A developer's CV: structure and a worked example

The one-page rule

A beginner's CV fits on one page. Two pages from someone without experience means padding: lists of courses, character traits and technologies they've only read about.

Whoever reads it spends under a minute on the first pass. In that time they need to understand who you are, what you can do, and what you've built.

Order of blocks

1. Who you are and what you're after. Two lines at the very top. "Junior developer, Python. Looking for a first job or internship, available full time."

2. Projects. For a beginner this is the main block and it goes first. Two or three, each following the same shape: what it is, your role, technologies, link.

3. Skills. A list, honest, with no percentage bars. Split into "confident" and "have touched" — that reads as more trustworthy than a flat list of twenty items.

4. Work history. If you have any, even outside the field. Retail work is work: it says something about responsibility and dealing with people.

5. Education and courses. At the end, one or two lines.

6. Contacts and links. Code profile, portfolio, email, a way to reach you.

A worked example

Bad:

A goal-oriented and quick-learning specialist striving for professional growth in the field of information technology. Completed the "Python Developer" course (9 months). Proficient in: Python, Django, Flask, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, Git, Linux, React.

What's wrong: the first sentence carries no information, the course leads, and the technology list is obviously inflated — nobody masters all of that in nine months.

Good:

Junior developer, Python. Looking for a first role, available full time.

Receipt-based expense tracker — a service that reads the amount from a photo and files it into a monthly report. Built entirely by me: Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, deployed in a container. Live: link. Code: link.

Booking service for a dance studio — team project, three people. Owned the database and booking logic, took part in reviewing others' code. Link.

Confident: Python, FastAPI, SQL, Git. Have touched: Docker, Redis.

Here you can see what the person built, what backs it up, and where their knowledge ends.

What shouldn't be there

• Claims of being stress-resistant, quick-learning and a team player with no examples.
• Percentages or star ratings next to technologies.
• A photograph in a tie. It isn't needed at all.
• Date of birth, marital status and full address.
• Links that don't open.

What strengthens it

A team project with a clear description of your part. That's usually what an interview returns to: how you divided the work, what got discussed, what you learned about yourself.

And when your part was described not by you but by the person you worked with, the CV stops being a story about yourself and becomes a set of checkable facts.