r/SoftwareEngineerJobs • u/rusting_toad • 12h ago
What's wrong with my resume? (Software Engineer)
I almost always tailor my resume to the specific position I'm applying to as I have experience that leaps into a lot of different areas (AI Engineer, Full-Stack Engineer, Data Engineer, ML Engineer). My work with AI is more extensive than this resume makes it out to be, but I hear a lot of places don't want to see AI tools on the resume.
I started programming in 2016, have worked with many data pipelines, legacy systems, full-stack web applications, distributed systems, and AI modeling (a lot of 'old AI' spanning all sorts of neural network architectures, LLM fine-tuning, VLM fine-tuning, and made an LLM with only standard math libraries for a research project).
My current role is ending, and I've been searching for a new position for over 4 months. I've sent out around 700 applications and have only had interviews with 4 different companies (I made it 3/4 rounds on one of them and one of them was an asynchronous test which I passed and made it to the 2nd round). I'm targeting remote and have been applying to some onsite/hybrid positions in Richmond, VA because I'll be relocating there but I don't see many positions that don't require 10+ YOE there.
The job boards I primarily use are: greeenhouse, hiringcafe, ashby, lever, other non-ats job boards, and custom scrapers. Previously used linked in a bit but after looking into when most the jobs were posted I found out that over 3/4 of the apps I sent out there were ghost listings or actually posted months ago.
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u/TgirlTiffanyRPs 12h ago
Fundamentally, there’s nothing wrong. Sure, you can try to massage the language so it gets better hits from an ATS, or you could add a couple metrics “increased output by xyz using new Widget ABC written in LANGUAGE”
But, in a job market that is crumbling under the simultaneous pressures of (1) a terrible world economy and (2) corporate pressure to “use AI” to reduce labor costs [regardless if that’s actually possible/happening] and (3) a glut of qualified candidates, there’s nothing to make you “visible” to the HUMANS making decisions.
This isn’t an insult, this is what the tech job market looks like in this current interaction of world-making. Your skill set is good and on paper you look like a capable software engineer. It’s just really, really hard to get a tech job right now.
It’s fucking miserable.
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u/rusting_toad 12h ago
I appreciate your input. And I completely understand, I've been looking into it for a while now and actively look at the trends. At that one job I made it to the 3rd interview I asked the interviewer roughly how many applicants they had and he said well over 2000.
Someone told me that the overlapping dates between my past few jobs could be a red flag.
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u/band-of-horses 9h ago
As someone who just hired, the resumes that make it through automated screening are garbage, most are clearly AI generated and with mild fact checking are clearly fabricated. Real resumes were less likely to make it through it seemed. I basically only interviewed referrals from people I trusted because I could not rely on the small fraction of resumes that made it through my companies filters.
It sucks, but knowing someone at a company is probably the best way to gt an interview and have a chance. Just submitting a resume is a real long shot anymore, it doesn't really matter how good your resume is.
If I were younger I'd consider a career pivot honestly. Something in healthcare would be good...
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u/Klafka612 8h ago
This. When shit is bad and automation fails at its job you have to leverage Personal connections. Try and leverage connections. Any of the professors or researchers you worked with you can ask about jobs they can refer you to? Any of your classmates a few years older you can ask? Etc...
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
Yeah, I've told many people that healthcare has the best job security and if you want a straightforward career path it's the way to go. I've been in software since I was 11, have my B.S. in computer science and all. So I'm not really willing to make a switch like that. Sometimes when I'm down I consider HVAC/Electrician/Plumbing because I used to enjoy that stuff working with contractors when I was younger.
The problem with my pool of connections is that each viable option either doesn't have any leads or they want me to pursue a PhD (as you can see on my resume I've worked for a few universities which doesn't help here).
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u/ghostmin215 8h ago
The thing is, genuinely, what can an average person do about it? Like I really would like to start my career and get on with my life, but I'm seeing such a difficult economy to work with and really don't get what the average person can do. "Just keep applying" isn't realistic for some people I think
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u/TgirlTiffanyRPs 7h ago
The rational answer is probably a series of slow societal changes including better regulation of AI, long overdue unionization efforts on the part of tech workers, and incremental changes to the global economy as a whole.
A very irrational (but arguable effective) answer is for all of us to get a [redacted] and [redacted] the [redacted] in the street.
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u/PreferenceDowntown37 9h ago
Strange formatting. Bullets show no impact. Inflated title with that "lead software engineer". 1 YOE doesn't need a summary.
