Staring at a blank page when you’re trying to make a cover letter or create a resume can be demoralizing. These nine DevOps resume templates are designed to help you get started writing a resume that will help you land interviews for your next (or first) DevOps role in 2024.
The hardest part is getting started. These resumes have helped engineers get interviews at companies like Stripe and Dropbox, so they’re a great place to start.
Seal experience gaps
- Recent graduates can (and should) take advantage of all their university projects to highlight that they’re all set to take on a real-world job.
- To convince employers, include basic DevOps tasks like identifying and fixing code errors, creating automation scripts, improving the performance efficiency of infrastructure, etc.
- While not necessarily mandatory, check your resume to see if you can add more of your technical expertise like managing backend code or creating shell scripts that help your peers monitor systems.
Show skills with value
- There are two technical skills that you cannot afford to forget to add to a DevOps resume—AWS and Kubernetes.
- You don’t have to be an expert at both, but they help you convey that you’ve got what it takes to automate processes in daily operations and manage the latest infrastructure.
- Don’t stop at listing them in your resume’s skill section. Write about how you’ve encouraged team engineers to implement best practices on AWS or your contribution to helping developers fix broken deployments on Kubernetes.
Deploy certificates
- No matter what level of DevOps position you’re applying to, certificates will always come in handy. If you’ve got a bunch of tech-based ones, we recommend including only those relevant to the role.
- In this case, using certificates like AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Certified Kubernetes Administrator, Puppet Certified Professional, and Certified Jenkins Engineer will be most helpful.
- These certs don’t go for sale like candy and employers understand that getting one takes practice and cracking tough exams.
Leverage a career objective
- Be strategic about when you write a resume objective or summary.
- A career objective is more suited for graduates who are still newcomers and applying for entry-level DevOps roles. Ideally, you want to talk about your passion for being a DevOps engineer and your overall goals at the new company.
- A career summary on the other hand is best for those who’ve spent long years in DevOps. It should include the greatest achievements throughout your career and how you aim to grow even more at a new workplace.
Paint your career journey
- Not everyone starts out as a DevOps engineer or lead and that’s completely fine. What’s not fine is confusing employers by not connecting your past roles with the current on.
- Don’t be hesitant to include other roles such as a software developer or system administrator. Even if they’re not entirely the same as those in DevOps, they include similar duties like automating monotonous tasks and maintaining system security.
- Remember to highlight work experience bullet points that are most relevant to the job you’re applying to.
Going for brevity
- We know, there’s probably a lot you want to let employers know—from being proficient in tools like Jenkins and AWS to how your management skills ensured team members followed the best practices.
- But here’s the deal, you don’t want to go overboard. Instead of writing a long list of work experience bullet points, use only four points for each job.
- Using pre-built templates can help you design a concise resume that employers can easily scan and decide in your favor.
Conquer the ATS
- Many companies today use an Application Tracking System to curate applications before a recruiter see the resumes.
- To reach the hiring manager, your resume must hit the right cords with the ATS. Keywords from the job description like Amazon Web Services, develop CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes autoscaling, etc. are you best ally. Each job is unique and will contain different keywords, so it’s best to read carefully before applying.
- Also, keep visual aesthetics at a minimum. This means no fancy graphs, charts, or acronyms.
Match the expectations
- Sticking to the job description is always a good idea. Don’t include generic sentences that don’t give employers a reason to choose you over other candidates.
- If you’re aiming for a lead position, then go through all the responsibilities listed like providing guidance to DevOps engineers and making sure the company’s infrastructure is compliant with current regulations.
- Next, craft your bullet points accordingly to show how you can handle these duties. Pro tip: Use direct keywords like Managed X DevOps engineers or Revamped the company’s existing policy.
Sharing references
- One of the best resume tips we can provide is adding references. Whether it be your university professor or a past employer, get in touch and see if they’re willing to help.
- The best way to go about this is by using references that have seen your ability to manage teams, oversee infrastructure, and use containerization and version control tools.
- An outsider’s perspective helps hiring managers judge your personality and how well you can fit into the role.
Related resume guides
How to Add DevOps to Your Resume
Adding DevOps to your resume doesn’t have to be a mystery. We’ll teach you how to write your experience in a way that is both customized to the DevOps job role and unique to the skills you bring to the table.
- Highlight an increasing degree of responsibility in DevOps
Start by including the specific DevOps job title you want beneath your name. If your current job is as an associate DevOps engineer, but the role you’re pursuing is for a senior DevOps engineer, list the latter beneath your name.
Decide if you’ll include a resume objective or summary. They’re good options if you take the time to tailor them to the specific role. In an objective, you can speak to past engineering and infrastructure responsibilities that will equip you to begin a career in DevOps. With a resume summary, you can quickly highlight the real value and job success you’ve brought to past DevOps roles.
Most importantly, format your resume so that you share your most recent, most experienced role first. If you began your career path in software development, that should be at the bottom of your resume. The top of your resume is what hiring managers see first, so right away, list your most experienced role so that they can quickly see your abilities as a manager in a technical team environment, a leader and expert in the application of principles, and deliverer when it comes to project completion and improvement.
- Lead with active verbs that show ownership and autonomy in your projects
Use DevOps-specific verbiage to propel your job experience bullet points forward. Some examples include:
◉ Managed
◉ Developed
◉ Improved
◉ Collaborated
◉ Implemented
◉ Created
◉ Built
◉ Delivered
◉ Mentored
◉ Coached
◉ Engineered
◉ Automated
◉ Diagnosed - List skills keeping with your DevOps experience and the job description essentials
Check the DevOps job listing because there are a zillion skills you could include—but probably shouldn’t! No matter how great of a DevOps engineer you are, you simply can’t know every technology, scripting language, CI/CD toolset, automation servers, container management tools, etc.
Let’s say a company lists different source code management tools you should have in your wheelhouse, mentioning things like Python, Bamboo, Ansible, and Jenkins. You may only be casually familiar with Bamboo, but Python, Ansible, and Jenkins—now, you’ve got some years of experience with that! Those are the kind of skills you want to add to your DevOps resume.
- Include any necessary DevOps certifications
While one job may require you to be a Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), another job ad may not require any certification. This is why it’s so important to tailor your resume to the job description. Don’t miss out on an interview and potentially the job itself just because you failed to mention your Jenkins certification.
Remember that some certs expire, such as a security certification like HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate. Be sure to keep on top of those details, so you remain up to date and can seamlessly transition into the job.
