Should a software engineer resume be one page or two pages?

For engineers with under 7–8 years of experience, a focused one-page resume is usually easiest to scan. Senior, staff, or principal engineers with extensive architecture and leadership history can comfortably use two pages.

Where should I put my GitHub and portfolio links?

Place your GitHub and portfolio URLs directly in the contact header as plain text so both human reviewers and ATS parsers can read them immediately.

Technology·Mid-Level·Reviewed 2026-10-20 by BioData PH Editorial Team

Software Engineer Resume Example & Writing Guide

Learn how to write a clear, ATS-friendly software engineer resume that highlights architecture decisions, measurable latency or reliability gains, and core technical stack without skill-bar clutter.

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Alex Chen

Full-Stack Software Engineer

alex.chen@example.com+1 415 555 0142Seattle, WAlinkedin.com/in/alexchen-examplealexchen.dev

Summary

Full-stack software engineer with five years of experience designing, testing, and operating web applications in TypeScript, React, Node.js, and PostgreSQL. Proven track record of improving API latency, modernizing frontend architectures, and collaborating closely with product and design teams.

Experience

Senior Software Engineer · Cascade Cloud Systems

Feb 2023 – Present

Seattle, WA

Architected multi-tenant usage metering pipeline in Node.js and PostgreSQL handling 4.2M daily events with idempotent retry logic.
Cut dashboard initial JavaScript payload by 42% by refactoring client tables to React Server Components and streaming data views.
Mentored four junior engineers through weekly architecture reviews, pairing sessions, and on-call incident retrospectives.

Software Engineer · Harborline Commerce

Jun 2020 – Jan 2023

Portland, OR

Built checkout and order-tracking flows in React and TypeScript serving 85,000 monthly active shoppers.
Reduced p95 checkout API latency from 580ms to 210ms by indexing high-cardinality order lookup columns and caching shipping rates.
Implemented automated integration tests with Vitest and Playwright, raising deployment confidence for daily releases.

Skills

TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, PostgreSQL, REST & GraphQL APIs, Docker, AWS (ECS, RDS, S3), Playwright, Git & CI/CD

Projects

SchemaDiff CLI · github.com/alexchen-example/schemadiff

Open-source command-line utility that compares PostgreSQL schema snapshots and flags backward-incompatible migration changes in CI.

Education

B.S. in Computer Science · University of Washington

Sep 2016 – May 2020

Seattle, WA

Coursework in Distributed Systems, Database Internals, and Human-Computer Interaction.

Certifications

AWS Certified Developer – Associate, Amazon Web Services (Aug 2023)

Languages

English (Native)

Key Takeaways

Group languages, frameworks, databases, and cloud tools into clean comma-separated text rather than visual skill bars.
Pair every technical responsibility with a concrete outcome: latency reduction, test coverage, deployment frequency, or customer adoption.
Include links to your GitHub profile or live production projects in the contact header as plain text.

Relevant ATS Keywords for Software Engineer

Include terms below where they truthfully match your background and the target job posting:

TypeScriptReactNext.jsNode.jsPostgreSQLREST APIsCI/CDAutomated TestingDockerAWSSystem DesignPerformance Optimization

Reusable Bullet Point Examples

Designed and shipped an event-driven billing service in TypeScript and PostgreSQL, processing over 120K monthly invoices with 99.98% uptime.
Reduced p95 API response time from 640ms to 190ms by optimizing composite database indexes and eliminating N+1 queries.
Migrated legacy client bundle to Next.js App Router, cutting First Contentful Paint by 38% across mobile devices.
Introduced automated end-to-end Playwright test suite in CI, reducing post-release regressions by 45% over two quarters.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using percentage skill bars (e.g., 'TypeScript 85%') that mean nothing to recruiters and fail ATS text extraction.
Listing technologies in the Skills section that never appear in any work experience or project bullet.
Omitting business context and only listing library names without explaining what problem the software solved.

How to Write a Strong Software Engineer Resume

Lead with impact and scale, not just ticket completion

Engineering hiring managers scan for scope and ownership. Instead of writing 'Built REST APIs in Node.js', specify what those endpoints powered, the traffic volume or reliability target, and how your work improved the system.

Keep your technical skills section honest and scannable

Applicant tracking systems extract plain text tokens. Listing 10 to 15 tools you can comfortably discuss in a technical interview is far stronger than dumping 40 keywords you touched once.

Use the Projects section to prove initiative

If you are transitioning stacks or applying to product-focused teams, include one or two well-documented open-source or personal projects with a direct URL.

Software Engineer Resume FAQs

Should a software engineer resume be one page or two pages?: For engineers with under 7–8 years of experience, a focused one-page resume is usually easiest to scan. Senior, staff, or principal engineers with extensive architecture and leadership history can comfortably use two pages.
Where should I put my GitHub and portfolio links?: Place your GitHub and portfolio URLs directly in the contact header as plain text so both human reviewers and ATS parsers can read them immediately.

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