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
Could you please elaborate just a little more, ideally on each of the points you made.
I understand what you mean by some bullets don't show impact and the "lead" title is inflated. But what is it about the formatting, do contracts not count as experience (I can understand why internships don't for some roles), and why doesn't it need a summary (this and skills section is something I'm on edge on because I've heard so much from both sides)?
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u/allbutlemons 5h ago
Move technical skills up under summary, as another comment mentioned. This is what readers will scan for first. And add a short list of soft skills.
Recruiters may overlook this resume due to short tenures or lack of experience at companies. And many hiring managers also want someone with people skills. If your experience section doesn't show that you'll mesh well on a team, you can add pad your summary or soft skills to illustrate how you might work on a team.
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
A few people have said to add soft skills, but more have told me to keep it out (same with other jobs I've worked that aren't very relevant like being a tutor). I'm already really crunching for space and omitting a lot of work in each of those jobs because I'm really trying to keep everything on one page.
You made a great point about the short tenures. That's something that's been inevitable for me so far, most of what I've worked has been contracts and the current full-time position I've been working has an agreement and since I shipped the entire system the project is put to an end. So I really don't know what the best way to mark this stuff up is since I already assume that it looks bad to a recruiter (just as you said). I think this is one of my bigger blockers. That and since a couple of my jobs overlap.
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u/Background_Cobbler_4 11h ago
As a manager, I see dev dev lead, In 4 years? You're barely out of college?
Tbh I'd either think you're lying into the interview, or your resume needs to be catered.
Were you the lead on a team of 2?
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u/rusting_toad 11h ago
I didn't really consider that being a red flag, that helps!
I led a team of 5 other engineers (mechanical x 2, manufacturing, computer, and electrical). Since my personal experience tracked so well with what the project needed the PI decided to make me lead. I was also the one in charge with securing funding from 5 different sponsors.
How do you think I should cater this, should I just drop "Lead" from the title while keeping it in that first bullet?
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u/Background_Cobbler_4 11h ago
That's not lead work. I don't think you grasp what that actually entails.
I'd take it off.
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u/AlfalfaLive3302 10h ago
I would remove it. Makes you sound more like a project manager or systems engineer from your explanation.
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u/MergeSort555 10h ago
Lead is Staff level at a lot of companies. That is like 10+ YOE usually with tangible business level impact.
You sound like you lead some small unimportant project, it isn't the same. I question the company itself too if you really had a lead designation there. I would assume it's some small mom and pop operation with small impact.
Lead engineers at my company operate in the 10-100m impact bands, and that is comparatively low compared to FAANG companies.
This would be a red flag for me, I wouldn't trust you.
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
I completely understand, that definitely helps! The actual supervisor of the project gave me the lead title but the implications are definitely making my resume look bad if that's how recruiters and hiring managers see it. I personally know two people that got a lead position in less than 6 years but you did say usually and I agree that it's misleading in this case.
In my other position (the most recent one) I'm also considered a 'lead' (it is for a relatively unimportant project but the projected annual savings for the district heating plant are over $100,000 since I started) but not in my official title so I omitted it, but I'll omit it from both.
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u/StitchAndChill 11h ago
FWIW I dont think dropping it is the right thing to do. I'd be honest about it, it only hleps you to be honest.
Some people will say "thats too fast, i dont believe you." And others will say "that took too long you must be a slow learner".
Everyone has an opinion, and their opinion needs to match your past for it to work out ... so just be honest. because there will always be that one guy like "i dont like how you did XYZ" but someone else will say "wow i've been LOOKING for XYZ!!!"
I put a shitty project on my resume because it used the word "AWS Textract" and someone said "This makes no sense, doesnt match anything else on your resume." But then I got a job because someone wanted Textract + my other skills.
And another time, I had gotten a job because i have experience with Quickbooks Online ... but others told me "Dont put quickbooks on your resume -- youre a developer, not an accountant."
Point is, put whatever you want on the resume as long as it's honest. More words = better, when getting past the ATS. And having "Lead" on your resume is a strong word.
