How to Build a Better Cloud Resume

PLUS: This Month’s Top AWS Learning Resources

Author

Lucy Wang
December 23, 2023

In Today’s Cloudbites:

📝 How to Build a Better Cloud Resume

❌ Things To Avoid in Your Resume

👩‍💻 PLUS: This Month’s Top AWS Learning Resources

Read time: 4 minutes

Hi friends, welcome back to Cloudbites. Today, I’ll be walking you through how to improve the quality of your cloud resume. I’ll also be sharing some of the most useful AWS learning resources from this month.

📝 How to Build a Better Cloud Resume

Recruiters only look at a resume for an average of 7 seconds before making their initial decision. So, it's important to make yours stand out from the crowd.

Here are some best practices I’d recommend following, when applying for your next job:

  1. Tailor Your Resume

    When applying for a specific role - analyze the job description and highlight the key words & phrases.

    Next, craft your resume including only the most relevant experiences. Here, include the company, the role title and how long you were there for.

    Finally, take words from the job description and integrate them into your experiences. This will make it clear to employers why you’re a good fit for the role.

  2. Tell a Coherent Story

    Your resume should be ordered in a logical manner. I normally include education at the top, followed by work experience, and then university experiences.

    Rather than just listing what you did, highlight your key achievements and the skills you’ve learnt.

    A resume that tells a story will spark the curiosity of the recruiter and make them want to find out more about you. So take your time thinking through your experiences, and understand how they all relate to each other.

  3. Ensure your resume is well-formatted & easy to scan

    Try to keep your resume to 1-page in length. Cut out irrelevant experiences if you need to.

    Take your time while editing to make sure everything is correctly formatted with no spelling errors. Getting your friends and family to review it can also be extremely helpful - to catch anything you might have missed.

❌ Things To Avoid in Your Resume

During my time at AWS, I had the opportunity to interview candidates and shadow recruiters. There were a few types of mistakes that would result in an immediate rejection.

Here are the top 3 mistakes to avoid when writing your own resume:

  1. Faking role titles & exaggerating experiences

    I often saw people listing roles that didn’t actually exist. 

    For example, if you have achieved a certification - this does not mean you have worked in that role. Instead, list it under the skills & certifications section in your resume.

  2. Attempting the “one-size-fits-all’ approach

    While using a generic resume will demonstrate your experience, it won’t necessarily show employers you’re a good fit for the job you’re applying for.

    Taking the time to tailor your resume, shows both your passion and your fit for the job.

  3. Having a poorly designed resume

    Arguably, one of the most important factors is making sure you have a clean-looking layout. You want the person scanning your resume to be focused on your experiences, rather than struggling to find where to look.

    If you want some inspiration when starting out, check out my sample resume here.

👩‍💻 [PLUS] This Month’s Top AWS Learning Resources

  1. [Video] AWS Keynotes: Hear about all the latest developments in AWS, shared during re:Invent 2023.

  2. [Game] AWS Card Clash: Gain knowledge of AWS Cloud architectures through a 3D virtual card game.

  3. [Course] Amazon Lex - Getting Started: Learn about the benefits, typical use cases & cost of Amazon Lex.

  4. [Course] Compute Knowledge Badge: Build your technical knowledge of AWS Compute concepts and services, with a focus on Amazon EC2.

  5. [Certification] AWS Cloud Quest - Recertify Cloud Practitioner: Recertify as an AWS Cloud Practitioner through a new game-based recertification option available until May 31, 2024.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! 😊

P.S. How was today's email? Reply directly with your feedback, or DM me on Twitter @techwithlucy