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Tips for Writing an Engineering Resume

Stephen Rampur
A resume is the first impression of a person in an interview. If you're applying for a technical or engineering job, these tips will help write an engineering resume.
There are many sub-fields available in the engineering field - such as civil, technical, mechanical, and software development. Engineering resumes are to be drafted in a different manner than normal resumes, as they contain special factors that are highly specific to the position or field applied for.

Name

This is the first thing that the interviewer will see, he may guess your religion by it. The font style is very important, as the name should be understandable. The font size should be in proportion to the font size used throughout the resume. Mention the full name and do not include pet names. This rule is applicable to every type of resume.

Summary

The summary is a section that tells the interviewer who you are. A summary in a technical resume will not be similar to that of a general resume, as engineering is a technical field. Before applying for a technical position, one needs to study all requirements and expectations that are needed from an applicant.
In this field, experience is considered the most important factor that can get you selected. The number of years related to your work experience, should be presented in the first line if you need to attract the reader's interest.
The preparation of the summary should be according to the level of requirements and skills that are anticipated. This includes key skills, software languages, and computer software and tools. Don't waste space on writing about yourself, rather highlight what you know and what you can do.

Skills

The skill section includes your technical proficiencies and abilities. This section in a computer engineer's resume will be full of software languages, hardware operations known, servers, ERPs, CRMs, and other technologies. Unlike the summary, it should contain detailed information of your engineering skills.
The recruiter would mainly focus on the specific skills which are needed in the company's project. Apart from technical skills, one can even mention his managerial and leadership skills in this section, that would surely be beneficial for the applicant.

Work Experience

This section includes details about past working history like the name of the previous companies worked in, name and dates of projects, positions held and other project-related details. When applying for a computer engineering position, reverse chronological type of resume is recommended, as it gives a clear idea and understanding of work history in detail.
In the software development field, an employee can work on numerous projects while being in a single consulting company. In such cases, resumes with a reverse chronological order are simple to understand.
The applicant needs to mention every minute technical detail of the projects worked on, as the resume is technical oriented. This includes collection and analysis of data, designing, programming, developing, software testing, compiling, and go-live of the project. Details of academic projects can also be included in this section.

Education, Trainings, Certifications, and Awards

In this section, the detailed education of the candidate should be mentioned, such as an associates, a bachelors, masters, or a PhD degree. It should also consist of all private and corporate trainings that have been attended by the applicant.
If the candidate is certified in a specialization, he should mention the name of the certification along with the institute or college he completed his certification from. Corporate awards or recognitions, if received, also should be mentioned in this section.
The change in the matter of a technical resume is unstable due to the rapid knowledge upgrade. By incorporating these guidelines in your engineering resume, you certainly would make a good impression on the interviewer.