7 Tips on How to Write a Great Coding Bootcamp Resume
Finishing a coding bootcamp is no small feat. It takes a lot of work to prepare for a coding bootcamp and to successfully complete the program. Completing a bootcamp is a big step toward starting your new career but it’s not the final step – it’s time to start looking for work.
Having a solid resume is a key part of landing the job you want, and strategically incorporating your bootcamp experience in your resume, including your classes and languages you learned along the way, will help you stand out among the competition. Before you know it, you can land your dream job and be in a prime position to repay your bootcamp loan. Here are 7 tips you should consider to create a great coding bootcamp resume.
#1 Highlight Your Most Impressive Coding Projects
The first tip for how to write a bootcamp resume is being thoughtful about how you highlight all the things you did in your bootcamp. In school, you’ll design and build multiple projects over the course of your program. That doesn’t mean you should list them all on your resume to make it longer – instead, focus on your top projects (most appealing, cleanest code, etc.). In addition, be sure to highlight your relevant work that shows recruiters and potential employers that you’re ready to do the job you’re applying for. You made sure to practice the best ways to succeed in a coding bootcamp, and now you need to make sure you capture all that hard work concisely in your resume. In addition, one way to make your resume stand out against other candidates is to include any side projects in addition to the work you did as part of your bootcamp. Recruiters and hiring managers won’t read every word of your resume at first glance, so it’s best not to overwhelm the page and the person reading it.
For the side projects you list, make sure to include a link to your GitHub profile (or wherever you choose to archive your software projects)!
#2 Link to Your Online Portfolio
Most recruiters will expect to see a portfolio of your work. Hosting your projects in a single place is a great way to prove to recruiters that you can write code that works and looks good. For easy templates, check out Squarespace, Zety, or WordPress. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even code the website yourself – especially if you’d like to flaunt your new web development skills!
#3 Include Your Bootcamp as Your Most Recent Experience
A major benefit of coding bootcamps is that they can help elevate students who couldn’t access traditional higher education or other students who attended some college but didn’t earn their degree. Depending on your background, you should list your coding bootcamp as your most recent experience and include any relevant pre-course work or other classes you’ve taken in the past that can now be applied to your future career.
On the flip side, according to Course Report, most bootcamp graduates also have an undergraduate degree. If you earned an undergraduate degree, you can include both your college degree and your bootcamp program in the “education” section of your resume. Your recent education and training will help recruiters see that while you might not have professional job experience in coding (yet), you have valuable bootcamp experience that can help set you apart from the competition.
#4 Make Sure Your Summary is a Summary
Briefly explain your professional experience before attending a bootcamp and where you’d like to end up afterward. You may want to consider segmenting your skills separately.
Don’t forget to include the languages, frameworks, operating systems, and methodologies you mastered while in school or independently. Remember that this isn’t the place to go into detail about your professional history—you will have a chance to be a bit more descriptive in your cover letter.
In your resume summary, you should attempt to be concise and strive to get just the high-level information across (after all, it’s a summary!).
#5 Use Career Services
Forget everything you may remember about “career services” from high school or college. Most bootcamp programs have partnerships with local (and national) companies who specifically help bootcamp graduates find a job after their program ends. If there are optional networking events, like career fairs or workshops, go to them. If you don’t, someone who made a personal connection with the recruiter at a professional event may end up landing that dream job.
While researching which bootcamp to attend, you probably read about the percentage of students who found a full-time job after graduation, and that’s because bootcamp programs often focus on student outcomes. Your program wants to see you succeed, and they should make all the resources available to help you get a job. Be sure to use those resources.
If you have yet to go through a bootcamp and are still trying to figure out if a bootcamp is right for you, do some research into how the program helps students find jobs after bootcamp completion. For more information, check out these tips on how to choose a bootcamp.
#6 Choose a Good Format
This tip on how to write a resume for coding bootcamp graduates is a solid tip for all resume writing. There are so many resume templates available, and they all are very similar. Try not to deviate from the classic format for your coding bootcamp resume. It may not seem like it, but details matter when creating your coding bootcamp resume. Check out Adobe’s guide to selecting the right font for your resume here. While recruiters appreciate candidates who stand out, they also enjoy a resume that provides them with the information they want and in the manner and format they might expect. Use the content in your resume to stand out rather than the way you format your resume.
#7 Tailor Your Resume Each Time
No two jobs are the same. What one company might want from an employee could be entirely different than what another company wants. Similar job postings with different responsibilities and job titles are common. Study the job posting and understand what the company is looking for from the right candidate who will eventually fill the position. Tweak your resume so that it conveys the message that you’re the best person for the job.
Start Applying
Once you’ve got your resume in good shape, you’re ready to start applying. With our tips above, you should be in a good position to take on the interview process and start your new career.
Ascent wants to support you on your journey to success, which is why we offer a variety of resources and blogs to help you navigate your journey through a bootcamp and beyond. For more information on achieving your goals after completing your bootcamp, check out our post on how to get a job after coding bootcamp.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you put coding bootcamp on your resume?
You should put your coding bootcamp in the education section of your resume along with any other completed college education you have. Additionally, you can add your coding bootcamps to your work experience to emphasize the skill, knowledge, and experience you gained in the program.
Is a bootcamp program good to put on a resume?
A bootcamp program is absolutely good to put on your resume. Not only does it shine a light on your skills and education, but it also shows that you have the dedication and work ethic to successfully complete a comprehensive and often rigorous program.
