15+ Entry-level Software Resume Examples and Templates

Whether you call them systems/software/web programmers, engineers, or developers, software engineering is a hugely profitable business. According to Glassdoor, entry-level software engineers make an average annual salary of $102K.

That’s high compensation for the vast number of tasks they have to specialize in, from being proficient in front-end and back-end development to communicating with clients. Here are just a few of the responsibilities to expect from this role - and to be reflected in entry-level software engineering resumes:

• Create software solutions by writing code and testing applications.
• Maintain and debug software to optimise performance and ensure ongoing usability.
• Collaborate with team members like designers and stakeholders.

In this article, we’ll cover the steps to write an entry-level software engineer resume. Continue to read!

How to Write an Entry-Level Software Engineer Resume

Resume Profile

Resume profiles consist of resume headers, resume summaries, and entry level software engineer resume objectives, along with personal information like contact details and location. Where resume headers are short titles that address the basic details of who you are, resume summaries are two to four sentences that elaborate on this. 

They’re both the first part of your entry level software engineering resume that will be seen, which makes them essential at getting right. 

While resume headers are easy to write, resume summaries are a little bit more challenging. That’s why it’s best to leave them until after the rest of your entry level software engineering resume is complete; they are a summary of everything you write, after all. Even so, fresh graduates may choose to only highlight their academic background and relevant skills for the position. 

Next comes the resume objective or the career objective. Usually a single line that’s tagged onto the end of the resume summary, an entry level software engineering resume objective clearly links your background with the target job while identifying your motivation for applying. It may sound simple, but this is an essential part of the resume, so be sure to check out the following entry level software engineering resume examples.

Work Experience

First impressions are important, but the work experience section is where the real work is done for your entry level software engineering resume. Which can be daunting if you don’t have any actual experience as a software engineer. Thankfully, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that this section still dazzles recruiters, even with the lack of proper work experience.

• Focus on Your Academics: You’re a fresh graduate writing an entry level software engineer resume with no experience, so you need to focus on your academic background in the work experience section. While your course titles can be explicitly mentioned in the education section, it’s vital that you discuss projects, extracurricular activities, and relevant coursework here that demonstrate your programming and software development skills and experiences. This will show recruiters your strong and varied foundational knowledge.
• Take Keywords From the Target Job Description: If you’re a self-taught software engineer that lacks a degree, try to focus on the freelance or contributing roles that you’ve had. You can make these tailored to the job at hand by pulling keywords from the job description and using them in your entry level software engineer resume. Not sure how to do this? We’ve got a nifty guide on how to select keywords from the JD that will ensure you pass the test. You should also strive to include the skills identified in the JD in your resume, as this is what hiring managers will be looking for. 
  
• Use Your Active Voice: Passivity will not work in your favour for applications as hiring managers want to see confident and reliable candidates. Ensure your entry level software engineer resume passes the test by writing in an active voice and using the following 24 action verbs tailored for software engineer resumes. As you can probably tell from the table, software engineer positions focus heavily on technical skills like troubleshooting, debugging, and automating. However, remember that soft skills can be just as important and need to be reflected in your entry level software engineer resume. Examples include creating for creativity, maintaining for management, and learned for self-motivated.

• Add Some Numbers For Extra Convincing: You’re a software engineer so you’re no stranger to facts and figures. So too should your entry level software engineer resume be, otherwise it may not be clear to hiring managers whether you actually have the skills you say you do. Adding figures to quantify your results can therefore provide recruiters with a better idea of your proficiency and achievements. This is assisted by your portfolio, which we’ll discuss in a bit.

Skills

Not sure what kind of entry level software engineer resume skills are desirable? Below is a list of the 50 skills that you’re most likely to need - and to demonstrate - for your application. While there’s no way you can, or should, note down all 50, it’s recommended that you select an equal number of hard (technical) and soft skills. 

Though both lists present key skills, it’s worth considering focusing on your programming skills (i.e. what languages you’re proficient in), problem solving skills, attention to detail, and software development skills. Though you may choose to list them out, it’s important that you cover how you used these skills to achieve results, even if it was just for a project or personal blog.

