1. Software Developer CV Example, Template & Writing Guide

Software Developer CV Example, Template & Writing Guide

LiveCareer Editorial Team
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‘Oh, so you make iPhone apps?’ on the one hand and ‘Are you full stack?’ on the other. One is an ice cube on the tip of the iceberg and the other generally doesn’t make much sense. It’s fun to imagine that your CV goes straight to a senior software developer or the CTO, but the truth is often a little different.

What you need is a way to make your skills, knowledge, and experience easy to parse for front-line filterers of job applications (whether human or automated). Read further to learn how.

In this guide, you'll be presented with an expert software developer CV example that works well for a software engineer CV, too. You'll also learn how to write a software developer CV that conveys the most significant data. On top of that, we'll equip you with dedicated software developer and software engineer CV examples to best prove your achievements and skills.

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Software developer CV example

David Luna

T: 077 2222 2222

E: david.t.luna@lcmail.co.uk

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidluna

Personal statement

Well-rounded and creative software developer with 4+ years’ experience of participating in all phases of the project lifecycle in various Agile environments. Recently developed a Windows application in C# for tracking and reporting customer support calls, allowing in-house analysts to immediately identify major bottlenecks—then developed a new IVR menu system with DTMF/voice control in C# that reduced the menu bottleneck to 0%. Seeking opportunity to leverage programming, problem-solving and design skills to help bring iLoaster to the cutting edge.

Work experience

Software Developer

Cyber Doily Ltd, Bristol

August 2018—present

  • Implemented Unit Tests to improve software quality by 34% according to alpha-tester feedback.
  • Scoped out and contributed to the design of 17 new systems, working in small, ad hoc project teams.
  • Helped with the management of pen-testing efforts, successfully logging 37 vulnerabilities across 13 applications.
  • Monitored the CSS code quality of a team of 23 on-site and offshore developers throughout a major project, reducing defects and page load times and reducing the size of CSS files by 3,000 lines of code.
  • Developed 11 novel reporting solutions using C#, Active Reports .NET and Telerik Reports .NET, providing a workflow smoothness boost of 1.7x according to in-house metrics. 

Junior Software Developer

Heyoz IT Solutions Ltd, Bristol

November 2016—June 2018

  • Assisted in the collection and documentation of client requirements across 3 major accounts, achieved 93% acceptance rate of technical specifications.
  • Created 14 demos and promotional experiences, 11 of which were instrumental in landing client projects worth a combined total of almost £100,000.
  • Analysed and resolved technical problems associated with automated asset processing, leading to an immediate 23% drop in average processing times.
  • Part of a test team that achieved 98% code coverage using the Google test framework.

Education

BSc (Hons) Computer Science (2:1), 2012–2016

University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham

(Including 1 year placement with Heyoz IT Solutions Ltd)

Skills

  • Programming methodologies: extensive experience with Agile Development, SCRUM, and Extreme Programming as well as the TDD approach.
  • Adherence to best practices: strong understanding of Clean Code practices, Object Orientation, SOLID Principles, Design Patterns, etc.
  • Ability to interpret and document user requirements and translate these into technical specifications and/or code: consistently achieving acceptance rates above 90% on all spec sheets and demos/mock-ups.
  • Full-stack proficiency: front-end interfaces in HTML5, CSS/LESS and JavaScript (RiotJS); relational databases in SQL, MYSQL, ACCESS; back-end in RESTful JSON API's written in C#.
  • Communication skills: ability to convey complex coding concepts in jargon-free language to a non-technical audience, confirmed by consistently positive client and subcontractor feedback.
  • 3D modelling tools and paradigms: experienced with Blender, Maya, and GLTF.

Hobbies

  • Linux development (especially DE and WM development)
  • Constructing and programming carbon-neutral cryptocurrency mines

Awards

  • Received 'PraiseMagnet' award in 2019 for adding value to the workplace
  • Received a PRIMUS award in 2018 from the MFU3 program

Now you know what a CV should look like. The good news is, the above template should work for a software egineer CV, too. You'll often hear people using these two terms interchangeably.

There's a difference between a software developer and a software engineer, though:

  • Software Developers' work focuses mostly on creating application software, so they're experts in coding and programming.
  • Software Engineers work on a larger scale. They handle entire computer systems and application software, including design, testing, implementation, and maintenance.

