Best Software Engineer CV Example & Writing Tips for 2025
Our software engineer CV example has all the inspiration you need to create a professional CV. Use our guide and expert tips to create a great software engineer CV!
Our customers have been hired by:*Foot Note
Software engineer CV example
The curriculum vitae you hand to recruiters could land you the software engineer job of your dreams. Use the software engineer CV sample below as a base to create your curriculum vitae using our CV Maker. It provides step-by-step instructions and allows you to create as many sections as you need.
Why create a new Software Engineer CV?
Like coding, every small detail matters when writing a professional software engineer curriculum vitae. Your skills section needs to showcase your abilities, your work experience should focus on achievements and your CV should be formatted to reflect your expertise.
To help you impress recruiters and hiring managers, our page will provide you with:
- Software engineer CV samples you can use as inspiration
- Professional CV writing tips for each section of your curriculum vitae
- Top resources to help you complete your job application
5 tips for formatting your software engineer CV
Use the CV format tips below to ensure your curriculum vitae presents your information professionally.
- Using a professional font like Times New Roman, Arial or Helvetica will make it easier for hiring managers and recruiters to read your credentials.
- The spacing around your software engineer CV needs to be consistent. The margins should be at least 1-inch all around and the space between lines single or 1.5.
- The information should be concise and straightforward, so use bullet points to list relevant skills and work experience.
- Make sure your section headings are written clearly and correctly. Instead of using the title “My abilities” for your skills section for example, keep it professional with either “Core Qualifications” or “Skills.”
Let us do the heavy lifting using one of our professional CV templates. Our templates work for different industries, are pre-formatted to pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) and are created by field experts.
Customer Reviews You Can Trust
How to write a software engineer CV
Get your curriculum vitae for a software engineer up to speed with our writing tips. For a more detailed guide, check our How to Write a CV article.
Header and contact information
The header at the top of your software engineer CV will contain your contact information. Include your full name, phone number, professional email address and your city and state of residence. You can write your professional title and include your LinkedIn profile handle, but only do this if it adds value to your curriculum vitae.
Personal statement
The personal statement is similar to a software engineer resume summary and resume objective. Summarize your top skills and experience in two-to-three sentences, always ensuring that the things you mention are relevant to the job. A software engineer’s personal statement is meant to be an elevator pitch to attract the hiring manager’s attention.
For example:
Highly analytical software engineer with seven years of experience in Android software development. Proficient in SQL, HTML and other programming languages used to create reliable and modern systems. Proven ability to work under pressure, execute excellent communication and think strategically to deliver quality results.
Core qualifications
Your core qualifications should feature a mixture of 8-10 hard skills, technical skills and soft skills that directly relate to the software engineer job description. It’s essential to emphasize the good skills for a resume that directly match the requirements of the job you’re pursuing. Choose the skills that best represent your software engineering abilities and list them using bullet points.
10 hard skills for a software engineer CV
- JavaScript
- Python
- Java
- CSS
- Frameworks (Django, Angular and Flask)
- Knowledge of agile principles
- Debugging
- APIs
- MySQL
- Oracle
10 soft skills for software engineer CV
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Strong communication skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Analytical skills
- Time management
- Multitasking skills
- Adaptability
- Ability to work under pressure
- Collaboration
- Organization skills
Work experience section
Write your work experience in reverse-chronological order with your most recent job title at the top. Since you’re writing a curriculum vitae for a software engineer, you should include a detailed overview of your career history, so long as it’s relevant to the role.
Whether you specialize in front-end or back-end development, are a senior software engineer or you’re including internships, each job title you feature should include:
- Three to five bullet points that highlight your work accomplishments
- Quantifiable metrics that better portray the results of your hard work
- Action words such as developed, created, improved, implemented, evaluated or identified
- Important keywords and phrases from the job description
For example
Software Engineer / May 2018 – Jan. 2024DeepCodes, San Francisco, CA
- Developed four important software programs for major banks across the U.S.
- Updated and debugged code bases regularly to stay up-to-date with technological advancements, increasing internal functionality by 30%.
- Provided monthly reports to executive management regarding ongoing software development projects and tracked changes.
Education
List your credentials in reverse-chronological order with your highest education credential at the top. For example, if you obtained your bachelor’s degree in computer science, you don’t have to include your high school diploma.
Software engineers who graduated more than 10 years ago don’t need to include their graduation date. It’s also unnecessary to include your GPA, unless you recently graduated and it plays an important role in your job application.
Additional sections
A curriculum vitae is expected to have more sections than a professional resume. Create additional sections to highlight your awards, certifications, memberships, publications or honors, and organize them in your software engineer CV according to their level of importance.
