Programmer CV Example & Writing tips, Questions, and Salaries

The qualifications section is your place to introduce yourself to prospective employers, allowing you to present a compelling, succinct value statement. Use no more than three bullet points or sentences to describe your strongest skills, demonstrating with confident, action-oriented language why you would be a great hire for the job.

Focus on high-level skills rather than specific achievements. Scan target job advertisements to identify which talents employers covet most, and reflect those talents in your qualification section. Our programmer CV sample will inspire you with great examples, but if you need more help, try our resume builder to create a customized qualifications section and perfect CV.

Your computer skills provide the core of your qualifications. Frame them as part of your experience and opening summary, rather than just a dry list of technologies. It’s better to say you transformed dynamic website programming through AJAX than it is to just list “AJAX” buried among numerous other technologies.

That’s not to say you can’t list key technical capabilities in your list of skills. Spotlight a few judicious key skills plucked from target job advertisements to round out your presentation and give employers an easy way to scan for what they seek.

As a programmer, it’s important for you to stay on top of your certifications. Even more important is how you use those certifications as selling points in your CV. While your certifications primarily belong in your education section, listed in reverse chronological order, you can also use notable acronyms after your name in your header to spotlight your most desirable qualifications.

Just be smart in how you do it. For example, if you’re a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert, it’s easy to list MCSE after your name to let employers know you’ve got top skills. However, you don’t want to actually write out the full name or it’ll take up too much space. You want to keep your CV short and clean, like our programmer CV sample.

An ATS, or applicant tracking system, can be tricky. It can weed your CV out not based on understanding of your qualifications, but simply due to the wrong words used to describe those qualifications. Applicant tracking systems match key words and phrases in your CV to determine if you’re a match for the job.

To pass the screening algorithms, you should modify your CV with each new job you apply for to make careful use of key terms taken from the target job advertisement. Integrate them into your descriptions of duties in your work history and list them in your skills section.

For optimal presentation, your CV should follow the example of our programmer CV sample and stay at one page. A one-page CV presents just enough information to be thorough without overwhelming and lets employers grasp your qualifications at a single glance. If you find yourself having difficulty trimming your CV, take a look at our programmer CV example for ideas and try cutting down your experience to only the last 10-15 years. Anything else is out of date.