Now, here’s a step-by-step formula to make either a good software developer CV or a software engineer CV:

1. Launch your software developer CV with a personal statement

The best way to start a CV is to write a personal statement. It's also known as CV summary as it summarises your proudest software development wins, professional experiences and skills. Its aim is to:

  • Introduce you as a software developer
  • Give a taste of what you have to offer
  • Describe your goals and how they match the company’s.

You’ll be writing a new CV personal statement for each job application. To stop you having to reinvent the grep command every time, here’s a paint-by-numbers—take a total of 3–4 sentences, 50–150 words, to answer all of these questions:

  • What kind of software developer are you, and what’s your experience?
  • In what industries/niches/environments are you experienced working?
  • What’s your most impressive/relevant achievement?
  • (Optional) What’s your most unique CV accomplishment?
  • What are you hoping to be able to achieve in this job? (For your employer, not yourself).

Your application might be parsed and sorted by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), so it’s a good idea to mirror keywords from the job advert. Be sure to mention the name of the position you’re applying for as well as the company. All this holds true even if you know a given company doesn’t use an ATS.

The personal statement is obviously the first substantial part of any CV, but it’s best to write it towards the end. It’ll be much easier to do a good job of it once you have your job descriptions and skills prepared. So keep it in the back of your mind and come back to it later.

Software developer CV – personal statement example

Well-rounded and creative software developer with 4+ years’ experience of participating in all phases of the project lifecycle in various Agile environments. Recently developed a Windows application in C# for tracking and reporting customer support calls, allowing in-house analysts to immediately identify major bottlenecks – then developed a new IVR menu system with DTMF/voice control in C# that reduced the menu bottleneck to 0%. Seeking opportunity to leverage programming, problem-solving and design skills to help bring iLoaster to the cutting edge.

Use the exact same formula when writing a personal statement for a software engineer CV. Here's how it may look:

Software engineer CV – personal statement example

Passionate software engineer with 5 years’ experience delivering software solutions in a complex environment and working in Agile frameworks with a high level of collaboration. Recently produced robust code to avoid a 2–20% patch performance penalty affecting 67% of all processors in use on site, retaining processing power and saving electricity. Looking to put extensive software engineering tool set and knowledge base to use in helping GD Binary improve its internal processes and tools while producing bleeding-edge and future-ready software solutions.

This will be the first substantial part of your software engineer CV, but it’s best that you write it last. It’ll be much easier to do a great job once you have your job description achievements prepared (that's why it is also called a CV summary).

A strong CV summary will convince the recruiter you’re the perfect candidate. Save time and choose a ready-made personal statement written by career experts and adjust it to your needs in the LiveCareer CV builder.

Create your CV nowcv builder

2. Add a software developer CV work experience section

It’s often best to go with a UI or layout which people are already familiar with. This is probably why so many Linux DEs look like macOS or Windows. It’s also why you should stick to a chronological format for your CV work experience section, listing your job descriptions from newest to oldest.

Use this template to create a subheading for each job description:

[Job Title]

[Company Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

Regardless of whether you are writing a software developer or software engineer CV, populate each job description with up to six bullet points. Do not list your duties. Instead, focus on measurable outcomes and quantifiable achievements. Quantify every bullet point. Use accomplishment statements. Try structuring them around something like accomplishment statements if you’re stuck.

Writing a graduate software developer CV with little or no experience? Focus on any internships, placement work, and volunteer work you’ve done and use the same kinds of accomplishment statements to show your transferable skills. If you have no experience at all, then consider writing a student CV instead.

Software developer job description example

Software Developer

Cyber Doily Ltd, Bristol

August 2018—present

  • Implemented Unit Tests to improve software quality by 34% according to alpha-tester feedback.
  • Scoped out and contributed to the design of 17 new systems, working in small, ad hoc project teams.
  • Helped with the management of pen-testing efforts, successfully logging 37 vulnerabilities across 13 applications.
  • Monitored the CSS code quality of a team of 23 on-site and offshore developers throughout a major project, reducing defects and page load times and reducing the size of CSS files by 3,000 lines of code.
  • Developed 11 novel reporting solutions using C#, Active Reports .NET and Telerik Reports .NET, providing a workflow smoothness boost of 1.7x according to in-house metrics. 

Junior Software Developer

Heyoz IT Solutions Ltd, Bristol

November 2016—June 2018

  • Assisted in the collection and documentation of client requirements across 3 major accounts, achieved 93% acceptance rate of technical specifications.
  • Created 14 demos and promotional experiences, 11 of which were instrumental in landing client projects worth a combined total of almost £100,000.
  • Analysed and resolved technical problems associated with automated asset processing, leading to an immediate 23% drop in average processing times.
  • Part of a test team that achieved 98% code coverage using the Google test framework.

