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    Software Engineer CV: Skills, ATS Keywords & Examples

    Engineering CVs are read by an ATS before any human sees them, then skimmed for 6–8 seconds by a hiring manager. This guide shows exactly what to put on a software engineer CV so it survives both.

    Hard skills to highlight

    • A primary language (e.g. TypeScript, Python, Java, Go)
    • Frameworks you've shipped with (React, Node, Spring, Django)
    • Databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB) and query design
    • Version control (Git) and CI/CD pipelines
    • Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containers (Docker, Kubernetes)
    • Testing (unit, integration) and code review practice

    Soft skills that matter

    • Cross-functional collaboration
    • Technical communication / writing design docs
    • Ownership of features end-to-end
    • Mentoring and code review

    ATS keywords to include

    • REST APIs
    • microservices
    • agile / scrum
    • system design
    • CI/CD
    • unit testing
    • code review

    Sample Software Engineer summary

    “Software engineer with 5 years building scalable web services in TypeScript and Go. Shipped a payments microservice handling 2M+ daily transactions and cut p95 latency 40%. Comfortable owning features from design doc to production.”

    How to structure a Software Engineer CV

    • Lead each bullet with impact and a metric (latency, uptime, users, revenue) — not just the task.
    • Put a compact 'Technical Skills' block near the top so the ATS finds your stack fast.
    • Link a GitHub / portfolio and one or two flagship projects with the tech used.
    • Mirror the exact stack named in the job description if you genuinely have it.

    Common Software Engineer CV mistakes

    • Listing every language ever touched — recruiters can't tell what you're actually strong in.
    • Describing duties ('responsible for backend') instead of outcomes ('reduced query time 60%').
    • Burying the tech stack in prose so the ATS misses keyword matches.
    • No links to code or shipped products.

    See how your Software Engineer CV scores

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