Here's what I learned:
1. Projects > Education Stop leading with your CS degree. Your deployed app with actual users matters more than your 3.9 GPA.
2. Be Specific About Impact Bad: "Worked on backend services" Good: "Optimized PostgreSQL queries reducing API response time from 800ms to 150ms"
3. Metrics Matter (Even Small Ones) No million users? No problem. "Achieved 95% test coverage" or "Reduced build time by 40%" shows you measure what matters.
4. Match Their Tech Stack React role? Lead with React projects. Their ATS is literally searching for keywords. Make it easy.
5. Details = Credibility "JavaScript" or "JS" or "javascript"? Pick one. Inconsistency in a 1-page doc = red flag about code quality. The "spray and pray" approach doesn't work anymore. Quality > quantity.
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What resume "rules" have actually worked for you?
BeetleB•3mo ago
1. When applying via company web site, for large corporations, skip the cover letter. I've yet to have one person reach out to me who had bothered reading it, and often, the cover letter can be a reason to exclude you.
2. Put minimal effort in the resume, and maximal effort in networking (including contacting hiring managers in LinkedIn).