Senior Software Developer CV Guide + Tips + Example
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A well-written CV is a great place to start if you are seeking a senior software developer job. Not sure where to begin? Don’t worry! Our guide to crafting an effective senior software developer CV will help you make the most of your strong leadership and programming skills to get the job you want.
Start by editing this senior software developer CV template or browse our library of CVtemplates to find the best one for you.
CV example for a senior software developer (text version)
Charles Bingley
Boston, MA 02210
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com
Summary Statement
Accomplished senior software developer with 15 years of experience in app development. Excels in every stage of the life cycle of software development, including design creation, coding, debugging, testing and maintenance. Expert in devising innovative and tailored solutions to assist businesses and help achieve their goals in a variety of industries. Advanced skills and knowledge of leading programming tools with a strong background in math, algorithms and data-processing logic.
Core Qualifications
- Code and quality standards
- Code reviews
- Virtualization technologies
- Test Director 8.0
- Solutions deployment
- HTML and XML
- Detail-oriented
- Time management
Education
- Boston University Boston, MA
Master of Science Computer Information Systems - Boston University Boston, MA
Bachelor of Science Computer Science
Work Experience
June 2012 – Current
Jobot – Boston, MA
Senior Software Developer
- Develop, upgrade and maintain advanced financial industry software.
- Lead a team of 20 and coordinate the design and implementation of eight applications, including collaboration with project managers and client representatives and development teams.
- Provide mentoring services to five junior developers as needed.
- Select projects include the design and development of a flagship financial trading application, an XML content distribution server and business systems for clients in a variety of industries.
February 2007 – June 2012
PTC Inc. – Boston, MA
Software Developer
- Experimented with multiple iterations during design implementation.
- Wrote extensible and maintainable code as part of a team.
- Excelled in rapidly prototyping new capabilities to confirm project feasibility.
- Designed web applications and maintained content for multiple .NET-based systems.
- Revised, modularized and updated old code bases to modern development standards, reducing operating costs by 35% and improving 60% of functionality.
July 2002 – February 2007
Medtronic – Boston, MA
Junior Software Developer
- Modified existing software to detect and correct errors, improve performance and upgrade interfaces.
- Consulted with clients regularly regarding projects, proposals and technical issues that arise during the development process.
- Prepared monthly reports on specifications and activities for each project.
- Collaborated well with other team members to determine the best design specifications and details, improving productivity by 25%.
Conference Attendance
- Web Summit 2022 – (2022)
- CodeMash Conference – (2021)
- CES Conference – (2019)
Professional Affiliations and Memberships
- Python Software Foundation (PSF) – (2022)
- Association of Software Professionals (ASP) – (2021)
- Boston Software Developers – (2019)
- IEEE Boston – (2018)
Certifications and Licenses
- Microsoft Certified Azure Developer Associate – (2022)
- Software Engineering Master Certification (SEMC) – (2021)
- Programming in C# Certification – (2019)
- Certified Web Professional – Web Developer – (2018)
Profession Relevant Skills
- Superior development skills include OOD, Agile development, solutions architecture, project management and technical documentation.
- Programming languages include C/C++/C#, ASP.NET, HTML5, VBScript, Java, JavaScript, T-SQL, JQuery, XML, PHP, Objective C and MySQL.
- Exceptional ability to work in the following environments: Java Enterprise Edition, UNIX, Linux and Windows.
- Strong decision maker, critical thinker and creative designer with the ability to think around problems to unusual yet highly effective solutions.
- Excels in systems evaluation to identify system performance indicators and the best course of action to take to improve or correct performance based on specific system goals.
Languages
- English
Native or Bilingual - French
Limited Working
Hobbies and Interests
When I am not sitting in front of a computer monitor, I like to disconnect and unwind in the great outdoors. My favorite activities include camping, hiking and kayaking at many of the national parks located nearest my home. I volunteer my time once a week to teach middle school students how to code and often volunteer with Habitat for Humanity when I get the opportunity.
5 essentials of a top senior software developer CV
Contact details
Create a section at the top of your CV for your contact information. Without it, a potential employer can not reach you to schedule an interview. Display your contact information as follows: Your full name, then your city, state and ZIP code, followed by your phone number and professional email address. If you have a LinkedIn profile and professional website, add those last.
Personal statement
A personal statement, also called a professional summary, is where you introduce yourself to the hiring manager and pitch your best skills and related work experience. Your CV should include job-relevant skills, the number of years you have been in the industry and one or two of your most notable professional accomplishments. Your personal statement must be compelling and no longer than five short sentences to grab the hiring manager’s attention.
Skills
Every hiring manager wants to know what skills you bring to the table. Create a separate section for your job-relevant skills and display them with bullet points to make them easy to read. Include a mixture of hard and soft skills that range from backend development and programming experience to software design, as our senior software developer CV example shows. If you are applying for your first job, include transferable skills.
Work history
Whether or not you have work experience as a senior software developer, your CV must have a detailed employment history section. List current and previous employers in reverse-chronological order and provide company names, locations and the dates you worked for each. Add three bullet points of measurable achievements for every job you list. If you don’t have work experience in the field or if this is your first job application, display extracurricular activities, volunteer experience, community service and professional and personal projects — anything that shows you have relevant work experience.
Education
Hiring managers want to see your education credentials, so a senior software developer CV must include an education section. Add all the schools you’ve attended after high school, if any. Use bullet points and display the name of the school and the year you graduated, but omit the year if you graduated more than 10 years ago. List your high school information and any post-high school classes taken if you did not attend college.
