Tech Resume Writing FAQ

Don't worry too much about resume length: this is not an important point.

Resume length doesn’t matter nearly as much as people think. There’s no hard rule about sticking to one page, and recruiters don’t reject resumes because they’re two or three pages long.

Recruiters scan resumes very quickly, and they’re very good at spotting key information no matter the length, so your job is to make the important details easy to find and not buried in filler.

What they care about is whether the content is worth reading. A short resume full of fluff is just as bad as a long one filled with buzzwords.

Focus on content, and take up as much space as needed 👍

First of all, don't use anything fancy or over-designed: recruiters hate that. Their job is to quickly find important information, so you should make that task as easy as possible.

Recruiters prefer sober, simple, predictable formats, so stick to a classic layout with clear headings, consistent spacing, and a readable font. You should use the classic section names they're used to (Profile Summary, Education, Technical Skills, Work Experience, Projects, etc...) to minimize effort on their behalf.

Yes, that's boring, but that's what works. You will stand out because of the content, not the design!

The only exception is for... design roles. If you're applying to these types of positions, your resume itself should be considered a part of your portfolio so key design principles should be applied.

Resume file format can decide whether your resume gets read or not.

PDFs are better because of:

• ATS compliance: they preserve document structure, make parsing easier. Most ATS are optimized for pdf parsing, so this is the only 100% safe bet.
• Content control: it prevents others from casually changing your info.

But the key is to use a text-based PDF (from Word or Google Docs), not an image-based one like Canva exports, because image files make your text invisible to ATS. A quick test: if you can highlight the text in your PDF, it’s safe.

In most cases, no. Here's why:

• Unconscious Bias: Adding a photo to your resume usually does more harm than good. It can cause bias, since recruiters (consciously or not) make snap judgments about age, gender, or looks, which can hurt your chances. In many countries like the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, it’s even discouraged or rejected outright because of anti-discrimination laws.
• ATS Compliance: Photos also mess with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which are designed to read text, not images.

That said, photos are still expected in some regions for traditional roles (parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America). If you must include one, keep it simple: plain background, professional clothing, neutral expression, and no selfies or filters.

But unless the job post or country norms clearly require it, you’re better off skipping the picture. Instead, use LinkedIn for your headshot and personal branding. Your resume should stay focused on skills and achievements. (More on optimizing the LinkedIn side in the LinkedIn FAQ, and on the cover letter piece in the cover letter FAQ.)

First of all: there is no secret rule about fonts and sizes, so you're technically free to choose...

BUT you should care about legibility (how easily can recruiters read you), because it ultimately impacts your chances during resume screens.

For Font Size, anything between size 9 and 11 should be acceptable, with 10 being the default and the safest option. So I'd recommend going for 10 as a default, and adjusting to 9 or 11 if you need to condense or expand your content across/within the page(s).

When it comes to Font Style, it's much less "black or white". Sans-Serif fonts are a bit easier to read than Serif in general. What matters most for legibility is how much white space there is within each character, so I'd recommend staying away from "condensed" fonts which may feel hard to read.

You can't go wrong with Arial or Helvetica. My personal favorite is Calibri, because characters are smaller (you can write longer sentences), but it's very easily read.

The order in which you organize your resume sections matters. It's important because your resume will be given only a few seconds of attention during the first recruiter screen. So we want to make sure that all the key information is accessible to them as quickly and clearly as possible

This means presenting all that matters most on the first page. It's a bit like the "above the fold" or "hero" part of a website.

Here's the order I suggest to accomplish that:

• Personal information
• Profile Summary
• Technical Skills
• Education
• Work Experience (with the top section of your most recent job on the 1st page)

This is what determines 95% of the screening decision, so you need to nail this.

Here's a quick set of easy rules for the uses of tenses in your resume:

For past experiences, always use the past tense. (ground breaking stuff, I know 😉)

For the most recent experience (if it is still ongoing) there are the 2 accepted options for conjugation:

• (A) Present tense (rather than present continuous) in the first person, and without a pronoun (in the same way as a job description is written), because it describes the mission.
• (B) Past tense (since you describe past achievements).

I prefer option (B) because:

• (1) It helps accentuate accomplishments / completed duties more naturally, which give signals of performance. In comparison, option A would tend to convey more general responsibilities.
• (2) It provides consistency across the entire resume.

The short answer is that it should be both. Here's a simple way to see it:

• Duties are tasks you'll be expected to complete.
• Requirements are the skills, tools, or know-how you'll use to complete them. They will usually fit together rather neatly, if the job description is logical.

However, as you probably noted, some of the requirements include technologies which are not directly linked to a "responsibility". This is where doing the analysis mentioned in this post really pays off: it uncovers duties that are implied but not directly mentioned in the "responsibilities" section. You should address these too, as if they were mentioned.

For example, the JD may list testing frameworks, without explicitly writing that you'll have to contribute to testing -> You should consider testing part of the duties required of the position and address that area in your resume.

Yes, absolutely! Using a Resume Title that reflects the role you're targeting, even if you haven’t held that exact job title before, is perfectly fine.

The Resume Title is a headline that communicates your professional identity and target role. It’s meant to be descriptive and aspirational, rather than a record of past job titles.

