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How to Write a Software Developer CV That Gets Interviews (UK)

A software developer CV lives or dies on listing technologies without naming the products you shipped with them. Most software developer applications never reach a human: the ATS filters them on missing keywords, and recruiters bin the rest in seconds. Here's how to tailor a Software Developer CV to the specific job ad in front of you.

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What a Software Developer CV needs to pass the ATS

Applicant Tracking Systems screen software developer CVs on exact-match keywords. Stuffing backfires (the recruiter still has to read it), but missing the obvious terms gets you binned before anyone sees the document. The keywords most software developer job ads scan for in tech startups, financial services, e-commerce and the public sector:

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Node.js
  • REST APIs
  • CI/CD
  • Git
  • microservices
  • agile
  • test-driven development
  • cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Hand-curated for this role, not auto-generated. Use the exact words from the specific job ad you're applying to, that's what the ATS is scanning for.

What recruiters look for in a Software Developer CV

Past the ATS, a recruiter gets seven seconds with your CV before deciding whether to read further. The top third (the title, professional summary and key competencies) has to answer their screening questions instantly. For a Software Developer, that means:

  • Your primary language and framework stack, named exactly as the job ad names them (TypeScript not 'TS', React not 'react.js')
  • Years of commercial experience and the kinds of systems you've shipped (consumer web, internal tooling, B2B SaaS, data pipelines)
  • One signature project line that proves you ship: a real product name, a real outcome, a real number

Before and after: one Software Developer bullet

Weak

Worked on the front-end of a web application using React.

Strong

Built and shipped the order-confirmation flow for a fintech consumer app (1.2m monthly users), reducing checkout drop-off from 14% to 6% over two months by replacing client-side validation with a typed Zod schema shared end-to-end.

The weak version names a technology. The strong version names a product, a user base, a measurable outcome, the timeframe and the technical decision that produced it. Engineering managers read CVs looking for evidence you can ship under real constraints, names and numbers prove that.

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Tailor your Software Developer CV in 30 seconds

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Software Developer CV FAQ

Should my Software Developer CV include a skills section or rely on the work history?

Both. A skills section gives the ATS the exact-match keywords it scans for (TypeScript, React, AWS, Postgres), which gets you past the filter. The work history is where you prove you've actually used them, what you built, who it served, what changed because of your work. A skills section without backed-up evidence is suspicious; work history without a skills section starves the ATS.

How much detail should I put about side projects on a developer CV?

If you have strong commercial experience, side projects belong in a one-line 'Notable side projects' bullet under interests, not as their own section. If you're early-career or career-changing, side projects can carry an entire role-style entry, named project, stack, what it does, link to repo or live demo. Either way, link to the code or the live thing, claims without artefacts read as inflated.

Do I need to include certifications like AWS Solutions Architect on a developer CV?

Only if the job ad mentions them or the role is clearly cloud-heavy (DevOps, platform engineering, SRE). Certifications without supporting commercial evidence look like a workaround. If you have both, list the cert and one bullet showing you've actually built something with it: 'AWS Solutions Architect Associate; designed and deployed an event-driven data pipeline using Kinesis + Lambda for X company'.

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