In case of a software engineer CV, focus on the above guidelines, but think about how you can emhpasize accomplishments specific to your profession:

Software engineer job description example

Software Engineer

Kibicore, Manchester

June 2018—present

  • Reduced the impact of unplanned work such as defects and rework by using basic machine learning to run predictive scripts over Waterfall schedules, adjusting slack time on the fly and reducing time-overrun by 23% in the first two months alone.
  • Worked to maintain and improve the CI/CD pipeline, keeping it at full-throttle without losing stability while dropping CI feedback-loop times down to 3.67 minutes on average.
  • Developed a suite of tools to automate the process of updating server kernels on the fly, saving an estimated 4 hours of downtime per server per month.
  • Developed upwards of 60 novel solutions to the relevant quality, design, coding, performance and security standards in a fast-paced agile environment.
  • Created and implemented high-quality automated tests to verify release readiness, catching 3–5% more bugs and unexpected behaviours and using only 50–60% of the resources.

Software Engineer

Cuftech, Manchester

November 2015—May 2018

  • Introduced automation tools that reduced redundancy, enhancing workflow and saving nearly 40 work hours a week for the backend team.
  • Worked closely with different partners to solve integration issues, found mutually beneficial solutions that reduced processing overhead by 5–25% and strengthened the ecosystem as a whole.
  • Developed new features and functionality for high-transaction, large-scale betting websites as a new side project for the company, projected to net £65,000 p.a. in additional revenue.
  • Wrote database admin tool (BASH) for tuning of Oracle server memory usage, allowing clients to reduce large-data-set processing times by as much as a factor of 1.7.

Order your work experience section chronologically, starting from your most recent job description and working your way back from there. This is what hiring managers and HR people expect to see. It’s also going to be more readily parsed by an ATS.

3. Include an education section in your software developer CV

It’s not easy to get on a software development career path without at least a BSc. And though a CV stands for “Curriculum vitae”, which is Latin for “course of life”, you don't need to describe your whole life story. When it comes to the education section, simply stick to listing university degrees, include the type, name and class of your degree, the years you attended (with an expected graduation date if you’re still studying), and the name of the institution and its location.

Here’s another template to make the process that much faster: 

[Degree Type] [Degree Name] (Degree Class), [Years Studied]

[University Name], [Location]

If you're a junior software dev with no experience in the field, you can list extracurricular activites on your CV, too.

Software developer CV education section example

BSc (Hons) Computer Science (2:1), 2012–2016

University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham

(Including 1 year placement with Heyoz IT Solutions Ltd)

Since a formal education is going to be a requirement for the vast majority of software engineering jobs, too, make sure your education section puts your qualifications in the spotlight. List all of your A-levels by subject, the years during which you studied them, the name of the school and its location. Do the same for GCSEs but simply state how many you completed and mention Maths and English.

4. Showcase your software developer skills in your CV

While your experience will first and foremost answer questions of what you’ve done in the past, your skills point more obviously to what you’re capable of in the future. You’ll want to at least address every skill listed in the job advert. You’ll need to prepare some resources before you do that, though.

In a separate file, make a list of all your software developer skills. Be sure to include soft, hard and IT skills. You probably won’t have an even mix, but you should have some of each kind, especially soft. List anything and everything that comes to mind, not just what the current advert requires (don't forget communication skills).

Now add a sentence to each skill through which you show how you’ve demonstrated that skill in the past. If you can’t do this for a particular skill, then it drops off your list (for now, at least). You now have a master list of skills for this job application and any future ones.

Finally, simply copy 5–10 skills from your master list into your CV. Pay attention to keywords used in the advert and substitute synonyms where necessary to match the advert. Don't feel tempted to lie on your CV. An experienced recruiter will quickly see through it.

Software developer CV skills

  • Programming methodologies: extensive experience with Agile Development, SCRUM, and Extreme Programming as well as the TDD approach.
  • Adherence to best practices: strong understanding of Clean Code practices, Object Orientation, SOLID Principles, Design Patterns, etc.
  • Ability to interpret and document user requirements and translate these into technical specifications and/or code: consistently achieving acceptance rates above 90% on all spec sheets and demos/mock-ups.
  • Full-stack proficiency: front-end interfaces in HTML5, CSS/LESS and JavaScript (RiotJS); relational databases in SQL, MYSQL, ACCESS; back-end in RESTful JSON API's written in C#.
  • Communication skills: ability to convey complex coding concepts in jargon-free language to a non-technical audience, confirmed by consistently positive client and subcontractor feedback.

