For software engineers

Resume Heat Map for Software Engineers

Engineering resumes get scanned fast. Use a free heatmap preview to see what stands out — then improve your summary, scope, and impact bullets so recruiters notice the right things first.

What recruiters look for on engineering resumes

  • Scope: systems owned, scale (users/requests), and reliability.
  • Impact: latency, uptime, cost, quality, developer velocity.
  • Signals: clean formatting, consistent dates, and readable bullets.

The heatmap helps you validate whether impact is visible early — especially in the top third and your most recent role.

Scan-friendly tips for software engineers

Lead with outcomes

Start bullets with the result (latency ↓, uptime ↑, costs ↓), then add the method.

Make your tech stack visible

Include key languages/tools relevant to the role — avoid long, unfocused lists.

Use links intentionally

Place GitHub/portfolio URLs near the top in plain text so they scan quickly.

Avoid visual noise

Two-column layouts and dense paragraphs slow scanning and can break ATS parsing.

Example bullet rewrites

Before
Worked on improving service performance and reliability.
After
Improved service reliability to 99.95% and reduced p95 latency 75% by adding caching, query optimizations, and better observability.
Before
Implemented CI/CD pipelines and helped with deployments.
After
Built CI/CD pipelines that cut deploy time from 25 → 8 minutes and reduced production incidents 20% via automated tests and rollout safeguards.

Guides that help engineers improve faster

Quantify achievements

Use realistic metrics (latency, cost, reliability, throughput).

Action verbs

Use verbs that show ownership: built, shipped, optimized, hardened.

ATS format

Keep it parseable: single column, standard headings, clean URLs.

Resume scanner

Run the free scan, then iterate until the right proof stands out.

Working in product? See: resume heat map for product managers.