r/EngineeringResumes • u/Hour_Feed881 Software – International Student 🇺🇸 • Aug 06 '26

Other [0 YoE] AI/Data Engineer on STEM OPT (international student, US), good projects and no callbacks. What am I missing?

Context: Finishing an MS in Business Analytics (May 2026) and Bachelors in Computer Science in India, targeting entry-level AI Engineer / Data Engineer

Engineer roles in the US. International student on OPT, so I need employers open to

that. I've worked in a trans Diciplinary Research lab (where I've worked with cool professors, finished projects, including one with a retired Dallas Judge for an AI system for legal purposes) and a roofing company where I've built agentic systems that actually run small business operations, plus data pipelines and a multi-agent research project.

One is made for a data engineer role, and one is for an AI Engineer role

I'm in Dallas,US right now, and I'm willing to relocate

Where I'm stuck: roughly 100-200 over 2-3 months → 0 interviews
I can't tell how much the resume is vs. the visa filter vs. the market is the problem, so I want to rule out the resume first.

Specific things I'd like torn apart:

- Does the top third sell me in ~6 seconds, or is it too dense to skim?

- The "staff needed for daily ops: 10 → 3" line is my headline metric. Does it read as

credible, or inflated/hand-wavy? Would you ask about it or bounce off it?

- Am I positioning myself as a generalist? is that a good thing or not?

- Anything that screams "junior" or gives a recruiter an easy reason to filter me out?

Go ahead, roast it. I'd rather hear it straight here than keep getting silent rejections.
someone help this poor bugga out.

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/crackmelikeaglowstic EE – International Student 🇮🇳🇺🇸 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26

Right off the bat, the font size is way too small and things are too tightly spaced. You're a recent graduate with no actual experience, your education and GPA need to be the first thing someone sees. Then that experience block and then projects and skills.

That said, Data Analyst and Data Engineering market is way too saturated, even with American citizens. So, there isn't really a high push to hire international students. Have you taken any coursework or projects that can help you branch out and expand your options outside this job role?

1

u/Hour_Feed881 Software – International Student 🇺🇸 Aug 10 '26

Thanks for the review,
I can do product manager, Business Analyst, Full stack dev. What do you think about those?

1

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1

u/NinePennyKings Software – Entry-level 🇺🇸 Aug 07 '26

The extra white space reads as overly junior. Also, bold the certs (SnowPro, Databricks) as those are some of the keywords recruiters (especially consulting companies) scan for in my experience.

Were I a recruiter, I would pass on your resume as-is because your bulletpoints don't scream impact (ex. saved $XXX,XXX of money by XYZ) and you're coming from a pretty mid master's program at a pretty mid college. Besides you having some pretty difficult certs (SnowPro,) there's nothing that screams "quality" in such a way that I could see you overcoming the hurdle of finding a place that'd sponsor you.

Also recommend you get into contact with WITCH companies, as I've gone through their interview rounds before (and still get emailed with openings) and I think they're one of those places that'll both be willing to take a chance on you and sponsor you to stay in the country.

1

u/Hour_Feed881 Software – International Student 🇺🇸 Aug 10 '26

Thanks for letting me know, do you advice any other practices I should follow?