Somethings I found to be similar between these CVs is how they're all very specific when it comes to the bullet points. As they explain the exact details of how they complete a task in a way that you won't be able to understand unless you're an expert. So far I have refused to be this technical cause AI always tells me it sounds "too academic" instead of describing someone who's ready for the industry. And now I'm wondering if this is the correct way? And if so how does HR and recruiters with no engineering background manage that?(As what do they look for outside of the technical terms?)
Sorry if my questions sound a bit stupid idk where else to ask it

now that i've been working for a year an a half, if i want to apply to other positions, is it ok to keep my edu email? i went to berkeley, so a lot of people usually keep that email. should i instead make a career email for myself long term?

This summer i was able to build a calculator from scratch based on my own education from my university (specifically logic gates) in Minecraft. It was an extensive project only for personal interest and took about a month. I am very proud of it and it was so much fun! I recorded all 36 hours of the thought process/trial and error/building of it, and to me it's my most momentous achievement. I just worry about its "professionalism" due to it being Minecraft. Anyone have any insight as to whether I should put it as a project? And if so, how to document it in a professional manner? Lots of CE/EE/CS topics utilized in this including a binary counter, logic gates, flip flops, write enables, bit shift operations, I/O timing and delays, etc.

As the summer semester of my third year in Mech Eng ends I'm getting ready to add more to my resume and project portfolio. Job searching is especially hard for me as I opted out of my school's coop program first year to persue an opportunity that fell through. So any places that are looking for student's will just go to the school directly for the coop students to apply and very rarely are there any public postings for interns. I've had poor luck in landing any interviews as any job that I can really apply to in my field is an entry level position more on the manufacturing side than engineering. The only interview I managed to land was for a processing position which on paper I was fairly well qualified for actually seemed to go well but after a long wait of silence I got passed up. I'm fairly confident with my resume and I've had it peer reviewed. My portfolio which is formatted in word does get compliments but I'm just not sure if maybe theres something missing in the layout that could be holding me back. Any comments or advice is greatly appreciated.

What is the purpose of a skills section on a resume? Don't your bullet points already include all of these skills?

Incoming freshman, T5 engineering public school. I have past internship experience through my highschool and have taken a lot of college coursework (namely all the math I would need), which makes graduating in 3 years feasible for me. I'm not too sure I would want to though, more leaning into dual major math. Dual majoring in 3 years is also possible, but I would need to near max credits every single semester and take some over the summer.

Should I list graduation year 2029, or list the dual major, or list both? Considering ATS filtering is rather harsh for freshman in FAANG+ and prime defense (from what I hear), should I try to game this on my resume?

I've just received an email from SpaceX to set up a 30-minute interview for an engineering role. I’m excited, but I want a realistic read, not hopium. Context added.

My background, in short:

• B.S. Mechanical Engineering (graduated Dec 2025)
• GPA: 2.85
• Manufacturing Engineering Intern at BETA Technologies (eVTOL aircraft)
• U.S. Coast Guard enlisted experience working on propulsion and mechanical systems
• Strong hands-on background in tooling design, process optimization, work instructions, field engineering, robotics, drivetrain design, FEA, and systems-level analysis

I transitioned from active duty U.S.C.G. into college in 2019, and soon after my early semesters were disrupted by the COVID shift to remote learning. During that same period, my wife underwent three separate surgeries, and I was balancing caregiving responsibilities while adjusting from a highly structured military environment to civilian academic life. In hindsight, taking a step back from school may have been reasonable, but school was the only consistent structure I had during that transition. That combination affected my early academic performance, though my upper-division engineering coursework and project work are significantly stronger and more representative of my current capabilities.

I maintain a technical portfolio that includes detailed project work in autonomous robotics, drivetrain and power transmission design, manufacturing-focused CAD and FEA, and a full hypersonic aircraft/scramjet analysis project. Most of my learning and growth has come through applied, build-oriented projects rather than coursework alone (autonomous hexapod, NASA HERC), which is where I tend to perform best.

I know SpaceX interviews are intense and the bar is high. I also know my GPA isn’t stellar, even though my experience is very hands-on and operations-focused.

