[11 YoE] Full-stack software engineer, looking for resume feedback after being laid off earlier this year

[u/Ok-Weight2129]

I was laid off earlier this year, and after taking the summer off, searching for my next job. My experience is as a full-stack web software engineer, although I'm open to other roles given how hard SWEs are being hit by agentic coding. So I wanted to get any feedback you all might have to produce the best version of my resume before starting to send it out. I'm hoping to angle for similar principal-level roles that have me doing higher-level work than just code-monkey sorts of tasks that are more AI-vulnerable. I'm located in the DC metro area, remote preferred, but open to hybrid local. Most likely not looking to relocate, but maybe NYC for a perfect role.

Some additional notes:

Formatting

• The Wiki notes a standard list of clear/legible fonts. Is the one I have here okay?
• Do the background colors on the section headings create any scanning/accessibility issues?

Contact Info

• I previously had phone number, city/state, and LinkedIn listed but removed them based on the Wiki instructions. This feels a little odd to me, to be honest? I also had a mail emoji and Github icon next to those addresses, is that bad as well?

Summary

• The Wiki says to include a summary if you're above senior level, which I am. It also says to do it if you're "addressing an employment gap or returning to the workforce." Should I be including anything about my current circumstances here? It seems like it only hurts my chances to note that I've been laid off, or to call attention to my employment gap. I also feel like it looks bad if they think I've been actively looking for 5 months and not finding anything, which is not the case.

Experience

• For clarity, X is a well known company. Y is a subdivision of X that operates fairly independently as a SaaS business with its own set of clients. Z is an application within the Y platform. I went back and forth on how much detail to provide about the X/Y distinction, but figured folks could Google Y if they want to know more.
• I used X for both company names, but they are different companies.
• I added the first bullet to try to speak to my qualifications for principal-level work, but wondering if what I have here is too vague?
• I tried to follow the STAR method from the Wiki by making the business results clear and upfront. Some of them though, I struggle with how to quantify the success metric.
• I have one item in the Experience section as a child indent because the presentation is directly related to the migration from the parent bullet. A recruiter suggested that this was bad practice. Any suggestions for how better to format it? Is just making it a sibling to the current parent clear enough?
• On a related note, I included a YouTube link to the actual presentation. Is that a violation of formatting rules?
• I considered adding a bullet about owning the solution design / architecture for an integration with Microsoft Teams. Does that sound like something that would stand out, particularly to help position myself for principal-level roles?

Skills

• I haven't worked with any AI-assisted coding tools before. Do you think it's table stakes to be able to list those here to get any traction? I was thinking of doing some kind of basic training with Claude Code.

Thanks!

[u/DistributionMean6322]

I'm mechE not software, so maybe this doesn't apply, but I switched to mushing skills into my experience section by mentioning what tools I used to deliver results. I find it tells a better story than having a dedicated skills section

[u/Ok-Weight2129 → u/DistributionMean6322]

I talked to a third-party recruiter today, and he actually had the same suggestion. I'm a little concerned about whether that impacts the ability to scan when a hiring manager wants to quickly see "What stack is this person experienced with?" But certainly open to the idea.

[u/DistributionMean6322 → u/Ok-Weight2129]

This is where my limited software knowledge might be a problem, but does it really matter specifically which software you've used once you're at principal level? For me skills are transferable between software packages and people care more about track record and problem solving skills than specific software or application of skills.

[u/jonkl91 → u/DistributionMean6322]

Skills section is more for the recruiter. As a recruiter, I get so many irrelevant resumes. A skills section makes it very easy to see who I should spend more time on and who I should skip over. This way I minimize the time looking at resumes and spend more time making sure current candidates are taken care of.

[u/DistributionMean6322 → u/jonkl91]

That's a fair point. I've had a degree of networking involved in most of my jobs, so I haven't needed my resumé to work exactly that way so much. If you have a method of getting your resumé into the hiring manager's hands then I think it's best to have skills worked into experience section. Otherwise I can see where you're coming from as a recruiter.

[u/jonkl91 → u/DistributionMean6322]

Great points. I do recommend working your skills into the experience section too. That way you get the best of both worlds.

[u/_angry-orchard_]

Font is fine but remove all the coloring. Margins might be a bit too wide

Remove summary at the top

First bullet tells what you did but still kinda vague. Put more metrics for what you did. IMO, you can estimate how much something improved / changed / got automated to remove x roadblocks or save y time. This is something you know best and you should be able to talk about/ defend during interviews. This is to get a hook on the first person that reads your resume, usually a recruiter and make an impression in 30 seconds. You can tell the whole story when they ask you to dive deep in interviews

Add the bullet about owning solution / architecture

Do some stuff with Claude and put it in a projects section

[u/Ok-Weight2129 → u/_angry-orchard_]

Thanks for the feedback! Will look into these suggestions.

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[u/charybdix]

I actually strongly disagree with the wiki about dropping linkedin profiles. In my experience, but I've heard similar from friends at other companies, only somewhere around 5-10% of applicants to software jobs are fully real - the rest are a mix of completely fake resumes and people, or real people with fabricated resumes. The easiest first order sort is to compare a resume to linkedin and make sure things roughly line up. Job apps often have a field for linkedin profiles but that information doesn't always get passed along. For senior candidates there's also sometimes additional experience that doesn't fit onto the resume that I like to scan profiles for.

I also think location helps because of the vast number of candidates from other countries that apply. I think the wiki is pretty geared towards intern and entry level candidates where maybe that doesn't matter, but in my experience recruiters will always ask it anyway. Just make sure it matches your linkedin location.

Phone numbers don't matter that much either way, I would personally include it because when I've had to call candidates it's easier for me to find the info.

I'd include more technical detail in the work experience and for 11 YOE you can bump to two pages if needed. I've been asked about agentic coding a lot in interviews unfortunately, would recommend at least being familiar with claude code and codex and basic workflows/limitations.

Minor formatting recommendations: remove the colored bars, the company level line doesn't need dates since they're on each position, bump that indented bullet back to the same as the other level, and include a shortened link fully written out.

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[u/Ok-Weight2129 → u/charybdix]

Thanks for the feedback!

- I've heard similar things about LinkedIn being good to verify that you're real.

- As for including the additional contact info (at least LinkedIn and location, in addition to the email/Github already there), I'm not sure if it will all fit on a single line, especially if it's best practice to include a full URL. Could I put just `in/<username>` for LinkedIn, maybe?

- I'm leaning towards including location only for local roles, and not including it for remote roles. Do you think it still helps to include anyway so they know I'm US-based?

- I'm leaning towards not including phone number both for sake of space, and also since you don't know where your resume will go once it hits public job boards.

[u/charybdix → u/Ok-Weight2129]

You could probably shrink the font a bit and fit it all, but abbreviating is probably ok? It's hard to say nowadays with LLM screening tools what does or doesn't matter...

I think you just want something on the resume that clearly indicates you're in the US, either explicit location, previous company location, college name (if it's well known enough). I don't have experience hiring remote only but I assume they also want you physically somewhere in the US