Crafting a Tech Resume For a Career Change

June 1, 2022
T.J. Kidder

Whether you’re an experienced tech sector worker, a freelancer with plenty of transferable skills – or even a job hunter looking for tech resume tips as you put a career change to software engineer into action – there’s every reason to understand the best tech resume format.

After all, what do tech employers look for in a resume? While it might be tempting simply to list vocations and relevant technical buzzwords, an experienced recruiter in the technology industry will want something more.

Likewise, another critical detail is learning where to post a tech resume for jobs.

Sound daunting? Not at all – it’s simply a way of understanding the tech resume format and making it work for you. Our tech resume tips will dive deep into the transferable skills, best practices, and ways to master the tech resume format to capture employers’ attention.

Here is how to create a tech resume:

Elements of a good tech resume

While most of us in the working world today understand how to make a great resume, the rules in play differ slightly when it comes to understanding what tech employers look for in a resume instead.

While many of the ways you put together such a resume are familiar, some unique elements of the tech resume format can help you stand apart when mastered.

Remember, what do tech employers look for in a resume? Readability is a significant factor. Consider how to create a tech resume format that informs readers when they scan or skim-read.

The deeper details will come into play once they’ve had their interest piqued by what they see – meaning you have a foot in the door to making a serious career change to software engineer or other tech sector employee.

Because of this tech resume format trick, it pays to have your most relevant experience close to the top of the page – think of it like a highlight reel, not just of transferable skills but also your most appealing accomplishments.

List these in order of relevance and real-world applications. When wondering what do tech employers look for in a resume, it’s this practical and proven knowledge work they want to see the most.

There’s something of an urban legend in the technology work community that when you submit your resume, a bot or program scans it first to pluck out ‘buzzwords’ before it’s handed to a human.

This is rarely the case – so choosing a tech resume format that looks good on the eyes is vital because we aren’t out to fool any algorithms here!

Find and highlight transferable skills

What do tech employers look for in a resume, apart from direct experience in coding languages, software projects, and programming capabilities? It’s transferable skills – the secret tech resume tips that mean even those inexperienced in this industry have plenty to say.

Identifying these transferable skills comes down to several factors. Naturally, confirming that you are trustworthy, a fast learner, and able to rapidly adapt to different programming languages or experience in the agile and sprint workstyles used in this industry will be a significant first step.

When you make a career change to software engineer or other tech sector job, these transferable skills will be one of the greatest assets to highlight. Therefore, a good tech resume format is to have these transferable skills highlighted and listed early on and peppered throughout your career history to catch the eye.

Naturally, the different programming languages you have either fully adopted, begun to learn, or even simply dabbled in are transferable skills to highlight. This is a big part of making your resume stand out.

What do tech employers look for in a resume, as far as programming languages are concerned? Of course, that varies from employer to employer – although a running joke among the tech community that anyone making a career change to software engineer should keep in mind is that more inexperienced employers might try to ask for more experience in a programming language than possibly exists!

Remember, a big part of a successful tech resume format is numbers and statistics than for hiring managers in other industries. If you led a software development project and want to highlight it on your resume, what were the deliverables and results?

What percentage did your successful cybersecurity project reduce the risk of attack? Use proactive language to nail the impact of what you do – even if it’s just personal projects you intend to highlight.

Build your portfolio and Github

When you’re discovering where to post your tech resume for jobs, you’ll find that one of the best tech resume tips is to let your work do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

In other words, using a portfolio that showcases your best work makes a fantastic way of highlighting your achievements. However, when it comes to what tech employers look for in a resume, you’ll discover that the proven track record of a good portfolio is just as vital.

This is mainly because employers in the technology sector want to see that anyone making the potential career change to software engineer is actively using the skills they are developing.

An active Github account is also incredibly useful – make sure you include a link to both that and your portfolio in your tech resume format. Many software engineers and developers believe that a Github account that demonstrably shows your ongoing projects is more important than a portfolio.

The same rules that apply to tech resume tips apply to your portfolio and Github account, too – in other words, keep everything up to date. Even if you’re just tinkering with a new programming language or trying to make your software skills a touch sharper with exercises and online learning, logging, and chronicling all these developments proves to employers you are as interested in improving your skills in your own time as you are on the clock.

That’s perhaps one of the biggest secrets of all. So what do tech employers look for in a resume? Someone who treats the technology industry not just as a job or career – but as a vocation or a calling.

Start building coding projects

Having a portfolio page of software accomplishments or a Github account where you tinker and toy with the latest programming languages won’t mean much in a tech resume format if there’s nothing to show off.

Naturally, doing your own projects in your own time is an excellent way of increasing the level of content in your programming portfolio. Yet employers also want to see that your capabilities can provide value – that you have transferable skills when making the career change to software engineer that are more than just hobbyist projects.

