Why Most Tech Resumes Are Bad — and How to Fix Yours

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When I was in university, I wrote my first resume like everyone else:

• Listed every programming language I touched

• Added every course I had taken

• Dropped in “passionate about technology” at the top

I thought it looked solid.

But after sending it out dozens of times, I didn’t get a single callback.

Then one mentor looked at it and said:

That was my wake-up call.

Because here’s the truth:
Most tech resumes are bad because they only talk about tools, not outcomes.

The Problem With Most Resumes

Most engineers write resumes like this:

• “Built a React app”

• “Worked with Docker and Kubernetes”

• “Experience with Git, AWS, Jenkins”

It’s just a list of tools.

Recruiters don’t hire tools.
They hire results.

How to Fix Your Resume

Here’s the shift that changed everything for me:
Stop writing tasks. Start writing impact.

Instead of:

• “Built a CI/CD pipeline”

Write:

• “Reduced deployment time from 20 minutes to 5 by building a CI/CD pipeline with caching, enabling faster feature delivery.”

Instead of:

• “Implemented monitoring”

Write:

• “Improved system reliability by 30% by adding monitoring and alerts, reducing downtime for users.”

Instead of:

• “Worked with Docker”

Write:

• “Saved QA team 5 hours per week by containerizing test environments with Docker.”

Notice the difference?
One is about tools. The other is about business outcomes.

A Resume That Stood Out

I once saw a candidate list just three projects on his resume. That’s it.

But each project had:

• The problem

• The solution

• The measurable result

He didn’t have the longest resume.
But it was the most memorable one in the stack.

Because recruiters don’t care how many buzzwords you can cram in. They care about what you’ve delivered.

This Week’s Challenge

Look at your resume right now.

For every bullet point, ask yourself:

• Does this show a tool I used? Or does it show the result I created?

Rewrite at least two bullet points using the Problem → Action → Result format.

That one change will put your resume ahead of 90% of others.

Final Thoughts

Your resume is not your autobiography.
It’s your highlight reel.

Tools show what you touched.
Impact shows why it mattered.

And impact is what gets you hired.

Coming up next week:

The Hidden Skill That Makes Engineers Indispensable: Mentorship — why teaching others accelerates your own career growth.

If you’re looking for a supportive community to help you grow faster, check out MentorAura.
We’re building the next generation of real-world engineers. And we’d love to have you with us.