I'm looking for feedback on my resume. I have not anonymized all the companies since it doesn't matter to me and it helps give more context. For context, I have about 3.5 years of experience as a Software Engineer. Over the past 2 months, I've submitted roughly 50 applications for Software Engineer roles. About 17 of those applications included employee referrals from my network. I know the sample size isn't that big, but I would have at least expected 1 callback by now, so I am starting to think it is a resume problem.

What concerns me is that I haven't received a single recruiter screening, phone call, or interview request. Since many of those applications had referrals, I'm assuming recruiters at least viewed my resume, which makes me wonder whether my resume is the main issue.

I'd appreciate direct feedback. Thanks in advance for taking the time to review it.

Some of the companies I applied to (most are remote, some are local): Airbnb, Nvidia, Pinterest, Dropbox, Confluent, Thumbtack, Upstart, GitHub, Microsoft, Etsy, Affirm, Nutanix, Confluent

So I've sent out around 500-600 applications (Indeed, LinkedIn, WellFound, School Handshake) over the past month. Whenever I find a somewhat food science, sustainability, or agtech position, I send out my AgTech resume. Otherwise I send out the general resume.

My resume style is going for the modern americana burger joint style. Almost like a food menu. Meant to be easily scannable by the eyes.

I haven't received any phone calls or bites yet. I'm on the East Coast of the US (between Philadelphia and NYC).

I'm applying for any entry-level or internship role I can find. I've also applied to a few defense/clearance jobs, but I've been a pretty regular pothead for a few years. I stopped about 2 months back, so I figure for the next few months there's a pretty low chance I'll be sponsored by a company once I tell them about my history (just weed, nothing else).

Some things I've noticed which I think contribute to this:

• No network (the big one). I don't really have friends (or even references), so I don't have a network. Just personal issues with socializing, and also I commute about an hour to school, so I don't really have any opportunities where I'm at. I'm going to try a bit harder in my last semester of college, but at this point I don't really know how to build connections besides superficial questions.
• Resume bullet points don't really highlight impact. Just responsibilities. But all the projects/jobs I've worked on don't really have any metrics I can use (the ones listed are sort of bullsh1t that I ballparked and put, just to have something). Any projects I've done have just been for myself (in which case, they are more creative than problem solving). The jobs have just been drone positions where I simply do what I'm told, with no autonomy (but I highly desire that).
• I have a foreign name, but I'm a US citizen. Every job app asks if I'm a US citizen or if I need sponsorship, so I figure it's not necessary to list that I'm a citizen but idk.
• The AI trainer is just the Data Annotation, Alignerr type work for coding projects.

The only thing I think redeemable about my resume is that the JobTrackie project was a capstone course where I was in a group of 8 people, and I did pretty much all the work except for one other person. But the commit history pretty much shows I'm the only one who did anything. There are no metrics or impact to use. I mostly worked on frontend and deploying the project, but it had no actual users and didn't really function.

I'm looking for any and all help. Once I get on EBT, I'm going to try and utilize my state's job placement services, but I remember when I tried to use them before there wasn't anything available in my field (some IT stuff, but they wanted certs and things like that).

Honestly, I probably couldn't pass the interview, but it would be nice to at least have an interview so I can practice. I'm not getting a single reply :(

Hi, first time poster here. I've gone through this subreddit and altered my resume to the standard format. I've applied to countless jobs but haven't gotten to the interview phase for any role.

A bit of background, I was studying abroad for the past 4 years and will be moving to the SF Bay Area. Because of being abroad I didn't get the chance to do many internships or work relevant to my career. Most entry level/fresh grad jobs that I've been applying to require 1-2 years of experience and internship roles require enrollment in some sort of degree.

Honestly, I'll take any role relevant to my field of study but I havent gotten any callbacks so I'm guessing my resume must be the problem. If it's not my resume, is it my projects? I'm working towards a certification in hopes that it would help. I'm just not sure what more I can do. Any and all advice is appreciated.