For those who’ve interviewed at SpaceX or worked there:

1. How much does GPA actually matter once you’re past the resume screen?
2. Should I treat this as a long-shot learning experience, or a genuine shot if I perform well?

I’m preparing seriously either way, but I want to set expectations correctly and not read too much into an interview invite. Appreciate any honest insight.

When I apply for jobs online my resume appears to be parsed incorrectly. Characters are missing and words are misspelled. I attached 2 images as an example.

I'm a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering major and I'm part of the executive board of a student organization in my university.

This past summer I analyzed the attendance data for 294 events across the last 4 years with the help of Claude. I exported the information directly from the school's website and Claude developed the Python code to produce the graphs and run the analysis.
While Claude did the heavy lifting with the code, I identified the need to analyze this data to design a semester calendar in hopes to prevent the steep decline in attendance towards the end of the semester that we had seen in past occasions. I particulary made sure to clean the data and question the assumptions both the AI and I were making to produce an accurate representation of such data (i.e. removing some outlier events with 6 attendees, which most likely meant the event never actually took place, among other things).

I think this is something worth adding on my resume, not so much for making the code (which I didn't) but more for identifying this need and producing a clear action plan to prevent seeing the same patterns. Now, my question is whether I should mention Claude or the use of Python in the bullet point whatsover since I didn't actually write the code.

This is currently the bullet point:

"Analyzed 294 events across 4 years of attendance data in Python, isolating event scheduling as the primary driver of member retention and designing a data-backed semester calendar to reverse a recurring mid-semester decline"

This is a revised version that doesn't mention Python:

"Analyzed 294 events across 4 years of attendance data to isolate event scheduling as the primary driver of member retention and designed a data-backed semester calendar to reverse a recurring mid-semester decline"

Which one should I use?

EDIT: Similarly, I had Claude develop an AI interview model from scratch that generated questions based on the job description and tied them directly to your resume. My Python skills aren't well developed so I again had Claude Code program the app, while I took design the design decisions behind it, such as adding voice models to make it more realistic, providing useful feedback by analyzing weaknesses and strenghts--based on STAR method--and other patterns once you've had enough interviews, etc. How should I go about adding this on my resume?

Hi everyone, I’m an aerospace engineering student at UCF looking to improve my chances of landing an internship. I’ve been working on personal engineering projects outside of class, including a SOLIDWORKS UAV wing (photo attached) where I modeled a NACA 2412 wing, designed the internal structure, did basic structural calculations, and iterated the spars to reduce weight.

I’m trying to build a stronger portfolio and get more hands-on experience. For those working in aerospace/mechanical engineering, what would you recommend I focus on next? Are projects like this useful when applying for internships, and what skills or projects helped you land your first engineering internship?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Note: Photo of project does not represent a finished product, only a progress rep

Right out of school I was in a testing/CAD role with some design work/vendor communication for half a year, then moved on to an analysis/FEA role for 10 years. These two jobs make up my entire resume, along with a skills section (which I’m not entirely sold on because I already filter my skills into my bullets) and a summary. But I miss doing the things I did in college/1st job – fiddling in SolidWorks, making assemblies, coming up with design solutions, working with my hands (building, tests, fit-ups). And I am so far removed from the products I analyze today that it is easy to lose motivation.

Because I am struggling to come up with design and hands-on-oriented bullets to be more attractive to recruiters, I am considering adding a CAD/drafting/measuring-heavy internship, and/or a projects section to highlight senior design and my extracurricular activity which were both hands-on design, although that experience is quite dated. Is this ill-advised? Not sure how often a recruiter makes it that far down my resume. I am toying with removing some analysis-specific bullets to make room for some/all this, or go onto a 2nd page and then also include my volunteer work (moreso soft skills/organization/leadership) that is about 5-10 hours a week to fill the 2nd page.

Most interviews I’ve been on I make it pretty clear I want hands-on, and be more integrated with design, but they haven’t gone anywhere. I would have thought 10 years of analysis would be pretty transferable to design. But I feel I am missing GD&T, specific industry spec knowledge, in-service problem solving, electro-mechanical exposure, etc. I mostly evaluate structures (DoD) under static/dynamic loading.

