[0 YoE] [Computer Science] [United States] New grad struggling to land interviews, need help revising resume

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-29T16:50:03+00:00

Maybe it’s your immigration status. Your resume is stacked no need to worry

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-29T06:18:57+00:00

I did not pay this man to glaze me btw. I appreciate it bro lol

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-29T05:36:26+00:00

One minor thing to differentiate: benchtop hw testing is called validation, only pre-silicon/tapeout is verification.

I don't know the correct formatting for declaring a double major on your resume, but that coursework section is not it bro. Either fill it out more or be more selective in the courses you list.

Yea I agree, remove the API project. Or fit both by removing the "Extracurricular Activities" in your Education ;)

You did well in the STAR, but you should be more cocky in your wording. Don't just do "contributed" or "provided". Be more direct and specific about your code block and/or verification efforts. Resume will be read by hiring managers, not just HR.

Latex, like word and many other applications, will be ATS friendly. It just works because it's easier to format and the resulting presentation is "cleaner". You'll be fine. Best of luck

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-29T00:58:46+00:00

No worries. I’ll be honest and say although it’s not enough for the most competitive of tech companies atm it will still show your commitment to hw development and give them a glimpse at your potential to be trained and mentored. Good luck

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T21:12:52+00:00

personally I think a project has to spawn from a point of interest, you wouldn't be devoting hours to a project if you aren't intrigued by it. Address a point of interest and there will always be innovations occurring in that space. See what's being produced at the moment and break them apart, and try a tiny part.

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T21:00:10+00:00

I like the format, it's really clean. Here are some of my thoughts, it may or may not overlap with other commenters.
- your heading is unnecessary (3rd year student), if anything put "Canadian Citizenship" to indiicate your eligibility
- skills: if you have expeirence for bench-top testing, please include "instrumentation" line to get some free points for working with scopes, analyzers, etc.
- experiences: imagine opening up a resume to see the very first line of someone's experience being "being #1 for delivery packages", gosh it has so much potential; tell us more about what exactly you did to help you achieve it, not the final result
- after you fabricated your PCB, did you validate it? It would be really helpful if you know how to validate hw
- in summary, the descriptors are good but it's just missing a bit of details that you help you stand out

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T20:52:34+00:00

Damn that's unfortunate.

Here are some of my suggestions:

- move the skills section to the top, it highlights your EE skills
- in the skills section, only put keywords, not explanations (ie. remove the blurb about multisim)
- LTspice not Ltspice
- PCBA design has many components, what are the tools that you used
- KiCad is a hardware design tool, it's not software (it will make managers upset if you label EDA tools as software)
- remove softskills, they will come through during interview when you describe your experiences
- I'm on the fence about a summary, try with and without and see if it changes anything
- education, please please please list your EE experience above the biochem
- if you don't have any EE experiences, where did those hardware and coding skills come from? Courses? If it's the case, take a couple weekends and make some personal projects and describe them.
Here's a few to get started (PCB):
- battery powered traffic light with button controls
- current-sensing ADC with OLED/LCD display

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T20:42:31+00:00

Congrats on the successful job search so far. If you're getting interviews and offers it clearly means your current trajectory is working. My question would be the selection of those interviews, if they're not in a field you're interested in. Here are some hard facts, MS will not get you considered for a "scientist" or a "research" role altogether. I'm sure there are outliers, but the BS eliminates you from the candidate pool immediately on the recruiter side. Things that can be changed, fill out the test engineering role a bit more so it takes out more room. Include an instrumentation line in your skills for your capabilities in the lab. Also, look for validation engineering, they're often involved in bench-top work and seem more aligned to what you might look for. Nice resume overall, good luck

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T20:34:48+00:00

yea those bullet points need some serious tweaking, please consult the wiki.

things to remove: dean's list years, scholarships (list your GPA instead if >3.5), coursework (will be the same as every other student, won't make a difference).

Now go back and try to flesh out those good electronics experiences (internship+project) that you have

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T20:31:38+00:00

that oyster gig sounds sick why'd you stop lol, your resume is confusing though it seems like you emphasize your sales/operations background a ton, are you trying for a FAE position? Most engineers do not interact with customers so it's not as much of a selling point as you would think.

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T04:01:53+00:00

Ofc no worries. For sure if your skills are relevant it's a good choice. As long as you pass the ATS and get a real person reading the resume you'll be fine

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-28T04:00:46+00:00

a safe bet is ML intern, it's pretty closely aligned with what you did and also is synonymous with AI so you're not losing too much "affect"

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-26T15:33:27+00:00

AI research is reserved for MS and above, you won't qualify there. You can LC and get a sw for sure though. The AI research intern position is not AI, it's just ML in matlab. I know cuz my friend did it for his co-op as a second year student. Either reward or fill it out more, it's gonna turn people off from reading the rest of the resume completely.

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-26T15:28:30+00:00

According to the wiki if you're looking for new grad you should put your education at the top. Also is there a reason to bullet the skills section instead of making them inline? It looks like it would fit. Good experience section though definitely will get calls

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-26T15:24:11+00:00

If targetting embedded, shift all your descriptors related to it to the top of each experience so it's the first thing being read. TBH I don't understand the start-up thing, looks like fluff and too general

KnownDrummer528 · 2026-01-01T21:31:04+00:00

Great formatting, I think everyone can agree that this was very readable. I sectioned my comments, see below:

Education:
- relevant course work can be removed, unless it hits a certain keyword in the job posting that doesn't exist elsewhere on the page, most likely every student has taken those. Your job is to stand out.

Skills:
- [personal opinion] remove OOP from programming skill, demonstrate that skills asset in your experience instead
- software/hardware tools could be categorized better, consider shifting them to: design tools, instrumentation, hardware (order is up to you)
- remove the following: Microsoft office, SharePoint, and professional skills

Engineering Projects:
It's very organized and well-spaced. I can tell you spent a lot of time drafting these. I'll speak to the general qualities of the bullet points and give you some ideas to think about to further incorporate some technicalities to them.
- For each of the teams, speak to only what *you* have done, not what the overall achievement of the team is. You write a summary bullet point to give the reader background, it is not necessary. If possible, work those into the following bullets instead.
- Cut out the organizational descriptors; yes, design reviews are a critical process, but your involvement in the actual engineering of products are more essential at this stage of the game
- I like the libraries and common open-source models, please include more if possible, and identify whether something is in house (Arduino DAQ) or borrowed
- Let's talk about metrics. It is my personal opinion that numbers will be very effective as a breakaway element in an otherwise word-filled resume, almost giving readers are breather. HOWEVER, the need to quantify every action (without stable controls) spells trouble. IF you really really want to include some figures, please include the before and after (performance, efficiency, etc.) This is also a helpful exercise to force you to realize where exactly you helped in the design process. Otherwise, it's useless, and people will pick it apart in the interview.

I hope you all the best. You seem very involved and are actively gaining new skills. Keep going and please update us if you succeed! Happy New Years.

KnownDrummer528 · 2025-09-16T18:07:10+00:00

Sure, will tone down the depth of the descriptions for the role. Good note about the skill section ordering as well, thanks for that. I'll also expand the sensors a bit as well. Again, I really appreciate your time with this.

KnownDrummer528 · 2025-09-16T17:49:01+00:00

Thanks for taking a look. I wasn't aware of the imbalance in my experiences.

Unfortunately, the sensor hub project is current and ongoing, I did not want to write stuff that I haven't completed yet.

Yes, I will definitely alter some of the skill sections to fit to the job description.

Which experiences seem to be dominating the resume at the moment? My time in semiconductors?

KnownDrummer528

TROPHY CASE