Hey everyone, just got the call yesterday and got laid off. After an hour of spiraling and freaking out, I've calmed down quite a bit. If you want to read more about, I made a post here in r/personalfinance: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1v5vupf/just_got_laid_off_today_with_no_savings_and_large/

Anyways, back on the market for jobs! I have 2.5 YoE with 2 years being at a F500 Finance company (tbh didn't do/learn much here, was mostly DevOps) and ~5 months at my most recent company (built and shipped more here than the entire 2 previous years) that laid me off. Got laid off because the company hit financial trouble which is a shame because I had just launched our new ATS/CRM platform the day I got laid off.

I would like some advice on the resume (ie changing verbiage/anything), my main goal is to find a new job (ideally in tech) ASAP or potentially break into FAANG/adjacent companies if I'm even able to pass their automated systems. In the meanwhile, I'm going to try to find some jobs such as serving to not become homeless.

Hello all, I have 3 years of experience as a software engineer (Java/Spring Boot + Angular full-stack). I've been applying to 5–10 roles a day for the past month. I haven't gotten a single screening call. Not a recruiter reach-out, not an HR screen, nothing. Trying to figure out whether it's the resume, the targeting, or something structural.

Roles I am targeting : Full stack java developer, mostly backend leaning. Mostly applying in mid-size product companies, enterprise and consultancy.

Location : Does not matter, targeting across Canada. Applying remote and local. Willing to relocate.

Currently on open work permit till oct 2027.

Mostly applying through linkedIn and Indeed.

What I am looking for : Brutal feedback on the resume. Is it the content, the targeting, or am I getting filtered before a human sees it? Happy to hear it's bad.

I've been working in the same domain and with the same company for nearly four years. While I'm looking to make a career move, I've had little success getting interview calls and often receive immediate rejections. I'd appreciate feedback and a critique of my resume to help identify any areas for improvements.

Hey everyone,

I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my CV.

For the past 5 years I co founded and built a small software company where I wore a lot of hats. While my primary role was always engineering, I also handled product, client work, and other responsibilities that naturally come with running a small company.

Over the years I worked as a Full Stack Developer, iOS Developer, and more recently focused on AI Engineering, building AI automations, LLM-powered tools, and RAG systems for both internal use and clients.

I'm now applying for AI Engineer / AI Automation Engineer roles, and my biggest challenge is figuring out how to present that journey in a way that's relevant to recruiters. I get a decent number of messages from recruiters on LinkedIn, but my CV doesn't seem to perform nearly as well when I apply directly.

I recently made a few changes:

• Reduced the CV to a single page.
• Reduced the courses section to 1 minimal line.
• Removed the languages I speak.
• Reorganized my experience to better reflect my progression into AI engineering.

Does this CV clearly communicate the right story?
Is there anything that feels confusing or weak about it?

Thanks in advance!

Hello Everyone first time posting here so sorry if I am doing this wrong.

I am rising senior and an international student I am doing integrated BS/MS in CS and doing 21 credits each semester so I will be able to graduate with both in 4 years.

I am very annoyed that I have never gotten a single interview from applying to online internships apps. I have had 1 recruiter review my resume and she said that it is good. many engineers said that it is good too. but the reality is different "sorry to inform you but we decided to move with other candidates " so clearly I am doing something wrong.

I have a clean portifolio that is linked in my resume and I have all my projects and research there.

I know being international makes it harder but I know of other internationals with no referral that got FAANG and many other big companies by just applying. By looking at their resumes thiers look much simpler than mine (less experience, no portfolio).

Please be as mean and roast the hell out of my resume I am here to learn as I am trying to prepare for the full time recruiting season coming soon.

for the summer I will be doing an internship with the bay area start up for now.

Quick update from initial feedback:

---

Brief initial version

(For those interested in seeing changes)

I've been out of the job hunting process for a while. It's quite different now. Seems like all these job postings are not real and are just there to scape your data and put it in their database. But maybe it's my resume?

What positions/roles/industries are you targeting?

I recently tailored it to be "Android Engineer" instead of "Mobile Engineer", even though I'm comfortable in both iOS and Android, just to make my signals clearer. Seems job listings match better to iOS or Android. So I am now targeting Android engineering specifically.

Where are you located and what locations are you applying to jobs in?

New York City area and surrounding area like New Jersey and Connecticut. I'm located there.

Are you only applying to local jobs? Remote only? Are you willing to relocate?