3D modelling tools and paradigms: experienced with Blender, Maya, and GLTF.

Since there are differences between the software developer and the software engineer competencies, see how to present your technical skill set the best way possible when crafting your software engineer CV:

Software engineer CV skills

  • Passion for solving technical problems: often continue working on problems after hours, coming into work the next day with a sketched-out solution to share with the team.
  • Strong analytical skills: frequently create scripts, programs and other automations to analyse code and data. 
  • Ability to express ideas and communicate effectively: often invited to critical client meetings in order to accurately present and explain technical information in lay terms.
  • Teamwork: work in a closely-nit, cross-functional team of 17 colleagues and often join other teams on an ad hoc basis.
  • Test methodologies: experienced with white box and black box testing, creating test plans, test cases and debugging.
  • UI development: experienced in MVVM, WPF, GTK, Cocoa, Electron, etc.
  • Coding proficiency: adept at coding in C, C++, Python, Java, C#, PHP, JavaScript, HTML5, BASH, et al.

Set your job advert and CV aside for the moment. Make a list of as many of your software engineering skills as you can. It’s normal if you have more technical and IT skills than soft, but make an effort to include soft skills as well—they're in demand.

5. Plug in extra sections to augment your software developer CV

Stand out from all the other software developers and paint a fuller portrait of yourself as a worker by adding extra sections to your CV. This is where you get to choose the playing field, so there’s no excuse not to have all the winning entries.

Include any additional qualifications you have, languages you speak, programming languages that maybe aren’t directly relevant to the position at hand, awards you’ve won, your hobbies and interests—the sky’s the limit, just keep it basically relevant to the job. Don't include references on your CV, though. It's an outdated practice.

Software developer CV extra sections example

Hobbies

  • Linux development (especially DE and WM development)
  • Constructing and programming carbon-neutral cryptocurrency mines

Awards

  • Received 'PraiseMagnet' award in 2019 for adding value to the workplace
  • Received a PRIMUS award in 2018 from the MFU3 program

Additional sections can make for powerful add-ons to your software engineer CV, too. The only trick is to keep them relevant to the job at hand. Get inspired by the above software CV developer example, and create similar for your software engineering CV.

6. Package your CV with a software developer cover letter

Think of your CV as software that’s designed to be launched through a client. That client is your cover letter. It’s old-fashioned and some employers will never read it, this is true. This doesn’t change the fact that a job application is made up of two documents: a cover letter and a CV, in that order.

The one and only exception to this is if you’ve been explicitly told not to include a cover letter, then you’re absolved. Otherwise, you may as well write the best cover letter you can so as not to drag your CV down, if nothing else. Your cover letter should follow the standard cover letter structure, with:

Your cover letter should be short—over half an A4 page but no longer than one A4 page, about 200–350 words in total. You’re basically halfway there to having it written once you’ve finished your personal statement, job descriptions, and soft and technical skills list.

7. Software developer CV UX and other considerations to keep in mind

There’s no lack of great software solutions out there that are hamstrung by abysmal UX. People don’t generally use them unless they’re forced to. No one’s going to be forced to read your CV, so keep the following basic CV formatting rules in mind:

For a perfect CV, proofread and spellcheck your document. Get another set of eyeballs on both documents. Use any of the apps, web apps, or programmes out there that can help you with spelling and grammar. Do you take an app seriously after spotting a spelling mistake in its UI?

One last piece of CV advice: when sending your software developer or software engineer CV as an e-mail attachment, try not to use "Please find atteached my CV" in the body of your message. "I’ve included my CV below." sounds more natural.

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

Create your CV nowcv builder

Did you find what you were looking for? Do let me know in the comments below if there’s anything you need more information about writing a software developer CV. Drop us a line also if you have any advice to share with your fellow readers.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.

About the author

LiveCareer Editorial Team
LiveCareer Editorial Team

Since 2005, the LiveCareer Team has been helping job seekers advance their careers. In our in-depth guides, we share insider tips and the most effective CV and cover letter writing techniques so that you can beat recruiters in the hiring game and land your next job fast. Also, make sure to check out our state-of-the-art CV and cover letter builder—professional, intuitive, and fully in line with modern HR standards. Trusted by 10 million users worldwide.

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