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u/chikamakaleyley 7h ago edited 7h ago
I would push technical skills closer to top, right under summary
What year did you graduate? Not saying you have to list just trying to make sense - given you started 2016, and then freelance 2019, hard to tell when you were in school
I think overall the experience seems pretty good but one thing I generally advise is - whatever position you tailor this to, often times the first human eyes that get a chance to review this is usually someone with limited technical understanding
So if I'm a recruiter and a hiring manager says 'hey i'm looking for a candidate that checks these boxes', you kinda have to imagine that they are reading through to understand "does this candidate have X amount of experience in Y"
The thing in your experience I would change, even though the time line is out of order - if you feel the AI internship is a weaker example, push it down, you can even call it a separate section like "other exp"
It's odd to see an internship in the middle of a block of professional exp
mmm but overall i'd say consider the following:
on a quick pass of this resume it seems like you have good exp, however, as a read it feels technically dense, a little repetitive
reducing some granular detail, IMO, could make it a little easier to digest for a recruiter, who is prob inundated with hundreds of resumes that look like this.
They gamble is, you've written something that seems like it has potential, so they actually schedule a phone screen to follow up to confirm. At which point you have the opportunity to go a lil more into that detail
hopefully that goes well, it gets passed to hiring manager, and hopefully the HM gives the thumbs up to schedule you for the loop
think about this:
700 applications using variations of the resume above over 4 months got you 4 interviews. You've got nothing to lose by adjusting your approach
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
Thank you a lot!
I always hear stuff about how you should and shouldn't have a skills section (and the same with the summary). So I've really struggled with that. I started college when I was 14 (dual-enrollment) so it definitely makes it look weird and I've worked while in school.
Some people say the summary should tell the recruiter everything the need to know since they usually just check that, job titles/headers, degree, and sometimes a skills section (all done in under 10 seconds).
I have the AI internship there because most people have said that it has to be in chronological order, and that my AI internship looks good because it's generative AI research for a renowned institution. I also think that the other university experience and contracts make it difficult to have different sections for so I put it all under "Experience".
Your point about it being too technically dense is something I needed to hear. It's probably a recruiter or hiring manager on the other end most of the time.
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u/chikamakaleyley 1h ago
sweet I'm glad I actually made some sense.
I started college when I was 14
So, here's a perfect example about why you gamble. My immediate thought when reading this is, 'oh this person must be hella smart' and if I was a recruiter, maybe I want to find out more.
Your 3.9 GPA sorta says that, but its at the bottom of the page, and it doesn't hint at, i dunno maybe you had accelerated through early school. If the reader manages to get all the way to the end it just says "they did really well in college". So did a lot of other candidates.
my AI internship looks good because it's generative AI research for a renowned institution
So I would say if there's some other official name by which this goes by, use that - e.g. UCF AI Research Program - whatever you can find/come up with. When I read that, "Summer Intern" drags down "renowned institution"
Your point about it being too technically dense is something I needed to hear. It's probably a recruiter or hiring manager on the other end most of the time.
Exactly. Even me, I have 19 YOE - but when I read "RAG retrieval in PostgreSQL using pgvector, optimizing embedded indexing..." i'm like WUTT
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u/chikamakaleyley 7h ago
oh and re: summary
there are mixed opinions about including this, i generally think its your one opportunity to say something a little different. What you have there is just re-stating what you've listed throughout the resume - you don't need to do that
You can prob say something that highlights things like what you consider your strength in the area of soft skills, and what you're looking for or hope to bring to the next role
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u/coldbrew1123 3h ago
It depends on the level you're targeting. You say you have been coding since 2016. With a decade of experience, I assume you're targeting senior+ roles, so you need more leadship bullets. Current items are more focused on execution, which indicates mid-level. Bullets should be impact oriented. Many bullets read like tasks. So what if you you built some service to process telemetry. What was the impact? You were lead engineer? How many people did you lead?
With a decade of experience, your titles doesn't reflect career progression. I see just "Software engineer" and "intern". Does not quickly communicate seniority.
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
That's a good point.
I started programming pretty young, so 2016 wasn't when I started my professional career. I started out by doing freelance work (from people that I reached out to, online forums, Upwork, and other services alike). But I can't really put things I've learned personally on my resume.
I'm trying to target more mid-level roles and even applying for some entry level ones. I think I have the skillset for some senior positions just being in development for so long, but I've heard about how seniors are applying to mid-level positions just to get a job right now (especially for remote).
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u/Mysterious-Hyena8508 2h ago
Do you have any paid work experience besides what I’m assuming school projects at your university? If not instead of listing the school as your employer elaborate more on the projects. If I saw this resume I would probably pass on it
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u/rusting_toad 1h ago
The only thing unpaid is the position that says "(University Research)" in the title.