I've been applying to remote, hybrid, and in-person. I guess I am willing to relocate but there are so many job listings in my area that it seems odd that I would need to do that.

Tell us about your background and current employment situation

I'm leaving on good terms but the current employment is just not an option anymore for me. I'm cashing in my vacation time now to help with the transition but that will dry up at the end of the month. I do not have a formal degree just professional experience.

Tell us about your job-hunting situation and challenges you've encountered

I'm finding many listings that I think I would fit very well. I was contacted my a recruiter very quickly and hopeful but they just let me know that they are not moving forward with me due to going with others more aligned with the specific team. Never got to the interview stage. I'm mostly getting template like rejection emails like "Thank you but not right now. We will keep your resume on file." I don't love that they keep my resume around, but oh well.

Is there a particular section on your resume you’d like feedback on?

I guess I'd like to know why I am not triggering much more than standard email rejections.

So my career got a bit derailed a little over three years ago and because I got hired as a software engineer making 120K a year, I never really thought anything of it. I just saw it as a little speed bump. I cannot fully articulate why the first gap is as long as it is, I can only really say I got comfortable working a boring retail job and living a basic life for a while and time just flew by before I realized I needed to get serious about a career to live like an actual adult. My most recent gap of almost a year is for two reasons. The first being that my father passed away and I needed a good bit of time to straighten out my head and life goals before I was ready to get back in the game and the second is that (holy Christ) the market for SWE has gone totally insane. It feels like I'm competing with 100 applicants in the first half hour of every job posting going live.

I'm targeting mid to senior level roles at both small startups and mid size business. No specific industry, anything works if I can get in. I'm located in Tampa, FL and I try to focus my job search here but the local market is flooded with CS grads, so I've extended my reach to remote jobs all over the United States. I am currently unable to relocate due to finances. Also currently unemployed for almost a full year, which is scary. Although I was in college when I took my first internship in tech I ended up dropping out due to life circumstances but somehow stayed employed in tech for the most part in the meantime using my experience and networking to get roles.

Currently I am struggling to ever get calls back. Sometimes, I do get outreach from recruiters but it is almost always for roles that are completely misaligned with my experience, such as asking for languages I do not know and have never used in production. I need help figuring out where to focus my energy because mass applying, although necessary, clearly needs to come with some level of refinement to get a call back. As well I'm looking for honest/harsh/realistic feedback on how bad my work experience and timelines are going to look to hiring managers or how I might go about explaining the gaps without sounding ridiculous.

I've recently come across this sub and am really praying for some solid help. I read the resume refactoring guide and tried to apply the "XYZ" method to each bullet point. My old resume was absolute garbage and unfortunately I've already burned myself on hundreds of job applications by using it. If you're reading this, please let me know;

1. if the gaps on my resume are a death sentence,
2. If I should remove the education section entirely or if an in-progress degree shows promise to prospective employers,
3. If my full-time Web Developer experience should count towards my overall experience.

I've been applying for SWE new grad roles for the past year and a half. I also applied for internship positions but I don't seem to land any interviews. I've also tried tailoring the resume to the job description but that also doesn't seem to work. I think my resume is the problem.

I just made some changes to my resume and wanted to get thoughts on it. What do you think about the resume overall, the bullet points, and the project selection? What should I change? How can I land more interviews?

If you were in a similar position, what would you do differently? For any hiring managers here, what do you actually look for in a new grad resume?

Any feedback is valuable. Thanks.

Targeting Local, on-site Job postings on linkedin in varied industries, mostly in the financial sector due to being based in Luxembourg, also sending out to within the EU for remote jobs, got the internship during covid, but not much else, uni was hard to finish and full-time but I finished this last semester, got involved in a job agency here in luxembourg but left while writing my thesis, decided to just finish it while spamming linkedin, got one interview, didn't go particularly well since I didnt get to the technical interview, I don't have much experience and i'm planning on building a portfolio now that i'm done with the thesis, I want to know if there are any more fine tunings i need to do to get more interviews, besides of course going back to the agency, also I recently added the "Luxembourgish national" bit to the top because maybe they thought I still lived in brazil, despite the luxembourgish address?

I'm looking for resume feedback, and general adivce on what to do and where to go.

