ATS résumé checker for software engineers
Engineering résumés are usually rich in keywords, so they rarely fail on content. They fail on layout: two-column developer templates, skill bars, and grids of technology logos that a parser can't read.
How software engineers résumés score
From 100 anonymous checks classified as engineering. Counts only, never résumé text. See the State of the ATS
What trips up software engineers' résumés
Logo grids and skill bars
A row of React, AWS, and Docker icons is a set of images, and any text inside an image is invisible to a parser. A five-dot skill rating says nothing a machine can use. List technologies as plain text.
Two-column templates
Popular developer templates put skills in a sidebar. Parsers that read straight across each line interleave the sidebar with your job history. One column is the safe choice.
Tool names that don't match the posting
Our parser knows that k8s means Kubernetes and golang means Go, but a screen often matches the posting's exact wording. Use the spelling the posting uses at least once.
Side projects under an unrecognized heading
Projects, Personal Projects, and Select Projects map to a projects field. Clever headings like "Things I've Built" don't, so that work may never be filed.
Keywords our parser recognizes for this field
Only list what you genuinely have, and use the wording of the posting you're applying to. A free check shows which of the posting's terms your résumé is missing.
Headings that map cleanly
Each of these maps to a standard field. If a heading on your résumé doesn't, the check flags it.
Know which ATS you're facing
Different platforms read the same file differently. Read the guide for the one on your application.
See exactly what the bot pulls from your résumé
Upload your résumé and paste the job posting. You'll see every field the parser extracts, every problem above that applies to you, and the posting's terms you're missing.
Check my résumé, free