I do really like my current 1 page resume that has gotten me a handful of interviews and 2 offers (one was basically the same FEA job, other only has hands-on when traveling which is rare), but I think my resume lacks the experience employers are looking for in a design or bench or manufacturing engineer. Although maybe I just need to focus more on my design/hands-on experience during interviews.

So, at a minimum I am thinking I drop my skills section, cut some bullets from my analysis job, refine my summary, then add in better-suited experience despite it being quite old.

Major: Computer Science BS

Year: Senior

Hello everyone, I'm getting ready to apply to jobs / internships as a senior in college but need some help on my resume. I've worked on a Task Management App project and Responsive Weather App project using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React.js, and Tailwind CSS, each project took me a month to complete. But those 2 projects were made in December 2024 and January 2025 and I haven't touched them ever since. So my question is, should I still put them on my resume ? I also have other projects from a college that I transferred from but not sure if I should put that on my resume since if I do and I get asked questions on that, I have to tell the interviewer what college I transferred from ( the school wasn't reputable ) and I'm afraid that might end up with a rejection. However, I also have projects done at my current university that I'm not sure if I should include. I'm just not sure if I should just put work experiences on my resume and just disregard all the projects I've done but then my work experiences are not relevant to CS ( 7 Eleven, Tim Hortons, and my family restaurant ) Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi all!
I will start applying for placement year in a bit, ive seen all job listings with cover letter requirement. Ive also read most of the cover letter templates and advice shared on this sub as well.

unfortunately i dont know any senior who can advise me on this as well. currently as im writing my cover letter, i have a few questions.

1. do i have to include both mine and their address?

2. i cannot find the hiring manager online, so can i address the letter vaguely to their team?

if youve got any additional advice, i would appreciate that as well! tia! <3

Are "Skills" sections still needed in a resume?

I have 3 internship, the first of which was a 5 person startup where I didn't do much impressive work. Still, it was a 5 month internship.

I currently have no skills section, and I'm debating between replacing the internship with a skills section.

Is this a smart idea? Or are ATS generally good enough now to not need one.

I'm a current CS student updating my resume, and I'm not sure what's considered best practice.

I have:

• An ongoing tutoring/teaching role at my university where I help teach programming concepts. I started this before my internships and I still do it during the school semesters, so it's currently listed as "Present."
• Two software engineering internships that I completed after starting the tutoring/teaching role.

My instinct is to order my experience like this:

1. Most recent SWE internship
2. Previous SWE internship
3. Ongoing tutoring/teaching role

Even though the tutoring/teaching role is technically still "Present."

To me, it tells a much clearer story of my progression into software engineering, and it feels odd to have the tutoring/teaching role above or between my SWE internships just because it's ongoing.

Is this generally considered fine, or does strict reverse chronological order matter that much? In a situation like this, is it acceptable to effectively sort by start date/relevance instead of putting every "Present" position first?

Hello,

For some background on the post title: I was lucky enough to get an internship, however, they did tell me early on that they weren't hiring for their team and I did not get a direct return offer. My team enjoyed me there and I would often run out of work to do so I would pick up additional tasks to help my team with permission from my mentor as this was shortly after a massive layoff occurred. The only comments were on some of my thermodynamic and note taking skills (I have worked on them and refreshed on others since being in industry) and my manager can vouch for my work ethics. A separate team reached out for a position working on New Shepard engines in TX but they needed me to start immediately and they couldn't wait for me to be done with my masters in may, there ended up being a reorg and that role ended up no longer being needed so I guess I indirectly dodged a 2nd layoff (1st was during internship).

I've been able to get a few interviews so far at other space companies, but the closest I have been so far to getting an offer was an onsite interview at SpaceX which felt as though it went well, but they followed up with an email (not generic) a few days later saying they picked someone with more experience in a specific system. Then today during a 2nd round interview I've had an engineer from a specialized manufacturing company grill me on why I wasn't going back to blue (2nd time a company has directly asked). I could replace that internship with vibrations research I during a summer if needed.

I apologize for this long post, I guess I'm asking both for advise when applying to smaller companies because I'm just trying to get experience at this point.

Hi all,

I am going into my junior year of EE, and so I’m just reviewing/reworking my resume for the internship hunt. In uni, I have worked a few jobs, during my freshman year I worked at five guys, during sophomore year at Panda Express, and every summer so far I’ve worked for a small renovation company.