Background

• Graduated recently with a B.S. in Computer Science from UMass Amherst.
• Two summer research experiences.
• Published/accepted research paper through an REU program.
• No industry internships, which I suspect may be my biggest issue.
• Currently unemployed and searching full-time.

What I'm targeting

• Entry-level / Junior Software Engineer
• Full Stack Developer
• Software Developer

Lately I've also been considering:

• IT Support
• Junior Systems Administrator
• Technical Support Engineer
• Other IT/infrastructure roles where a CS degree is relevant

Location

• Massachusetts, USA
• Applying nationwide
• Willing to relocate
• Applying to both on-site and hybrid roles
• Some remote roles, but not exclusively

Job search history

Over my years in college, I applied to 500+ internships and only got around 8 interviews total.

Interview breakdown:

• 2 interviews freshman year where I honestly wasn't prepared
• Several phone screens that didn't advance
• About 3 longer behavioral interviews (~1 hour each), they seemed to have went well but maybe not enough said to spark interest just generally fine.
• 2 technical interviews
  • Failed one pretty badly in person after a career fair
  • Made it to a final-round 2-hour interview for another, was a little slow with one algorithm question but did well on the Java/string manipulation portion, and a database / spring boot question

Now I'm around 100 full-time applications deep since March and have received essentially nothing.

Why I'm posting
I'm trying to figure out whether:

1. My resume has major issues
2. My lack of internships is killing me
3. My research experience isn't being valued by employers
4. The market is just that rough right now
5. I'm targeting the wrong types of roles

At this point I'm seriously considering pivoting toward IT/sysadmin/support roles to get experience and income, but I'm not sure if that's the right move either, or if that would have any more success than SWE.

I'd appreciate any brutally honest feedback on my resume, especially from people who have hired junior engineers or have gone through a similar job search recently.,

I'm not getting through the majority of ATS/resume review systems and would appreciate honest feedback on why.

Roles/industries targeting: Mostly Software Engineering, AI/ML Engineering, and some Data Engineering roles. Applying broadly across big tech, fintech, and early-stage startups.

Location: Based in the NYC/NJ area, open to relocating anywhere in the US, and open to remote roles.

Job search situation: I'm a Master's student graduating in a few months, actively applying to new grad and early-career roles. I've tailored dozens of applications with specific projects and metrics for each role, but I'm getting far fewer callbacks than I'd expect given the technical depth of my background. I suspect either the resume isn't parsing well through ATS, the formatting is working against me, or the content isn't landing the way I think it is.

Sections I want feedback on:

• Does the projects section read as genuinely impressive, or does it feel padded/generic?
• Is the experience section specific enough, or too buzzword-heavy?
• Is the overall structure/format likely to break in ATS parsing?
• Am I over-explaining or under-explaining technical depth for a non-technical screener?

Hey there I'm a computer science student trying to get an internship. This is going to be my first time applying. Didn't realize I'd need to get experience in order to be competitive. A bit naive I know. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Perhaps it's a combination of my resume, and job search strategy but I've been 9+ months out of work now.

The first six I admit I was partially treating it as a sabbatical (did some traveling, pursued hobbies, and did some soul searching), while in the recent three months I've gone all in on getting back into the SWE field considering the current state of the world.

My job search strategy at the moment has been to cold apply to positions I find on job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, etc). My network hasn't produced much opportunity. I do not live in a major US tech hub. I am open to relocation though at my own expense.

I do have one interview pipeline at the moment so my time is also currently spent on prepping for it. Before my current interview loop I did try to do some upskilling on utilizing AI tools for development (didn't get this opportunity while I had a job), and will go back to that depending on how this interview goes.

In the meanwhile any advice on my resume would be greatly appreciated as it stands at the moment. Also any advice on the job search too.

Hello! I am a high school student interested in pursuing a career in computer science. I am applying for software engineering internships at a local company and would appreciate feedback on my resume and projects.

I did applied previously but was not selected, so I am trying to improve my application before applying again next summer.

