Turn Your Web Developer Resume into a Hiring Magnet
Identify and fix the top resume mistakes that keep you from landing your dream dev job.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Chances
Each mistake includes why it hurts, how to fix it, and before/after examples
- Provides no value to recruiters
- Consumes prime space
- Fails to include keywords
- Replace with a professional summary highlighting 3‑5 key achievements
- Embed relevant tech keywords
- Keep it under 3 sentences
Objective: Seeking a challenging position in a reputable company where I can utilize my skills.
Full‑stack web developer with 4 years experience building responsive e‑commerce sites using React, Node.js, and AWS, delivering a 30% increase in conversion rates.
- Dilutes focus
- Reduces readability
- ATS may penalize keyword stuffing
- Create a 'Technical Skills' section grouped by category
- Prioritize tools used in recent roles
- Limit to 10–12 most relevant technologies
Skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap, AngularJS, React, Vue, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP, Git, SVN, Photoshop, Illustrator.
Technical Skills: - Front‑end: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+), React, Vue - Back‑end: Node.js, Express, REST APIs - Databases: MongoDB, PostgreSQL - DevOps: Docker, AWS (EC2, S3) - Tools: Git, npm, Webpack
- No proof of coding ability
- Hiring managers can’t verify work
- Reduces interview callbacks
- Add a 'Projects' section with live URLs or GitHub links
- Provide brief description, tech stack, and impact
- Ensure links are clickable in PDF/online version
Projects: Developed several web apps.
Projects: - E‑Commerce Store (React, Node.js, AWS) – Built a scalable platform that increased sales by 25%; https://github.com/username/ecom-store - Real‑time Chat App (Vue, Firebase) – Implemented WebSocket communication for 10k concurrent users; https://chatapp.example.com
- Fails to demonstrate impact
- Hard for ATS to parse achievements
- Reduces recruiter engagement
- Start bullet points with strong action verbs
- Quantify results with numbers or percentages
- Be specific about technologies used
Responsible for developing web pages.
Developed 12 responsive web pages using React and CSS Modules, reducing page load time by 40%.
- Looks unprofessional
- ATS may misread dates
- Confuses hiring managers
- Use month/year format (MMM YYYY)
- Align dates to the right
- Standardize city, state format
Jan 2020 – 2022 Company XYZ, Remote
Jan 2020 – Dec 2022 | Remote, USA
- Include a concise professional summary
- List technical skills in categories
- Showcase 2–3 quantifiable projects with links
- Use action verbs and numbers in experience bullets
- Maintain consistent date and location formatting
- Proofread for spelling and grammar
- Save as PDF with ATS‑friendly fonts
- Convert objective to summary
- Trim skills list to top 12
- Add quantifiable metrics
- Insert portfolio URLs
- Standardize dates and locations