Education

Software engineering positions are one of the few technical roles that don’t necessarily require a degree. However, entry level applicants without a degree will still need to demonstrate either practical or theoretical knowledge of the field with work experience or courses. The latter can be discussed in a separate section; for now, we’ll show how to express your educational background for entry level software engineering resume with no experience. 

Degrees relating to software engineering positions include Computer Science, Information Technology, and Software Engineering. However, since this role is open to majors from other walks of life like UI and UX Design, the actual list of accepted degrees for positions that require them may be more varied.

Certifications

According to a Coursera reviewer, education outside of traditional academics gets the bulk of credit for achieving the role of software engineer at Meta. Adding a certifications section to your entry level software engineer resume is therefore a great way to show hiring managers that you’ve updated your abilities and studied your stuff, especially if you don't have a degree. 

While there are plenty of great courses online to prove your software engineering skills, here are a few to get the ball rolling:

• Meta Back-End Developer (Coursera)
• Front End Development Libraries (freeCodeCamp)
• DevOps and Software Engineering (edX)

Entry Level Software Engineer Resume Writing Tips

Adopt Cake’s ATS-compliant Resume Formats

Even if you’ve written the most outstanding entry level software engineer resume, your application won’t get anywhere without appeasing the mighty ATS (Applicant Tracking System). These handy-for-hiring-managers yet annoying-for-applicants mass scanning systems inspect resumes for keywords, making it essential that you copy JD keywords into your resume. 

Yet, for all their knowledge, ATS are notorious for being unable to recognize tables, charts, graphs, columns, and images, which is an issue when using resume templates online. Thankfully, you won’t run into any problems when using Cake’s resume templates as they’re both professional and ATS-friendly. Problem solved!

Choose a Functional Resume Format

While you may be keen to start jotting down your work and academic experience in the commonly used reverse chronological resume format, hit pause for a moment and consider the following:

• Do you have actual work experience or are you just noting down academic projects?
• Are you relying on one internship to make up an entire work experience section?

If you weakly mumble “academic projects” to the former and “yes” to the latter, then you should go for a functional (skills-based) resume format for your entry level software engineer resume, not a reverse chronological. This is the better option of the two as it emphasizes your strengths and transferable skills - without drawing attention to the positions you’ve (not) actually held. 

Link to Your Cake Portfolio

You’ve written your entry level software engineer resume and you’ve spied the next subheading for cover letters, so what now? What’s the hold up? Before you can get around to crafting the best cover letter possible with Cake,  it’s worth considering whether you want to link your portfolio to your resume.

Hiring managers like to see proof of claims that you dabble in software engineering, therefore it’s recommended that you create a portfolio on Cake and link it to your Cake resume so that your entire application can be streamlined. Check out the portfolio community on Cake for ideas on what to add. 

Add That Cover Letter

This is an entry level software engineer resume which means that cover letters are essential to show hiring managers that you’re the best fit for the position. Make sure your application stands out from the crowd by crafting a super software engineer cover letter using Cake’s new AI tool that makes acing the entire application process a piece of cake!

3 Entry Level Software Engineer Resume Examples

Entry Level Software Engineer Resume With No Experience

Entry Level Software Engineer Resume With No Degree

Entry Level Software Engineer Resume (Career Change)

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve covered how to write the best entry level software engineering resume for fresh graduates, individuals with no degree, and career changers. 

As we’ve explained, writing a traditional reverse chronological resume can be challenging for beginners, hence why we recommend going for a skills-based functional resume format to better highlight your strengths in programming, collaboration, and attention to detail. 

These skills, as well as any others the JD highlights, should be discussed in more detail in your work experience section, which should focus on academic background. You may also wish to discuss relevant coursework, projects, or extracurricular activities you’ve engaged in, whether for your degree, certification, or pleasure.

Whether you have a degree or a certification or a strong self-motivation for software engineering, ensure hiring managers can feel - and see - this passion by linking your portfolio to the entry level software engineering resume. This can easily be done with Cake’s free resume builder, where you can link your portfolio directly into your resume.

Looking for more ways to improve your software engineering application? Check out the Cake blog for the best resources to ace your application.

— Originally written by Eva O'Mara —