Doing freelance coding and software work is a fantastic way of building up your portfolio or Github online presence. Likewise, any courses or internships you have undertaken when making the career change to software engineer will give you a tremendous advantage in catching an employer’s eye.

You’re bound to pick up tech resume tips as you go, too – every so often, you’ll squash a software bug or streamline a coding process so well that you’d be crazy not to highlight it on your portfolio.

That’s the brilliant thing about a career in software development and computer programming. Every so often, a real ‘eureka moment’ hits – and with a decent portfolio with ongoing projects being logged, you have every opportunity to showcase your ingenuity.

Showcase extracurriculars

Many of us would find it easy to dismiss software engineering, computer programming, and blockchain innovating as practices involving sitting around in a dark room alone, hands fluttering at the keyboard.

Hollywood depictions of programming and coding aside, that’s not the case. The tech world is hugely social, so there are always events, competitions, and collaborative projects for you to set your skills to work.

Why bring this up here? Because it’s one of the best tech resume tips out there – include space in your overall tech resume format to list extracurricular activities you love to get involved with.

This leans a lot on the ideas we have already been discussing, showing your level of commitment and activity to improving your talents in the technology sector. However, there are practical advantages to getting involved in these extracurricular activities that don’t just relate to what tech employers look for in a resume.

Naturally, volunteering is as welcome in a tech resume as in any other career – it shows passion, drive, commitment, and a level of compassion that goes quite far in the tech industry.

Remember, a significant element of your tech job will involve explaining highly complex technological things to people who do not have your experience and expertise. After all, not everyone undergoes a career change to software engineer – and you’ll often have to describe and explain coding concepts in layman’s terms. People skills you gain in volunteering go a long way with tech recruiters.

Hackathons are another fantastic way to put your coding capabilities to the test in collaborative and competitive settings. These events are often highly publicized, which goes a long way to making your tech resume format stand out from the others on your potential next employer’s desktop.

Certifications, qualifications, or achievements gained from any such hackathons or events are sure to be appealing when added to your tech career resume.

Suppose you’re keen to attend tech conferences worldwide, whether physically or virtually; mention it in your resume. This shows you are interested in learning at the bleeding edge of technology and are actively looking at the forward direction of your industry overall.

Develop your online presence

With your tech resume format improved, your portfolio coming together nicely, and your Github page packed with programming projects, what’s next? What do tech employers look for in a resume besides these basics?

Perhaps not much – but an employer who likes the look of your tech resume is likely to want to learn more about you and is even more likely to do so by going online before giving you a call.

That means cultivating a positive and professional digital footprint – and creating an online presence that proves your transferable skills and coding capabilities are constantly improving and an asset to any organization.

A critical online profile that simply must be kept up to date as proactively as your tech resume, portfolio, and Github account is your LinkedIn page. LinkedIn has a fantastic format for showing off accomplishments and the latest achievements in an accessible at-a-glance way that catches prospective employers’ eyes.

Prospective employers can use social media to see when you chose a career change to software engineer, programmer, or blockchain developer – and from there, more realistically measure your experience and expertise.

This can feel daunting, but it also streamlines the interview process, so it pays to be transparent on your online profiles.

However, one of the critical tech resume tips that often goes overlooked is the importance of networking. With professional social media like LinkedIn, the forums of Github, programmers’ subreddits, and dedicated tech sites like Stack Overflow, you can form powerful connections with your peers in the tech space in no time flat.

Remember, very little in the software world happens in isolation – programmers thrive through collaboration and teamwork. The same is true when looking for jobs in the tech sector, wherever in the world you may be – it’s as much about who you know and what doors you can open for one another as it is perfecting your tech resume format or discovering where to post tech resumes for jobs.

Tech resume tips to take forward

No matter your experience in software, coding, or technology, this industry moves so fast that staying sharp – and showing you’re doing so – is the key to success.

Similarly, it can feel daunting to make a career change to software engineer or other technology careers for the first time for similar reasons. Yet, with the tech resume tips above, you have a head start – perhaps even on some of the rustier experienced coders who have the skills but not the resume moxie to back them up!

It’s all about showing your work, demonstrating your passion, and indicating that you’re committed to coding and tech to potential new employers.

What do tech employers look for in a resume? Craft, commitment, capability – but a human touch, too. Learn this well, and you should go far!

Career Services For Life

Having the right resources, a proper support system, and an extensive network are essential parts of launching a successful career transition. As a part of our 4-month Intensive Bootcamp, we provide our students with a dedicated member of our team who will work with you in your job search.

We’ll help you craft the perfect tech resume, draft your cover letter, boost your LinkedIn profile, and design a customized job search plan. Helping you land that first job in this new and exciting career path in the shortest time possible. Then, when you have a few years under your belt and your resume needs a refresh, or you need some advice on how to take your career to the next level, we’re also here to help. We provide our alumni with Career Services for life. Why? Because we’re one big family at LEARN academy, and we support our community to the fullest!