PROGgsu Resume Template + Guide

A clean, ATS-optimized LaTeX resume template + in-depth guide built by PROG @ GSU to help early-career developers write top-tier software engineering resumes.

Built by students, for students — powered by PROG @ GSU, Georgia State’s tech club for builders, coders, and creators.

GRAB THE TEMPLATE

📚 Table of Contents (click to expand)

• ✨ Writing an Amazing Resume
• 🧱 Resume Structure Overview
• 👣 Back to the Basics — Baby Steps
  • 🧢 Resume Header: Your Name + Links
  • 🎓 Education Section
• 🧈 Bullet Points (The Bread & Butter)
  • 🎯 The XYZ Formula
  • 📋 Bullet Point Guidelines
  • ✅ Bullet Point Self-Check
• 💼 Work Experience Section
  • 🔧 Title Upgrades
  • ❌ Common Mistakes
• 🛠️ Projects Section
  • 🎯 Project Writing Rules
  • 💡 Pro Tips
• 🧠 Skills Section
  • ✅ What to Include
  • ❌ Common Mistakes
• 🚀 Getting the Template

---

✨ Writing an Amazing Resume

This guide compiles the best resume practices to get into these tech roles we're all aiming for — even with no prior experience.

🤔 Does my resume even matter that much?

Your resume is the biggest asset in your job search!

Before any interview, referral, or offer — it needs to get past the recruiter screen and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

• It's asymmetric: a few hours of focused resume work can unlock dozens of interview opportunities.
• In this space we're breaking into, your resume is often the first impression — so let’s make it count.

---

🧱 Resume Structure Overview

Recruiters skim resumes in 6–12 seconds. Top to bottom. Left to right.

So we structure by relevance, not chronology:

1. Work Experience — put below Education if you're applying to internships
2. Education
3. Skills
4. Projects
5. Coursework
6. Leadership / Clubs
7. Awards / Certifications

💡 If you're applying for internships, keep Education at the top. Intern recruiters care most about your school, GPA, and that you're a current student. If you've interned at a FAANG company, lead with that!

---

👣 Back to the Basics — Baby Steps

---

🧢 Resume Header: Your Name + Links

The header should immediately tell the recruiter who you are and how to reach you.

✅ What to include (on 1–2 lines max):

• Full Name (large, bold)
• Email
• Phone number (U.S. only)
• GitHub
• LinkedIn
• Portfolio/Website (if relevant and active)
• Citizenship status (especially useful if you have a non-Western name)

❌ Common Mistakes

• Using .edu email (especially if you don't check it)
• Not linking LinkedIn — recruiters actually click this!
• Including your full mailing address (obsolete)
• Hyperlinking text (just show the raw URL)

---

🎓 Education Section

Your Education section should be compact, clean, and front-loaded with the most important info — especially for internships. For seasoned Professional: The more work experience you rack up the less relevant university-related information gets, so section like relevant course work, honors or awards will most likely be removed unless it is super impressive or "name-brand"

✅ What to include:

• University name
• City/State (optional unless applying local)
• Degree + Major (Minor is optional)
• Expected graduation date (critical!)
• GPA (if 3.5+)
• Relevant coursework: Data Structures, Algorithms, Software Engineering, etc.
• Honors/Awards (or leadership if none)

🔎 Keep this to 2–3 lines max. It should never take up more vertical space than your biggest project.

---

🧈 Before We Move On... Let's Talk Bullet Points (Your Bread & Butter)

Bullet points are 90% of your technical signal.

Bad bullet points = mid resume
Strong bullet points = legit internship-level resume

🎯 The XYZ Formula

Accomplished [X] by doing [Y], resulting in [Z]

This is how we write high-signal, ATS-optimized bullets. Be concrete. Be quantifiable. Be technical.

---

❌ Bad Example:

Made a multiplayer typing game using React and Socket.IO.

✅ Good Example:

Developed a real-time multiplayer typing simulator using React and WebSockets, to support 50+ concurrent users with <50ms latency and persistent session states, resulting in 3,000+ matches played in the first month.

---

📋 Bullet Point Guidelines

• Start with a strong technical action verb (Developed, Engineered, Optimized)
• Include a feature + tech used
• Explain why it mattered
• Include results or metrics if possible

💡 Stuck? Brain-dump what you did. Then rewrite it with the XYZ structure.

✅ Bullet Point Self-Check

• Does it start with a technical action verb?
• Does it name at least one tool/tech?
• Does it show why that feature mattered?
• Does it include a number or result?

---

💼 Work Experience Section

This is your core section if you’ve had internships, freelance gigs, research, or even volunteer engineering work.

Even without big names on your resume, you can still make this section look like a legit engineer's — if your bullets are solid.

✅ What to Include:

• Position title (make it sound technical!)
• Company/Org name
• Location (optional; use “Remote” if relevant)
• Start + End Dates
• 3–4 bullets using the XYZ method

---

🔧 Title Upgrades

Original Title	Better Version
“Intern”	Software Engineering Intern
“Volunteer Web Dev”	Web Developer
“Research Assistant”	Computer Science Researcher
“IT Assistant”	Backend Developer

---

❌ Common Mistakes

• ❌ Vague bullets like “Helped with codebase”
• ❌ No tech/tools listed
• ❌ No outcomes or impact
• ❌ Using the same verb repeatedly
• ❌ 5+ bullets or one-line walls of text

💡 Pro Tips

• Use LinkedIn job listings as inspiration
• Write long-term personal projects like jobs
• Open source = valid experience if team-based

TLDR: Don’t write like a student learning — write like an engineer shipping.

---

🛠️ Projects Section

Projects are your proof of work.

Treat every project like a feature at a startup — not a class assignment.

Most recruiters skim this, but hiring managers read it closely.

---

✅ What to include:

• Project name
• 1-line tech stack summary
• 3–4 bullets using XYZ
• GitHub/demo link

---

🎯 Project Writing Rules

• Use strong action verbs
• Include tech stack
• Explain problem solved
• Show metrics/impact

---

❌ Common Mistakes

• ❌ “Built a personal website using HTML/CSS”
• ❌ No bullets
• ❌ Generic verbs
• ❌ No tech
• ❌ No results

---

💡 Pro Tips

• Think like a product engineer: What problem? Who used it? What changed?
• Reframe class projects like real-world features
• Use phrases like:
  • Secure backend
  • Real-time sync
  • Seed-based PRNG
  • Stateless scaling
  • GraphQL API

---

🧠 Skills Section

This section helps ATS match you to job descriptions — and rounds out your technical profile.

For internships: include most technologies you’ve touched and can talk about

---

✅ What to Include (in 2–3 lines max)

• Programming languages
• Frameworks/libraries
• Tools/platforms
• Databases/cloud

⚠️ Don’t label groups — mix by relevance and strength.

❌ Common Mistakes

• ❌ Putting “problem solving” or “communication” — this isn’t LinkedIn
• ❌ Alphabetizing or randomly ordering

🚀 Getting the Template

To use the LaTeX resume template:

1. Open in Overleaf (view-only link):
   👉 Click here to view and copy

2. Make a copy to your own Overleaf account
   File → Copy Project

3. Or copy the .tex code into a new Overleaf project manually

---

More tips, writing patterns, and examples coming soon...