How to Make a Cloud Engineer Resume (With Template)
Apart from your cover letter, a resume is your first impression to most recruiters—and you want to make a good first impression. Whether you’re a seasoned cloud engineer looking to spruce up an old resume or writing one for the first time, here’s some guidance to get you started.
What is a cloud engineer?
First, let’s define our terms. If you’re reading this article and thinking to yourself, “‘Cloud engineer’ is kind of a vague job title,” then you’d be right. A cloud engineer might hold one of many different titles, so we’re using this as a catch-all term.
In reality, a cloud engineer could be:
- A full stack developer
- An identity access management (IAM) specialist
- A solution architect
- A database administrator
- A DevOps engineer
Or even something else not listed here!
But for the purposes of this article, we’ll define a cloud engineer as a software developer who builds, maintains, or works with software systems and applications in the cloud.
What to include in a cloud engineer resume
A cloud engineer resume is no different from any other kind of resume, but it should emphasize three main principles, according to Paul Joyce, a cloud recruitment consultant at NerdRabbit.
- Be descriptive. “It’s always better to be more descriptive when presenting your experience,” says Paul. “Don’t be repetitive, but if you have 25 years of experience, you need to include specifics about what you did and where.”
- Be consistent. Pick a format and stick to it. That goes for structure as well as diction, Paul says. Use the same font for body text throughout the document. Abbreviate all dates listed, or don’t abbreviate any of them. Include a detailed tech stack description for all previous positions or for none.
- Be ready to exceed one page. “The days of the one-page tech resume are dead,” says Paul. More on this in the FAQs section below, but when it comes to your professional experience, it’s better to err on the side of more detail.
With that in mind, here’s how to proceed with the different sections of your resume.
Name and title
When a recruiter opens your resume, their eyes should immediately be drawn to your name and title at the top of the page. You can left-align or center your name—just make sure to reserve the largest font size you plan on using for your name. Include your title below in smaller text, and consider adding your personal pronouns if you feel comfortable doing so.
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If your resume exceeds one page, include your name and title in the margins of your document. This is a user experience choice similar to how books repeat chapter names on each page after the title page. This idea is both practical and strategic. You want to help the reader stay organized, but you also want to make sure they remember your name.
Profile or objective
For such a seemingly simple section, the profile causes a lot of stress for some people. This section is a place to provide a brief overview of who you are as a professional, similar to the headline of your LinkedIn profile.
To write a profile for your resume, pick a couple accurate, strong descriptors to go in front of your title, and follow them up with a statement about what you’re looking for in a new position. You can also include some personality here to help you stand out from other applicants.
Contact information and links
The three must-have pieces of information to include here are your email address, phone number, and a link to your LinkedIn profile. Put this in a prominent spot.
If you have additional relevant links to include, add those as well. Examples might include a link to your blog where you write about cloud or related topics, your GitHub portfolio, or any interesting personal projects you’ve worked on.
Skills or core competencies
The skills section isn’t a place to list every single software system or programming language you’ve ever used, but rather the ones with which you’re most familiar.
List programming languages in which you’re fluent, and take the same approach for listing tools and software systems. Recruiters aren’t necessarily looking for a jack of all trades, but someone who’s adaptable and quick to learn new tools and programming languages.
Tip: You may have seen resumes that include progress bar graphics in the skills section. While this may seem like a good idea to show recruiters where your strengths lie, it’s probably best to leave these out. If you don’t feel strong enough in a skill to give it a full or mostly full progress bar, don’t include it.
Professional experience
Before we talk about how to format the experience section of your resume, let’s address the elephant in the room:
The experience section of your resume should not go back any further than 10 or 15 years.
In most cases, it’s completely acceptable to go back only a few years. But—and this is a big “but”—if you’re applying for a more senior position, you’ll want to highlight your many years of experience.