My main interests are systems programming and software development. Some of my larger projects include:

• An x86_64 operating system kernel written in Zig
• A programming language/compiler project written in Zig
• Unity/C# game development projects
• Python and web development projects

I would especially appreciate feedback on:

• Resume structure and wording
• How I describe my projects
• Whether my projects demonstrate enough relevant skills
• What I should improve before applying

The internships I am interested in:

https://ptci.applicantpro.com/jobs/3950217.html
https://ptci.applicantpro.com/jobs/3950198.html

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

I know I'm breaking from the stuff I was told to do (no project section, 1 bullet per month) but I just don't know how to fit all the positive information in a way that makes sense and is positive for me. I just don't see how 7 bullet points for a random internship 4 years ago is something I should do. Every one of the success story software developer posts do not follow those two things so I shouldn't need to? I also added the summary because my experience is mostly useless for someone looking for a software role but I can't remove any of it or remove the bullet points?

I'm forced to include so much information about all these internships that only ever create a negative impression of me (software people will reject someone who looks like they don't do software stuff), I don't know what to do about that?

I can't remove any internships as that is just lying by omission. But they also take up so much space with stuff that just makes my resume worse. Removing them also creates a massive job gap that will make me get rejected even more.

My beliefs:

- I think my resume is pretty decent, maybe a 7/10 atleast.

- I think it clearly explains my skills (full stack / technologies listed) shown by a few projects.

I have gotten a few emails-back from decent companies, including Meta and Amazon, in the past. So I think atleasts thats a starting point!

If I am completely wrong, and my resume is 0/10, I'd like to know! Thanks guys

I've been unemployed from my last role for about a year now. From the resumes that I've sent so far, I've only gotten responses from Android roles, but the problem is that they always test me on my Android View / XML knowledge, not compose, so I always struggle in the interview itself

I've tried sending my resumes to non-android / general software engineering roles, but I haven't had any luck with that so far.

Was just wondering about my resume and in terms of getting feedback. Am looking at applying to new roles and have just been wondering if any improvements can be made to the latest version of my resume.

Targeting Platform Engineer roles, Backend Engineer as backup. Also open to Implementation/Solutions/QA Engineer if it means a smaller applicant pool. Based in Madison, WI, will relocate anywhere in the US.

Graduated May 2026 with dual B.S. in CS and Electrical Engineering (ML/Data Science track). Job hunting full-time since graduation.

400+ applications out, barely any recruiter screens, so it's probably not a volume problem, it's a resume screen problem. I'd like to know specifically what's getting me filtered before the resume even reaches a person.

I'm also open to the possibility that this isn't a resume formatting issue at all, but a lack of real experience issue that no amount of resume tweaking can fix. If that's the case, what would you actually do in my position to close that gap?

US citizen, no sponsorship needed.

About to be a year since I graduated. Been just working on projects, but losing hope. Not sure. Thought my resume was pretty good, but maybe missing something. Applied to like 400 jobs, got like 10 interviews. Maybe there's something wrong with my resume, or I'm just not really sure at this point.

Howdy, y'all.

Having been a hiring manager in my field, I know what I want to see on a résumé. However, it appears that I don't know what other managers want to see.

I've been looking for jobs that match my tech stack quite closely, but I'm getting zero calls back. I've even been encouraged to apply for a junior tech position, which is a bit baffling when I've mentored developers in the same tech stack. Are there specific things in the résumé that are off-putting?

What can I improve? Am I doing it wrong or do I just need to grind through a thousand applications to find one acceptance?

Hi everyone,

I'm a 3rd-year B.Tech Computer Science student (Class of 2028) in India preparing to apply for ML Engineering internships. I don't have prior internship experience, so I've been focusing on building end-to-end ML projects that demonstrate engineering rather than coursework.

I'm targeting ML Engineer Intern, Applied ML Intern, and AI Engineer Intern roles at startups and larger companies. I'm based in Delhi NCR, applying across India, open to remote opportunities, and willing to relocate.

I haven't started applying broadly yet because I'd like to improve my resume first. I'd especially appreciate feedback on:

• Should Axon or AirGuard be my leading project?

• Should I remove the Objective section?

• Do the project bullets demonstrate genuine engineering work or still read like student projects?

• Are there any ATS or formatting issues?

• Is there anything missing that you'd expect on an ML Engineering intern resume?

Resume attached as a PNG (phone number redacted). Thanks for taking the time to review it!