Software Engineer (New Grad) Resume Example
Software engineers reach new-grad level when they show measurable contribution to professional codebases, not just completion of classroom assignments.
This resume is for new-grad software engineers who have completed multiple internships and shipped production-level code, but aren't yet responsible for system architecture or leading engineering teams.
- Evidence of contribution to production-grade codebases
- Technical proficiency across a modern stack including cloud and databases
- Ability to translate technical tasks into measurable business or team outcomes
- Education and skills placed at the top for immediate context
- Professional experience organized chronologically by internship
- Projects section following work history to demonstrate technical breadth
Eric Yang
Summary
Experience
- Built a real-time monitoring dashboard for data annotation pipelines using React and GraphQL, reducing incident response time by 18% for the operations team.
- Engineered a batch-processing service in Python that handled 12,000+ daily labeling tasks across 3 core product lines.
- Implemented 5 reusable React components for the internal labeling interface, streamlining the frontend development workflow for 15+ engineers.
- Spearheaded the migration of legacy REST endpoints to GraphQL, decreasing frontend data over-fetching by 22%.
- Developed a merchant analytics feature within the Square Dashboard, enabling 5,000+ small businesses to track seasonal sales trends.
- Refined SQL query execution plans for high-traffic reporting services, cutting average dashboard load times from 1.2s to 850ms.
- Owned the end-to-end implementation of an automated email notification system using AWS Lambda and SQS.
- Created an internal Python-based CLI tool to automate developer environment setup, saving approximately 4 hours per new hire onboarding.
- Improved test coverage for the core NLP platform by 15% through the implementation of comprehensive integration tests in Pytest.
- Established a centralized logging utility for internal microservices, improving debugging efficiency for the platform team.
Education
Skills
Python · JavaScript · TypeScript · SQL · Git · REST APIs · React · Node.js · Docker · AWS · PostgreSQL · Go · Redis · GraphQL · CI/CD
Projects
Distributed Task Queue
Architected a persistent task scheduling system in Go using Redis for message brokering, supporting concurrent job execution and retry logic.
Go, Redis, Docker, Git
Full-stack Analytics Platform
Developed a financial tracking application with automated expense categorization and interactive data visualizations using D3.js and PostgreSQL.
React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, TypeScript
What makes this resume effective
- This resume meets the hiring bar for new-grad software engineers by demonstrating contribution to production code, proficiency in modern stacks like React and Go, and the ability to quantify technical impact.
- Notice how Eric Yang anchors his Scale AI experience with specific metrics, such as reducing incident response time by 18% through a real-time monitoring dashboard.
- The experience section shows technical progression, moving from a CLI tool at Cohere to owning an end-to-end AWS Lambda implementation at Block.
How to write better bullet points
Helped build a dashboard for the operations team.
Built a real-time monitoring dashboard using React and GraphQL, reducing incident response time by 18% for the operations team.
It specifies the technology, the feature, and the outcome instead of describing a vague task.
Wrote SQL queries for a reporting service.
Refined SQL query execution plans for high-traffic reporting services, cutting average dashboard load times by 350ms.
It demonstrates technical optimization skills and quantifies the performance improvement for the end user.
Automated the developer setup process.
Created a Python-based CLI tool to automate developer environment setup, saving 4 hours per new hire onboarding.
It translates a technical task into a clear business value of time saved for the engineering organization.
Software Engineer (New Grad) resume writing tips
- Link every internship task to a specific performance gain or time-saving metric for the team.
- Highlight experience with professional workflows like CI/CD, unit testing, and code reviews.
- Use project descriptions to show depth in languages or tools not fully utilized in internships.
Common mistakes
- Focusing on 'learning' instead of 'doing'—managers hire for what you can build, not just what you were taught.
- Including too many academic course projects which are often generic; prioritize unique personal projects with active users.
- Listing skills without context, as a long list of keywords is less effective than showing how you used Python or AWS.
Frequently asked questions
Is this resume right for someone with only one internship? Yes, if you use your project section to demonstrate the same technical depth and ownership found in professional roles.
Yes, if you use your project section to demonstrate the same technical depth and ownership found in professional roles.
Yes, if you expand your project section to show the same technical depth and ownership Eric demonstrates through his multiple roles. Focus on the complexity of your contributions and the tools you mastered during that single experience.
What if my internships were at small startups instead of companies like Block? Yes, because company size matters less than the complexity of the features you shipped and the modern tools you used to solve problems.
Yes, because company size matters less than the complexity of the features you shipped and the modern tools you used to solve problems.
The hiring bar remains the same regardless of company size. Focus on the complexity of the features you shipped and the modern tools you used to solve problems.
What if I don't have exact percentages like the 22% reduction in data over-fetching? Use 'orders of magnitude' or time-based estimates to provide the level of technical specificity recruiters expect.
Use 'orders of magnitude' or time-based estimates to provide the level of technical specificity recruiters expect.
You can use 'orders of magnitude' or time-based estimates to show impact. In this resume, Eric quantifies his work at Scale AI, which is the level of specificity recruiters expect.
How much should I change before applying? Maintain the impact-focused structure but align your skills section with the specific languages mentioned in the job description.
Maintain the impact-focused structure but align your skills section with the specific languages mentioned in the job description.
Keep the structure of the impact-focused bullets but ensure the skills section matches the specific languages mentioned in the job description. Do not touch the chronological order or the clarity of the education section.
What do hiring managers focus on at this level? Managers prioritize evidence that you can immediately contribute to professional codebases using tools like Git, REST APIs, and cloud infrastructure.
Managers prioritize evidence that you can immediately contribute to professional codebases using tools like Git, REST APIs, and cloud infrastructure.
Recruiters look for evidence that you can contribute to a professional codebase immediately. They prioritize candidates who show familiarity with professional tooling like Git, REST APIs, and cloud infrastructure.
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