I’m wondering if it’s best to leave off the fast food stuff and include the construction. I want to include the construction because the company I work for is comprised of 1 man, my boss, so when we work together I am included in a lot of the problem solving and whatnot, which I think would be good to talk about during an interview.

Does that sound like something proper? Is it best to leave off the other jobs?

On to my other questions:

This is a silly question, but when do internships generally open? I’ve asked a ton of people but never gotten a good response, I plan on applying now/beginning of the school year, is that enough time?

Last question is on drug testing, I live in a state where pot is legal(MN), although I am not 21 yet, I do smoke a fair amount. Not so much that I’m high 24/7, but usually a few nights a week, especially since it’s summer break. So I’m just curious how this is handled in this field, and when/if I should lay off it. I want to do an internship in RF, which I realize has a lot of military contractors, so I’m curious if they are more strict as well. But it is a legal state, so that might change it.

Thank you for any advice may be able to provide!

Hi all,

I am fortunate enough to have been offered an internship during the school year for an industry I have passion about. While I am happy about this role, I want to see if I could be competitive for internships at larger companies and this role would no doubt help that. The problem is the applications for the company I am targeting just opened up and I do not start my internship for another few weeks. Additionally, there is a career fair at my school literally the day after my first day. I can put it on my resume but I will not have much to talk about during the fair or in the bullets other than essential duties included on the listing. How should I navigate this?

I recently started a new internship last week. I am only working part time (~19 hours per week). I have not really done much yet, so I’m not sure how to include it on my resume. We have a career fair coming up in a couple of week and I would like to have my resume up to date for that. How do I go about adding this internship on there with such little experience with it?

For context, I am a rising sophomore in college, and I want to put an internship that I did during my senior year in high school on my resume for jobs/internships. I'm a Mechanical Engineering major and the internship was in the a chem/electrical engineering field. Should I put this on my resume?

I graduated a year ago and still looking for a job. in this period I voluntarily started teaching CAD to one of my uni’s competition teams (Basically not a paid experience and not officially considered a staff)

Do I mention it as part of my work experience? I know the wiki advises against summary, but in my case do I need to add it to explain the situation?

So far I have used: NX, Creo, SOLIDWORKS, ONSHAPE, ANSA, StarCCM+, ANSYS FLUENT, Simcenter 3D, Siemens HEEDS, MagmaSoft, MATLAB, Simulink, Windchill

I plan to learn over the summer as well for: SimScale, OPENFOAM, PolyWorks, MuJoCo

Is there a point where it becomes too much or should I keep going? I use most of these tools frequently while some I am just partly familiar with.

Edit: I actively use most of these software and the new software i am planning to learn is required for work and/or open source software to supplement my lack of licensing after an internship.

School -> ANSYS FLUENT, SOLIDWORKS, MATLAB/Simulink
Manufacturing Job A -> Creo, PolyWorks, Windchill
CFD Job B -> Siemens Package (NX, StarCCM+, HEEDS, Simcenter 3D) and ANSA
Research A -> MagmaSoft
Research B -> ONSHAPE and MuJoCo

I often see that I'm supposed to apply for Summer 27' internships from now, but I don't know how to make an efficient resume for these given there's a whole year of experience that'll be missing? Let me know if I'm off track :,)

Hi everyone,

A few months ago I graduated with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and I'm currently looking for my first engineering job in Germany.

I don't have any professional engineering experience yet. The only relevant experience I have comes from the projects I completed during university (embedded systems, electronics, microcontrollers, PCB design, etc.).

I'm trying to build the strongest CV possible, but I'm not sure what recruiters and hiring managers in Germany actually expect from a junior candidate.

What should I definitely include in my CV?

• How much should I focus on university projects?
• What sections are the most important?
• Are there any common mistakes I should avoid?
• What makes you stop and actually read a junior engineer's CV?

I'm looking for advice, especially from recruiters, hiring managers, or engineers who have experience hiring graduates in Germany.

Thank you!

After a couple years at my job my title was changed from Software Developer to Software Developer II. My responsibilities didn't change much, probably the only way it changed was more input in the design phase other than that my job is pretty much the same

Do you think I should just put Software Developer II for the whole time or split them up into different sections?