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Action words for a stand-out senior software developer CV
Action words convey confidence and strengthen CVs because they tell the hiring manager exactly what you did. They pack a punch when combined with numbers.
Here’s a short list of perfect action words for a senior software developer CV:
- Lead
- Manage
- Evaluate
- Engineer
- Spearhead
- Supervise
- Expedite
- Motivate
- Inform
- Implement
- Coordinate
- Oversee
- Advise
- Identify
- Strategize
- Develop
- Create
- Upgrade
- Maintain
- Design
- Coordinate
- Mentor
Want more inspiration? We have more than 350 CV examples to help you create the perfect senior software developer CV.
Need the perfect CV for a senior software developer job now? Our CV maker has all the tools you need to craft a professional CV in minutes! You can make edits on the fly, download your finished CV and save it as a PDF, .doc or plain text. Yes, it’s that easy!
Top skills for a senior software developer
Review the job description carefully and match the required skills to your abilities and traits. These might include:
- Decision-making
- Leadership
- Strategy
- Presentation
- Delegation
- Attention to detail
- Problem-solving
- Strategic planning
- Prioritization
- Verbal communication
- Written communication
- Active listening
- Software
- Technology
- Time management
- Patience
- Interpersonal skills
- Creativity
- Design
- Development
- Debugging
- Coding
- Programming
- Application development
Certifications for a senior software developer CV
You aren’t required to be certified for a job as a senior software developer, but having one or more certifications can boost your resume and help you stand out from the competition.
A certification from a respected organization demonstrates a level of commitment and proficiency that non-certified job seekers don’t have.
Certification options for senior software developers, include the following:
Pair your CV with a matching cover letter
Senior software developer CV FAQ
What to include in a CV for a senior software developer job?
A senior software developer CV must always include five primary sections:
- Contact information
- Personal profile
- Skills
- Job history
- Education
After that, your CV can include any number of sections. For example:
- Professional memberships or associations
- Presentations
- Publications
- Certifications and licenses
- Volunteer experience
- Related hobbies and interests
The easiest way to determine what sections to add to your CV and how to fill them out is by reviewing the job description. You must match the job requirements to your qualifications and add them to your CV. If you’re unsure where to start, use the senior software developer CV sample on this page for guidance.
What’s the best format for a senior software developer CV?
A CV for a senior software developer job can be in any format that fits the industry, job and your work experience and goals. For instance, if you’re applying for your first senior software developer job or are changing careers, it’s best to use a CV format that emphasizes your education or skills. However, if you have a steady career and have progressed through the ranks, you might want to showcase your work experience.
What are some tips for creating an excellent CV for a senior software developer job?
Here are our top tips for crafting a perfect senior software developer CV:
- Customize your CV for every senior software developer job you apply to.
- Use keywords from the job description that match your qualifications to ensure your resume is applicant tracking system (ATS)-friendly.
- Emphasize extra training, certifications, awards, honors and memberships.
- Highlight presentations or speeches in a separate section.
- Showcase volunteer and community service activities.
- Create subcategories for your skills under the skills section of your CV. For example, you might want to display your technical and soft skills separately.
Do’s and don’ts for building a senior software developer CV
- Use measurable achievements to describe your senior software developer skills and experience.
- Use action words to make an impact on your senior software developer CV.
- Tailor your CV to your target senior software developer job.
- Use keywords from the job description throughout your senior software developer CV.
- Format your senior software developer CV so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your senior software developer experience and skills.
- Boast your “incomparable” senior software developer abilities.
- Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience not about being a senior software developer.
- Forget to proofread. A senior software developer CV with grammatical errors is unprofessional.
Top 4 tips for acing a senior software developer interview
Learn about the organization first.
Before the interview, take the time to learn about the company’s history, goals, values and people. Being able to show that you have in-depth knowledge about your potential employer shows genuine interest, dedication and commitment, which hiring managers love to see.
Practice.
To practice for your interview, start by reviewing some of the most common interview questions, such as:
- What two or three things are most important to you in a job?
- How do you determine priorities?
- What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
Write down possible answers as you review potential questions, and have a friend or relative practice your interview with you. This way, you can get comfortable with the questions and imprint the answers in your mind. Ask your interview partner to review your answers. You’ll feel confident and ready when it’s time for the real thing.
Ask questions.
Your interviewer will likely ask if you have any questions at the end of your session. And even if they don’t, it’s best to arrive equipped with questions about the job. Job candidates who ask questions are more likely to get hired than candidates who do not because it shows genuine interest and enthusiasm.
Some questions you might ask for a senior software developer job are:
- What are the biggest opportunities available to someone in this position?
- What are the biggest challenges someone in this position might expect?
- How do you evaluate success in this role?
Gather references.
You’ll need professional references quickly if the hiring manager is interested in hiring you on the spot. Prepare a list of two former colleagues and a former manager willing to speak to your abilities to perform the senior software developer job and who you know will give you a stellar review.
If you are applying for your first full-time job, then ask a former instructor, volunteer coordinator, classmate or community leader who can vouch for your character and skills.
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Senior Software Developer CV Example
Kellie is a Certified Professional Resume Writer with extensive experience in digital media. She is passionate about helping job seekers navigate their careers. She earned a B.A. in English and writing from Temple University.
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