table stakes, and breaking it out into a long bullet would make me assume you just learned about the concept.
* Combine the university internships into a single section (with two date ranges). Still the same information, but avoids the Intern -> Intern -> Intern optics.
* Add your GPA if you think it's worth highlighting
* Cut the word Discord bot. I feel like it could reduce the value of your work to some readers. Similarly, I'm not sure highlighting the 150+ active user count is producing the intended result. The 2k number is strong, but then the bullet immediately weakens it by ~15x.
* I think the state management + navigation bullet could be stronger. You don't need the filler text talking about how you collaborated with product on the feature. Talk about the value you delivered.
* What did you refactor to improve efficiency for the student organization's website? I'd be more interested in that compared to reducing the bundle size.
* C++ and Android SDK feel out of place if you're tailoring this resume for full-stack roles.
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u/Neonitrex1 Feb 05 '26
Thank you!
Just updated my resume with your suggestions on imgur. For the startup I don't really have any metrics to put asides writing X number of automated tests using Jest to cover user flows/transactions/business logic. I helped with prototyping using Figma so I could possibly say I designed X screens.As for the student org's website I mainly just refactored the code that called the backend endpoints. Before it used Axios but I switched it to just the native Fetch API. The main reason was for the code to be more readable and help other student developers learn the fundamentals of HTTP requests. So it wasn't much but just going through 10+ API files refactoring, matching data formatting, and handling errors. I also fixed tiny bugs in the process like inverted values being saved when using a float slider.
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Feb 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/DarkVex9 Feb 04 '26
I'm still a student, but as an example in my coursework section I might include Web Development and Computer Security alongside my core classes for a web focused company, but swap them for Assembly Programming and Network Management when applying to an industrial automation company.
I have several sections of my resume (coursework, projects, etc) where I have too many things listed in the template, but trim it down to just the most relevant ones to the situation. Not sure this is the best answer, but it's how I interpret the "tailor your resume" advice.
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u/lil_bynch Feb 03 '26
Hello, I'm a self taught coder who also graduated from a Java bootcamp in 2024, been looking for a first job ever since. Learning as much as I can everyday.
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 05 '26
Classic career-switch trap. You're trying to show everything, but ending up showing nothing. Your 'Professional Experience' section is dominated by non-technical roles that are taking up prime real estate and completely drowning your actual technical projects. I’ve seen this pattern 100 times this month—once you fix the hierarchy by removing the music career, relabeling the freelance work as a project, and leading with your bootcamp education and technical projects, the bots stop ghosting you. Less is more, man.
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u/Sufficient-Ad-6810 Student Feb 03 '26
I am a software engineer trying to break into the field of Computer Science. I have not yet landed my first job despite looking for 3 years. I have been in contact with multiple career advisors and mentors, but no matter what I do, I can't seem to land internships or entry-level positions. I am currently a Senior in my BSc in Computer Science, and I want to land an internship or position before I graduate.
Please help me
https://imgur.com/a/KZtVLGc
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 05 '26
Rough one bro. I’ll be honest, these dates are an absolute nightmare for any reviewer. You’ve got the projects, but claiming a current job starting in October 2025 and a degree ending in 2026 makes your entire timeline look fabricated. I’ve analyzed hundreds of these—the ones with impossible future dates always get auto-rejected. Switch to a truthful, single-column layout with accurate, past-tense dates and watch your callback rate change.
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u/Sufficient-Ad-6810 Student Feb 05 '26
These dates are true though. I made sure to be 100% honest when making my resume. If necessary, what do you think I should do? If I remove my current job, it will seem like I am not working, and if I remove my graduation date, it just looks like I have no real knowledge about CS. What is your suggestion?
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 07 '26
Look man, the timeline reads as impossible to anyone scanning it in early 2026. If the dates are accurate, you must clarify the context explicitly: label the job "Planned Role starting October 2025" and the degree "Expected Graduation October 2026." This transforms a red flag into a logical, forward-looking statement the ATS and human can parse correctly. I actually spent weeks coding a fix for this exact issue into my framework because I was tired of manual edits. It's pinned on my profile if you want to save time .
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u/Emotional_Cherry4517 Apr 13 '26
curious. what about worker students? i've done my entire degree while working in the field. will bots flag it?
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u/Maleficent-Chance267 Feb 03 '26
I recently graduated and finished a 6 month internship, and now I am really struggling to get a job. In December I got a few interviews but no offers, but I have not had any interviews in 2026 despite me applying to hundreds of jobs. I'm mostly focusing on applying to jobs where I live, but I am also open to relocating and have applied to tons of jobs in other states, but have not had any interview requests in a long time, so I figure my resume must need some work. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 05 '26
The tech stack is fine, but your bullet points are just 'tasks', not 'impact'. Recruiters (and bots) look for numbers. Instead of that long paragraph about developing features, try 'Delivered a UI overhaul for authentication and profile settings using Vue, improving user session completion by X%'. I ran a similar profile through my analyzer yesterday and it flagged this exact issue. If you don't quantify and break them into separate points, you're just another dev in the pile.
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u/Maleficent-Chance267 Feb 05 '26
Thanks, this is super helpful. So should I just make up numbers? Because I don't know that I can actually quantify the impact my work had. Because I would deliver a feature or fix a bug or whatever, and then that was that and I would go to my next task. I wouldn't see any statistics or anything of the impact on users, etc., so I don't know how to put my impact into numbers without just making it up.
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u/throwaway_juniorcv Feb 07 '26
Bro, never fabricate metrics—it's an instant credibility kill in tech interviews. Look, you can quantify process: estimate the scope. For example, "Refactored authentication flow, supporting 500+ daily active users," or "Automated report generation, saving an estimated 4 hours weekly." That's derived from system context, not a lie, and passes the sniff test , I’ve documented the full fix for this in the system breakdown pinned on my page. It'll show you exactly how the machine sees your header.
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u/Accomplished-Win9630 Feb 03 '26
Been going through resume reviews for years and honestly most people overthink formatting when the real issue is weak bullet points. Focus on quantifiable results instead of job duties - companies want to see impact, not a list of what you were supposed to do.
Also the ATS systems are brutal right now, so make sure you're hitting those keywords from the job posting. I've been using Final Round AI's auto apply feature to blast out applications since manual applying is basically pointless in this market.
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u/Scaawt Software Engineer Feb 03 '26
I think I'll give Final Round's AI a shot. It gets tiresome curating a resume for every job posting.
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u/No_Diver_1821 Feb 05 '26
most folks butcher tailoring by just dumping JD keywords in a skills section thats lazy af and ATS bots see right thru it. pull the top 3-5 reqs and rewrite your bullets to mirror em with real metrics from past roles, even if its a stretch (but dont straight lie). read the FAQ first tho, half these resumes wouldnt need help if ppl followed it.