Frontend Developer Resume

In this article, you will learn how to write a good resume. Here’s my Resume as a Frontend Developer who just got into tech 7 months ago.

7 months in tech? What exactly will I have in my resume? As a newbie in tech, we often make a lot of mistakes when it comes to writing our resumes. You wonder why you never get a mail-back from potential employers after sending in your resume. A lot of people get rejection emails, but we only get automated thank you messages after sending our resumes and applications. Funny right? Well not really. That’s because our resumes never got past resume screening.

I can tell you now that looking back and going over the resumes that I had written in the past if I was an employer of labour, I wouldn’t text me back.

I’ll like to use my resume as a case study for those who might not have any idea what to put in their resume. You could also use it as a template in writing yours but make sure to make it original and let it speak for you.

A lot of us write one resume and mass apply to a lot of jobs using the spray and pray method, I have seen different advice stating that you should tailor your resume to the role you are applying for and the Skillsets that the company/organization need. This always had me wondering if I had to write a resume for every role I was applying for. That would be stressful, wouldn’t it?

Well, here’s what I think you should do, have about 5 different resumes for 5 different job postings so that you don’t send one resume out for different job roles. For example sending out the same resume for the role of a Frontend Developer Intern, the same one for the role of Junior developer and the same one for a Frontend Web Developer. Research each of these roles and be sure to add the keywords necessary for each of them as most companies now use keyword scanners.

Features of a good resume

• No more than two pages. It should only be two pages because you have a lot of good projects and notable work experiences to add.
• Use the standard table style except you’re a designer. Your recruiter doesn't care about the different colours and fonts style you use. It can be very distracting.
• Be consistent with how you format your resume e.g the font, font size, italics, bold etc.
• PDF is always preferable to word doc.
• Avoid the use of percentages (“Javascript” Or “70% Javascript 60% React”) or progress bars in showing how proficient you are at a Language or Framework. Simply write that you use it well.

Different sections you want to have in your resume:

• Heading
• Sub-heading
• Portfolio Links, Social Links and Contact
• Profile
• Skills
• Educational Background
• Career Summary or Experience
• Side or Personal Projects

Now that you know the sections to have, what exactly are you going to write in those sections?

Heading

Your heading should be your Full name written in block letters

Sub-Heading

Your sub-heading should be the role you’re applying for. For example, Frontend Web Developer Inter or Frontend Engineer Intern.

Portfolio Links, Social Links and Contact

This should have your email, contact number, portfolio link and Github links, The rest should be found in your portfolio.

Profile

Your profile should talk about you, the role you want to fill in and how you aim to be of value to them. This will tell if you read the job posting. You could also use your elevator pitch which explains in 30 sec to a min what you can do or bring to the table, why you’re different and a good back story to solidify it.

Ex of an elevator pitch: Hi, I’m Lilian, I am a…., I used to be or work at …. and have done…. I am a fast learner and have no problems learning on the job as I believe learning while doing it is the best form of learning. I am …. and I have ….(skills). Very simple

Skills

Skill sets are typically grouped into “Must have”, “Good to have”, and “Special bonus”. My skills section is divided into Languages, Frameworks, Soft skills and bonuses. The “must-haves” are the relevant technical fields, languages or frameworks you have a degree or years of experience in. The “good to have” are your soft skills such as critical thinking, problem solver etc, while the “special bonus” is other languages, frameworks or technologies that might not be a requirement but will be useful for the position.

Educational Background

This isn’t always necessary in tech, if you have more years of experience than a notable educational background, it is always advisable to leave it out. A lot of techies nowadays do not have a background in any tech-related field but have more skills than those who do.

Career Summary or Experience

This is the main dish in your portfolio. It isn’t easy getting a job as a newbie in tech so what exactly would you have here? There are a lot of free notable boot camps that you could intern with. There are volunteer roles that you could take up and open sources communities that you could contribute to. You could also try building projects for new brands for free (volunteer) or for little commission. These could serve as experiences for you.

Note: Always list your career summary/experience in reverse chronological order, the most recent at the top. Your side projects should be listed with the best at the top. Don’t add anything you’re not proud of there. Recruiters are more interested in what you have worked on recently than what you worked on 2 years ago.

Side or Personal Projects

These are projects you could work on by yourself or with other newbies like yourself. Build something, you would learn in the process too. When I say build, I don’t mean the calculator app you built while watching a youtube tutorial. Build new projects, clone a website with added functionalities, do something different and fun for yourself and for your portfolio.

In conclusion, the aim of this article is to help you as a newbie and beginner increase your chances of getting an interview and possibly a job placement. If you’re not a Frontend Developer, be sure to use this info how best it suits your profession or role.

If you have any questions concerning what has been written in this article or have a better suggestion to a point stated, please leave a comment.