That's one of my biggest concerns about having universities as my employers for multiple positions, is that recruiters are going to think and assume exactly like that. So I really need to figure that out.
Also, does the County job and freelancing seem like school projects? (only because you asked if I had any paid work outside of school projects)
Thank you for making that a little more obvious too, what you said is probably how a lot of recruiters are seeing my resume. I just gotta figure how to show it better.
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u/emernic2 2h ago
"Dill Rambo" is too cool and would immediately fuck up the power levels of the workplace.
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u/discord-ian 1h ago
You resume leaves me with too many questions. Why did they go from a lead to an intern? Are they a student fresher or an experienced SWE?
Part of getting a job is being a safe pick. It is far better to hire someone mediocre than to hire someone terrible. You want your resume to say safe pick. It shouldn't raise more questions. It should tell a story, where the end point is you are currently doing the job you are applying for and everything leading up to that job is steady growth. Sometimes this means down playing experience or over selling it. Your resume has no arc.
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u/bopbopitaliano 20m ago
Buy a real domain name, not because it actually matters, but it shows you’re taking it seriously as a professional should. If standing out is the goal, that’s some low hanging fruit.
I agree with most of what else has been said. It reads academic because it is, but you gotta tie it to the real world. No mention of AI usage - not even for Claude skills or ai code reviews tells me you’re not tracking with the real world. I’m hiring for a couple of roles and literacy with the modern AI ecosystem is a requirement so I’d screen you out. Literacy imo includes knowing its shortcomings and the bottlenecks it creates upstream in product and downstream in code reviews and QA.
That tells me you can join a functioning dev team in the modern and rapidly changing times.
This might be controversial to some, but it’s the world we live in right now.
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u/SequentialHustle 11h ago
.vercel.app lol
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u/rusting_toad 11h ago
I did that just because it was free, it was previously `github.io`. I see that most people use that for their portfolio which could be a bad signal, so do you think it would be worth changing?
If that makes you laugh then I wouldn't be surprised if hiring managers / recruiters have the same impression when they see the `.vercel.app`
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u/local_eclectic 5h ago
I head an engineering department, have 15 YOE as a full stack engineer, and I use Vercel for my side projects. It's fantastic and free (to a limit of course).
Only an asshole is going to criticize you for using it.
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u/rusting_toad 2h ago
I appreciate it. My only concern is that if a recruiter sees "name.vercel.app" in a ton of resumes then they probably won't care about it. So having an 'official' domain would probably look more professional. I just can't get the ". com" domain I want.
Most recruiters probably get red flags from the smallest things and some aren't the nicest for sure. Have you seen "The Headless Headhunter"? If that's how most recruiters operate then I've been messing so many things up all along.
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u/Temporary-Budget-605 9h ago
Portfolio site link don’t work
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u/rusting_toad 1h ago
Sorry, I didn't use my actual name (or info) because when I looked up other people doing the same thing on this sub people were told to blur out their personal information. I honestly don't have an issue with displaying my actual name or portfolio link or github link.
Also didn't want to get autobanned by a mod.
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u/SnooDingos8194 9h ago edited 9h ago
Internship in 2025. And it seems like most roles are working at university in some capacity. Post college graduation, it doesnt seem like you have hardly a year experience. Also the XX university - i hope that's redacted, but otherwise I never heard of the school.
The github link doesnt work. Have you really done any quality work? Ever?
So.. no experience? And the software industry isnt hardly hiring anyone. Its tough right now. Either try other industries, get a job in Healthcare or go back to school.
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u/rusting_toad 1h ago
lol.
yeah having so many roles at a university concerns me too, I feel like that's some kind of red flag to a recruiter. No obviously XX university isn't a university to my knowledge and my name isn't Dill Rambo. I saw other people's posts with the same kind of thing on this sub and others and everyone was strongly encouraged to blur any information like that.
I started programming in 2016 and freelancing in 2019 because my parents thought I was too young to start a job and wanted me to go to college. Regarding quality work, I have made countless websites and apps during freelancing and contract that are still up and used by businesses, each of the systems that I deployed in the jobs on my resume are still up and running, and at my latest position projected annual savings for the district heating plant are over $100,000 since I started.
Yeah, hiring isn't very active right now. I've also told a lot of people to look at Healthcare because that's where job security is now, not in government work clearly.
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u/dead-first 10h ago
Resume is fine, but nobody is hiring