That being said, you don’t need to list every position you’ve ever held. If you find yourself nearing the bottom of page three, stop there and add your total years of experience to your profile. For each position, list your title, place of employment, length of employment, type of employment (full time, part time, or contract), and several bullet points describing your responsibilities.
Education history
Find an appropriate place on your resume to include your education history—usually after your professional experience. Only include postsecondary education here, and consider leaving out the dates you attended. If you have good GPA numbers you want to highlight, this is the place to do so.
Licenses and certifications
As a cloud engineer, a licenses and certifications section can be a powerful addition to your resume. If you have any cloud certifications, you’ll want to include those here. List the certification title, the date you were certified, and the certification ID, if applicable. Resumes with certifications are more appealing to recruiters and can improve your chances of getting the job.
Cloud engineer resume template
Now that you know what to include on your cloud engineer resume, it’s time to start designing! To format your resume, use a word processor or a simple graphic design tool like Canva or Adobe Express. We put together a cloud engineer resume template to help get you started.
To use this template, make a copy by clicking File > Make a copy. Note that you must be signed into a Google account to do this. Save it to your Google Drive to make edits. When you’re done, export it to a PDF by clicking File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).
Cloud engineer resume FAQs
Here are our answers to some common questions we hear from job seekers.
How long should my resume be?
Three pages max should be good for most positions. One page should suffice if you’re a new grad or in the early stages of your career, but don’t limit yourself to one page by any means.
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“The days of the one-page tech resume are dead,” says Paul Joyce, Cloud Recruitment Consultant at NerdRabbit. “Stop trying to squeeze everything onto one page if you’ve been working for more than 15 years. It forces resumes to be too general, which can lead hiring managers to reject them solely based on lack of information.”
Should I include a headshot in my resume?
No. Hiring bias is an unfortunate reality, and while most people hopefully won’t toss your resume based on your appearance—not least because that’s illegal—unconscious bias can creep in, even among the most well-intentioned recruiters.
On the flip side, many companies use blind hiring to combat unconscious bias in recruitment. Such organizations likely use an applicant tracking system (ATS) with resume parsing features to scrape resumes for key information. Basically, including a headshot ends up being a waste of time.
Should I include the dates for each position in my experience section?
This is up to your discretion, but we typically advise against including dates. Again, unconscious bias in recruitment is real, and you want to remove as many opportunities for bias to rear its ugly head as possible.
Instead, state the length of employment. For example, instead of saying “May 1992 – May ’96,” say “4 years.” For shorter positions like contract jobs, a simple “6 months” will do.
Are there specific resume keywords I should include?
Our advice is to use common sense. We don’t mean that in a patronizing way—you should use the keywords that make sense for the job you’re applying for.
That means closely reading the job description and making sure to include terms like role and any specific skills mentioned that are relevant to your experience. This may be a frustrating answer, but it’s best to write your resume naturally.
Should I tailor my resume to each job I apply for?
You don’t need to customize your resume in most cases, but you should customize your cover letters. Cover letters are another topic on their own, but we’ll at least say to include your potential new manager’s name, the name of the company, and its street address when addressing your cover letter.
What is the smallest font size I can get away with using on my resume?
It depends on the font you’re using. But if you’re using a professional-looking sans serif font like Arial, you shouldn’t go any smaller than 10 points. That might be too small if you’re using a serif font like Times New Roman, so use your best judgment when considering a font size decrease.
If you need to make text smaller than 10 points just to squeeze it onto a page, it probably isn’t worth including anyway. Leave it out.
What font should I use on my resume?
Keep it simple. Use a professional-looking sans serif font like Calibri, Arial, or Helvetica. If you prefer a serif font, best to stick with Times New Roman or Georgia.
Your turn
Now that you have some guidelines on crafting a cloud engineer resume, you’re well on your way to making a great resume of your own. Remember to be descriptive and consistent, and don’t be afraid to go over one page. Update your resume regularly—even if you aren’t actively seeking a new position, it’s good to be prepared for when you are.
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