The resume that got a software engineer a $300,000 job at Google
Introduction
My name is Alex Nguyen and I previously worked as a software engineer
at Amazon and Microsoft before joining Google.
Above
is the resume I used to apply to Google and land an exciting $300,000 offer.
It’s
the resume I like to share working with candidates who are applying for
software engineering roles.
But
before digging into resume strategies that worked for me, let’s first talk
about the elephants in the room.
Yes, I do have those experiences on my
resume. But before Microsoft, I just had Amazon. Before Amazon it was just an
empty resume with some side projects.
The experience helps, but nobody starts off
having experience. For anyone starting off, the only way to stand out is by
having a clean-cut resume.
Having experience helps, but knowing how to
present and convey that experience is even better.
It is true that referrals help when applying
to any company. But when applying to really large tech companies, referrals are
so often that they are treated exactly the same as a cold application.
I didn’t even have a referral. Just an
application.
If it’s hard to believe, understand that
around 40% of all jobs are found through referrals. That means 60% are found
without one.
Cold applications work, it’s just about how
to make them work.
And when you cold apply, all you get to cold
apply with is your resume.
9 Ways
to improve your resume.
To anyone who’s been struggling, here’s
the 9 most common mistakes I learned writing my
resume after countless rejections and interviewing engineering candidates.
(You can also view these tips as a
YouTube video here)
1.
Don’t repeat
yourself. If you have a bullet on
coding in Java, don’t write 4 more bullets on that. Save that room for other
important details about yourself.
2.
Talk about
people. My Google manager always
reminded me that he offered me a role because of my experience working with
product managers and UX designers. Mention your experience working with
cross-functional teammates.
1. Talk about impact. The impact is why that bullet matters. If
you can clearly explain why the impact of your work matters, then it shows you
can see the bigger picture that everything you do is for the end user.
2. Please
format it. If the
resume is painful to look out, whoever looks at it will just move on to the
next one. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have if it’s not inviting
the reader so make it easier for them and use single line bullet points with
relaxed margins.
3. Experience
> Completion. It’s 100% okay to put unfinished projects or work on your resume. It’s
more important that the candidate know the material and not whether it was
actually done. Leading a project half way STILL
COUNTS as leading a project.
4. Use
recognizable words. Is it really unethical to put Software
engineer instead of software
development engineer for my Amazon experience? The job
responsibilities are exactly the same. Don’t complicate things using company
exclusive titles that nobody else uses like “Front-end UX Software Engineer 1.”
5. Speak
engineering. Give the impression you’re a software engineer by including more
engineering vocabulary. Talk about unit tests, deployments, version control,
JIRA tickets, latency, databases, API calls, distributed systems. The more you
sprinkle engineering vocab, the easier it is to trust the candidate is a
software engineer.
6. Keep it
simple. A resume
is meant to be read quickly. Simple things are read quickly so make it simple.
The resume actually becomes less impressive the more cluttered it gets.
7. Important
Experience > Every experience. Everyone has a ton of things they could write on their
resume… but that doesn’t mean they should. Write the things that stand out the
most for the roles you’re applying for. There just isn’t enough room on 1-page
for everything.
8. Keep it simple. A resume is meant to be read quickly.
Simple things are read quickly so make it simple. The resume actually becomes
less impressive the more cluttered it gets.
9. Important
Experience > Every experience. Everyone has a ton of things they could write on their
resume… but that doesn’t mean they should. Write the things that stand out the
most for the roles you’re applying for. There just isn’t enough room on 1-page
for everything.
Closing thoughts
Getting an interview is just a numbers game
with this formula
resume quality * applications = total
interviews.
If you’re applying with a blank piece of
paper, you shouldn’t be surprised to get 0 responses. If you apply with an
amazing resume, you’ll find yourself having too many interviews to go through.
Invest in the quality of your resume before
praying and spraying applications
