Software Developer (New Grad) Resume Example
A software developer resume stands out by demonstrating production-grade code ownership measured by user impact instead of academic assignments.
This resume is for new-grad software engineers who have completed multiple internships and shipped code to production, but aren't yet responsible for system architecture or product roadmaps.
- Proficiency in production-grade languages and frameworks
- Evidence of shipping features or tools that impacted real users
- Ability to work effectively within professional engineering environments and CI/CD pipelines
- Education section placed prominently to highlight degree relevance
- Experience section organized by internship chronology and impact
- Technical projects section focused on complex, non-trivial implementations
Karim Saeed
Summary
Experience
- Built a real-time notification service using Go and AWS SQS, handling 15,000+ events per hour for internal developer tools.
- Optimized frontend rendering logic in React, reducing page load time by 18% for the Jira dashboard.
- Engineered a data migration script that moved 45,000 records to a new schema without downtime.
- Spearheaded a documentation overhaul for the internal API, improving onboarding speed for 12 incoming interns.
- Developed a telemetry dashboard using Python and FastAPI to monitor query performance across 5 test clusters.
- Refined indexing strategies for a sample dataset, resulting in a 22% reduction in average query latency.
- Implemented 15 unit and integration tests using Pytest, increasing code coverage from 78% to 92% for the monitoring service.
- Led a technical brown-bag session on MongoDB aggregation pipelines for a team of 8 engineers.
- Created an automated payroll validation tool using Node.js and TypeScript, identifying discrepancies for 1,200+ mock contracts.
- Designed a reusable UI component library in React, adopted by 2 product teams for internal admin tools.
- Streamlined CI/CD pipelines by configuring GitHub Actions, cutting build times by 14 minutes per deployment.
Education
Skills
Python · JavaScript · TypeScript · SQL · Git · REST APIs · React · Node.js · Docker · AWS · PostgreSQL · MongoDB · Go · FastAPI · CI/CD
Projects
Distributed Cache System
Designed and implemented a thread-safe distributed key-value store in Go with LRU eviction and consistent hashing to ensure high availability.
Go, Redis, Docker, Git
Personal Finance Tracker
Built a full-stack application that visualizes spending habits using Plaid API, featuring secure OAuth authentication and interactive charts.
React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, TypeScript
What makes this resume effective
- This resume meets the hiring bar for a new-grad software engineer by demonstrating production experience, technical versatility across the stack, and measurable performance gains.
- Notice how Karim references specific scale like '15,000+ events per hour' at Atlassian, which proves he understands the performance requirements of professional-grade systems.
- The inclusion of a thread-safe distributed cache project in Go demonstrates the technical depth and computer science fundamentals that distinguish top candidates from those who only build basic CRUD apps.
How to write better bullet points
Worked on the Jira dashboard to make it faster.
Optimized frontend rendering logic in React, reducing page load time by 18% for the Jira dashboard.
It replaces a vague task description with a specific technology and a measurable performance outcome.
Helped with data migration for the team.
Engineered a data migration script that moved 45,000 records to a new schema without downtime.
It specifies the volume of data and emphasizes the technical reliability of the execution.
Used Pytest for a monitoring service.
Implemented 15 unit and integration tests using Pytest, increasing code coverage from 78% to 92% for the monitoring service.
It quantifies the improvement in code quality rather than just listing the tool used.
Software Developer (New Grad) resume writing tips
- Highlight internship tasks that reached production or impacted real users.
- Use specific metrics to show the scale of data or traffic you handled.
- Showcase projects that demonstrate depth in a specific language like Go or Python.
Common mistakes
- Over-emphasizing classroom assignments instead of real-world internship contributions.
- Listing a long list of skills without providing evidence of their use in the experience bullets.
- Using passive language like 'assisted with' instead of ownership-oriented verbs like 'engineered' or 'built'.
Frequently asked questions
Is this resume right for someone with only one internship? Yes, if that internship resulted in a shipped feature or measurable codebase improvement that demonstrates your ability to contribute to a team.
Yes, if that internship resulted in a shipped feature or measurable codebase improvement that demonstrates your ability to contribute to a team.
Yes, if that internship resulted in a shipped feature or a measurable improvement to a codebase. If you have less experience, you should expand the projects section to show the same level of technical depth seen in Karim's Go project.
What if I don't have performance metrics like an 18% reduction? Describe the scale of the problem, such as the number of users affected or the volume of data handled, to demonstrate an awareness of impact.
Describe the scale of the problem, such as the number of users affected or the volume of data handled, to demonstrate an awareness of impact.
Hiring managers look for an awareness of impact even if you didn't have a dashboard to measure it exactly. You can describe the scale of the problem, such as the number of users affected or the amount of data processed, to provide necessary context.
How much should I change before applying? Retain the results-oriented bullet structure while updating technical skills to match the specific language and framework requirements of the job.
Retain the results-oriented bullet structure while updating technical skills to match the specific language and framework requirements of the job.
Keep the bullet structure that leads with an action verb and ends with a result. You should update the skills to match the specific tech stack of the job description, ensuring the most relevant languages are listed first.
What if my internships were at small startups instead of companies like Atlassian? Technical complexity carries more weight than company name; focus on describing the specific services and systems you built and maintained.
Technical complexity carries more weight than company name; focus on describing the specific services and systems you built and maintained.
The principles remain the same regardless of company size. In this resume, the focus on 'real-time notification services' and 'telemetry dashboards' carries more weight than the company name because it proves the candidate can handle professional engineering challenges.
What do hiring managers focus on at this level? Managers prioritize technical reliability and the ability to write clean, tested code within a professional engineering environment.
Managers prioritize technical reliability and the ability to write clean, tested code within a professional engineering environment.
At the entry level, the focus is on technical potential and reliability. Managers want to see that you can write clean, tested code and that you have a foundational understanding of how to deploy and monitor software in a team environment.
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