Education

If you are a college graduate, it’s not necessary to list your high school experience.

If you have attended a bootcamp but do not possess a college degree, you can include your high school information.

If you have studied abroad, you’re welcome to add this information beneath your main degree program (if space permits).

Any college degree should be listed in reverse chronological order (Ph.D, M.S., B.S.).

College Or High School Graduate

• Name of the institution
• City/state/country
• Month and year the degree was obtained (or expected graduation date)
• Degree information (i.e. B.S. Computer Science)

Bootcamp Program

• Name of the program
• City/state/country/online
• Month and year the program started
• Month and year the program ended (or expected completion date)
• Program information (i.e. Front-end Development Program)

Contact Details

You can add contact details to the footer of your resume, but they must be present in the body of the document as well.

You may also choose to include links to social media or networking sites such as LinkedIn, GitHub, CodePen, and more.

Just ensure they’re done in an appropriate manner and don’t take away from the main content. Steer away from including sites that do not have a lot of information or substance to them.

• Full name
• Current city/state/country
• Phone number
• Email address
• Personal portfolio/blog/social media/GitHub, etc. (where applicable and relevant).

Work Experience

This is one of the most vital sections on a resume. If you’re just graduating high school or college and have no relevant work experience, you can include one to two jobs which indicate your employment history.

It’s best to list work experience which exemplifies the industry you wish to be part of. Internships are a great way to get some work experience and I highly recommend this for people who are new to the industry.

If you don’t have the means or ability to obtain relevant work experience, include projects you have worked on which showcase your skillset. Freelance work is also a great way to get some experience.

• Employer name
• City/state/country
• Month and year employment started
• Month and year employment ended (present or current if you still work here)
• Job title
• 1–2 sentences, or bullet points, stating what you were responsible for. These should be specific examples of contributions you made. Stay away from generic filler text. Use positive language such as achieved, influenced, mentored, and launched.

Skills

The skills section is the second most important section on a resume. Its primary concern is listing all of your technical and non-technical capabilities.

Personally, I believe you should leave off skills similar to“Microsoft Word”, “Keynote”, and “Mac OS”. These skills are quite standard and can make it appear as though you’re trying to fill space on your resume.

Instead, showcase the skills you’re proud of and which differentiate you from the competition.

Do not list skills which you would not be comfortable answering questions about on a technical interview.

I have made this mistake myself, but potential employers are free to ask you questions regarding any skill listed on your resume.

If you created a small pet project using PHP back in 2011, but forgot all the necessary skills, don’t list it.

I like to break my skillsets down into buckets:

• Programming Languages & Frameworks (JavaScript, React, etc.)
• Software (Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, etc.)
• Methodologies & Practices (Agile, Scrum, etc.)

Personal Statement & References

I personally find a personal statement to be outdated. In prior years it was standard to include an objective, but the standards for resumes have relaxed a bit in recent years. You are welcome to add a personal note or objective, but I don’t find it necessary.

I tend to leave references off of my resume. If a potential employer requires references, they will ask you. Thus, I save the space and leave them off.

Additional Information

Awards and certifications are great things to add (if you have the space). If you have a lot of these, narrow them down to the top five which best represent your work or character.

Additionally, adding some of your personality into your resume can go a long way to differentiating you from the crowd. We’re spoiled by the informal nature of the tech industry, so our resumes can leverage a bit more creative license.

By incorporating small colloquialisms and designs into our resume, you show the hiring manager or recruiter who you are.

It’s important to put love and effort into your resume as this can indicate to the employer your attention to detail.