What should a junior developer's resume focus on?
Let's be honest for the moment, As a junior developer, you are probably eager to land a job or internship. and the chances are you are either fresher or going to have a transitioning in your career and brave enough to call yourself a "Developer" after months or years of learnings. First of all, we want to congratulate you cause you have shown that courage to confidently following your passion in mid of your career, if transitioning your career, it's a big deal.
But now comes this resume thing, cause resume is something speaks about you before you represent yourself. so basically it's your first impression and you have to make it shiny, right? but here you are, staring at a blank sheet with a thinking, "what on earth am i gonna write here? I don't have a real job experience yet."
Joblaga.com is a platform which provides the job seekers the verified, genuine and fresh job opportunity without draining their head, and we have seen hundreds of junior developers' resumes. some are excellent but some are a bit confused, so we thought we would sit down and just to you like a real life career guide, (cause joblaga.com always wants the best for you) not like those platforms who just list vacancies and move on.
Thus, Let's unpack what really matters.
1: It's Not About What You have Done, It's About What You Can Do
You know what, no body expects from a junior developer to have a list of shipped projects or bunch of internships. What the recruiters really look in the, a glimpse of how you think, how you solve problems and whether or not you can grow into the role.
2: Project Matters More Than Job Tittles
If you have worked in an boot house and managed spreadsheets for a family business, that's totally fine. You have worked honestly and that's the thing you should be proud of.
But in a developer resume, projects are your portfolio. Showing any of your work project, anything that shows your progression, even it's a failed project where you have learned something crucial, a project which is messy but yours, or something you have built for your friend or any relative, include them, highlight it and like a short story, explain how and why you built it, and what you have learned while building it, and the skills you used, tell these with honesty.
3: Stack Flexibility
You might love react, that's great but don't oversell it. Companies know stack changes, so instead of over highlighting the "react developer" part, focus on your adaptability.
Let them know that you are "an eager to learn", and you wanna learn even a-lot stuffs, to grow as a team and on the individual basis too, you are so curious, flexible and brave to try new things, cause that's hold the beauty of adaptability.
4: Soft Skills Are not Side Characters
Team player, good communicator, hard working and this and that and so on......Yup, we have seen it a-lot but what if i say instead of directly telling this, you are telling a story, for example:
"Pair programmed with a guide weekly for debug JavaScript logic, and there i have learned how to ask better questions and explained my thought process out loud, in-front of public."
Now, see you have shown your communication skills without mentioning directly.
5: You Resume Is Not Your Biography, It's a Pitch
Cut the exaggeration, you need to ready a pitch like a sales person do before explaining there product deeply. Just provide a quick humble summary, like what are you looking for to achieve, any small, relevant work or project which you have completed.
Conclusion
Just show them, you are on your way to achieve what you are dreaming for, like you are already building, already thinking, asking questions and chasing answers, not just looking for a 9 to 5 engineer's job. That's far more exciting than showing your perfect grammar. and sound on your resume, what you really are, a real human, that's the whole point!