This is not a must in 2025, however I recommend adding it anyway.

A few recruiters are still "old school" and like to make phone calls upon screening resumes: you don't want to miss on these opportunities.

You don't need to include your full address on your CV.

However, telling recruiters about your location matters. They need to know where you're based, especially if they expect you to come to the office.

So at the minimum, you should list the city and state/country. For example: "Seattle, WA" is perfectly acceptable.

Though this is not a mandatory mention, I would suggest adding it.

A couple of points first:

• Most competitive companies (FAANG, etc...) hire the best, regardless of where they're based, so they'll make the hiring decision first and then think about visa implications.
• However, for most other organizations, visa considerations can be top of mind because it can seriously impact "time-to-hire" (how quickly one joins). Put simply, they might reject candidates who need visa sponsorship.

So, here's a simple guideline to follow:

• If you do not need sponsorship: always write it.
• If you do need sponsorship, do not write it. This will maximize your chances at screening, but know that this might be a deal breaker later on.

Whether or not you need a portfolio heavily depends on your target position.

• If your role involves any kind of design: you do need a portfolio. It's not a strict requirement or a recruiting rule, but why would you not show your work rather than only writing about it? A visual will always be much more effective than the words on your resume, and this adds an additional data point to the screening process.
• For other roles, where design is only secondary: a portfolio won't make or break your application, but it can give it a small edge. So if you have time on your hands, I'd suggest creating one, but it shouldn't be a priority.

About 50% of GitHub profiles from technical resumes only include private repositories. So first of all: don't worry if yours is empty or doesn't include public repos.

If that's your case, you can remove your Github: we don't want to waste the reviewer's time with linking to an empty space ;-)

If however you have public repos, or if you have time to build projects to show the public, I'd recommend doing so. This adds an extra layer to your application, and Hiring Managers are particularly fond of reviewing your code. That's the best way they have to assess your actual technical skills before an interview.

The short answer is that you definitely do, even if you're a junior. The Profile Summary is super important for your resume to convert better. Here's how it works:

When they review a resume for the first time, recruiters only have a few seconds, because they are filtering through hundreds of CVs. They can only spend a limited amount of time on your resume (usually a few seconds), and they'll be looking for the quickest way to understand your profile

The profile summary is essentially a review of your own resume, so you're doing their job for them. In most cases, they'll make the first "yes" or "no" decision based on that section alone, without reading much of the rest.

This comes with a great perk. Because this is an interpretation of your profile (it's subjective), you're free to present (= sell the heck out of) your skills and experience the way you see fit.

The takeaway here is that the Profile Summary isn't there to provide a balanced and shorter version of your experience. Instead, it should be a very convincing elevator pitch. It's your offer: sell it hard!

Most candidates do not write a good Profile Summary, so this will give you a huge advantage over your competition 😉

The Profile Summary should be written with bullet points.

Here's why: the sole purpose of that section is to help the Recruiter review your profile and convince them to make a decision before reading the rest.

Therefore it has to be extremely easy for them to read and summarize points in their head. For that reason, the bullet point form is optimal.

Here's why you should always add your degrees, even if they are not directly related to the field you are seeking employment in:

• (1) Avoiding misrepresentation: Competitive companies give a lot of importance to the accuracy of the data you provide. Should a degree be missing or incorrect, they may judge your profile as "misrepresented". That would not only get you rejected, but you may also be flagged for future applications.
• (2) Unrelated degrees are still valuable: Contrary to what you may think, many Recruiters & Hiring Managers see that experience as an added value. Though it may not directly impact technical/core skills, these notions could provide you with a different/fresh outlook on what they do.

As far as job titles on a resume are concerned, they should be descriptive. This means that they don't have to be exactly what is written on your contract or in the HR system.

Recruiters / Hiring Managers care more about what you've been doing, rather than what job title was written in your contract or in the company's HR system.

If you want err on the side of caution and stay 100% safe, here's what I'd recommend:

Write the official title first, and to then add a descriptive title inside parenthesis. For example: Technical Consultant (Full-Stack Software Engineer)

If your work experience is mostly contract, you have 2 alternatives:

Option A If all the roles are under the same Agency (deploying you to several clients).

• Create a job block with the agency name.
• List achievements that are common to all clients -> This helps you target the "role profile" (which helps with recruiter screens).
• List specific clients/projects under a "Key Deliveries" section (within that same job block), aiming for 1 (long) bullet per client.

Option B If contracts are directly performed with the clients, create 1 job block per client.

Recruiters need to see a chronological order, so there's no effective way around it.

What you should do in that case is write "(contract)" or after the job title. Like "HR Administrator (6 month contract). Try to keep these shorter so that you don't end up with a gigantic resume!

Recruiters understand that a few great candidates are in the same situation as you are, so as long as you make the employment status clear to them it should improve your chances. As a general rule: the less you keep them guessing, the better your results will be.

There is no clear rule on adding/removing hobbies.

I usually remove this information from resumes so as not to dilute the impactful content with unrelated notions.

The only exception to this is when hobbies provide additional context on relevant skills.This would be the case, for example, for people who participate in "competitive programming" during their free time.

However, this is not a hard rule, and isn't really detrimental to your chances, so if you want to add a small personal touch you are free to do so.