Some certifications software engineers might list on their include:
- Certified Software Engineer
- Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional
- Salesforce Administrator
- Oracle Certified Master
- Project Management Professional
More CV tips and examples
Our professional resources are here to help job seekers make a professional CV to impress recruiters and hiring managers.
- CV Examples: Our library of CV samples is a great place to find inspiration.
- CV vs. Resume: Learn the difference between a resume and a curriculum vitae in the U.S.
- Phone Interview Tips: Follow our expert guide to prepare and ace your phone interview.
- References on Resume: Get all the professional advice to ask and list references.
Write a software engineer cover letter to accompany your CV
Complete your job application with a strong software engineer cover letter.
- How to Write a Cover Letter: Follow our guide to write a professional cover letter.
- Cover Letter Builder: With the help of our Builder, you’ll have a great cover letter written in just a few minutes.
- Cover Letter Templates: Find the perfect template to pair with your software engineer CV.
- Cover Letter Format: Our formatting tips will ensure your cover letter looks as great as it reads.
- Cover Letter Examples: Check our cover letter samples for extra inspiration.
The big takeaways
Now that you know how to write a software engineer CV, let’s go over the major points:
- Make sure you use a professional font in your software engineer curriculum vitae.
- The CV header should have your full name and contact information.
- Highlight your top skills and experience in your personal statement.
- Tailor your CV to the job and choose 8-10 relevant skills to highlight.
- Focus on work accomplishments instead of mundane tasks.
- There’s no need to include your graduation date if you graduated more than 10 years ago.
- Create additional sections for your curriculum vitae to highlight all of your experience.
- Write a professional cover letter for your software engineer CV.
FAQ: Software engineer CV example
Have questions? We’re here to help.
What should a software engineer put on a CV?
A CV for a software engineer should include
- Relevant skills that speak to your technical abilities to perform the job and softer abilities to be a great asset to the team.
- Top work achievements for each job title you’ve held in the past. Focus on showing the recruiter big projects you worked on instead of daily tasks.
- Certifications obtained through the years to further solidify your expertise as a software engineer.
If you’re making an entry-level software engineer CV, focus on highlighting experience gained from internships, volunteer work, extracurricular activities or coursework.
How do I write my experience as a software engineer on my CV?
The work history section of your software engineer CV is the best place to highlight your past experience fully.
- Include the company, job title and dates of employment.
- Use three to five bullet points to describe your accomplishments at each job.
- Make your accomplishments stand out by including numbers or quantifiable metrics.
- Start each statement with an action verb like drafted, formulated, planned, launched, monitored or redesigned.
For an idea of what a well-rounded work experience section should look like, see our software engineer CV example featured on this page.
How long should a software engineer CV be?
A software engineer curriculum vitae can be as long as necessary. Unlike resumes, CVs are meant to be a detailed overview of your career, so creating a curriculum vitae over three pages is OK. Just ensure that the information you feature in your CV for a software engineer is relevant to your desired job.
What skills should I include on my CV as a software engineer?
Feature a good mixture of hard skills and soft skills in your curriculum vitae. The specific software engineer skills the job desires in their candidates will be found in the job description but some common skills for your software engineer CV may include:
- Solutions deployment
- Web-based software engineering
- Code reviews
- HTML and XML
- Scrum
- Virtualization technologies
- Coding
- AI
- Decision-making skills
- Leadership skills
- Conceptual skills
- Creative thinking
- Microsoft Excel
- PHP
What is a good way to use keywords in my CV?
Keywords play an important role in tailoring your CV to the job. These are words that can be found in the job description that, when placed strategically on your curriculum vitae, can help you get past applicant tracking systems and reach the hiring manager’s hands.
You can feature keywords in the skills section, work experience, personal statement and education section. See the requirements needed to fulfill the job and include in your software engineer CV the ones that apply to you. For example, if you see “Scrum methodology” in the job ad, and if you have this skill, give an example from your work history in which you used it, or list it in your skills section.
What is the difference between a CV and a resume?
In the U.S., a CV and a resume are two different documents. A resume is most commonly used to apply to jobs across different industries and it’s typically no more than two pages long. It summarizes relevant skills, work experience and education.
A curriculum vitae is a detailed overview of your entire professional experience. It can be longer than five pages, include as many sections as necessary to accurately showcase your expertise and is typically required for fields such as sciences, academia and law.
For more on creating the best resumes, check out our resume guides full of writing tips for each resume section, resume skills and more:
Couldn't find the answer you're looking for?
