On the resume of a developer, data engineer or SRE, two lines often decide what happens next: the title, just below your name, and the summary, the short paragraph that sums up your profile. A recruiter screening applications reads them in a few seconds to see whether the resume matches the role; a tech lead uses them to steer their reading of the experience section. A vague title or a summary full of generic qualities wastes this opportunity. This article explains how to choose the exact job title, write a two-line summary, and offers before-and-after examples for a junior, an experienced developer and a career changer.
Why the title decides how the rest is read
The resume title serves three purposes.
It enables screening. The recruiter first compares your title with the job title. If they match, they continue; if they differ, they must make the effort to understand your profile, and many do not when the pile of applications is high.
It steers the reading. A lead who reads "Backend developer" looks in your experience for APIs, databases and production. The same background, titled "Full-stack developer", will be read looking for interfaces too. The title sets expectations.
It is used in searches. In applicant tracking software, recruiters often filter by keyword. A title that reuses the job title being searched for rises in these results. Our article on scale-ups’ ATS explains how these tools index a resume.
The title is therefore not a formatting detail: it is the first line of your case.
Choosing the exact title of the target role
The right title is the one in the job ad, provided it matches what you can do.
A few rules:
- Reuse the ad’s title when it describes your profile: "Backend Engineer", "Java Developer", "Data Engineer", "SRE". If the ad is in English at a French company, the English title can stay.
- Specify the level if useful: "junior", "mid-level", "senior", "lead". Avoid giving yourself a higher level than your experience proves.
- Add the specialism that sets you apart, keeping it short: "Kotlin backend developer", "GCP data engineer", "iOS mobile developer".
- Avoid overly broad titles ("IT professional", "Computer engineer", "Tech enthusiast"), which say nothing about your job.
- Avoid invented titles ("Code ninja", "Software craftsman"): they rarely amuse and make screening harder.
If you apply for several types of role, prepare several versions of your resume with different titles rather than a composite title: "Full-stack / DevOps / data developer" gives the impression of a profile that has not chosen.
Writing a two-line summary
The summary, sometimes called a profile, fits in two or three lines. It answers three questions in this order:
- Who are you? The title, the level or the experience.
- What can you do? The main stack and the type of problems you handle.
- What distinctive thing do you bring? A domain, a practice, a result, an environment.
A structure that works: "[Title] with [experience] at [type of company or product], specialising in [stack or domain], who [distinctive contribution]". It adapts to every level.
Three writing principles:
- Facts rather than adjectives. "Four years of experience at a SaaS scale-up" says more than "experienced and rigorous developer".
- The ad’s words, when they match your reality: the main technology, the practice highlighted (testing, observability, accessibility, real time).
- No pompous first person. A noun-based style, or a simple sentence, reads faster than an introspective paragraph.
TechCV resume templates apply this structure. The full-stack developer one opens with a sentence announcing the experience, the end-to-end scope, the stack and the work with product; the backend developer one cites its domains (REST APIs, PostgreSQL, event-driven architectures) and its focus on production.
Before-and-after examples by level
Junior developer
Before: "Motivated and curious young developer, passionate about new technologies, looking for a stimulating position to put my skills to work for an innovative company."
After: "Junior backend developer (Java, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL), master’s degree in computer science in June; a six-month internship in a product team, with production releases and code reviews."
The first text contains no verifiable information. The second gives the level, the stack, the degree, the date and proof of team experience.
Experienced developer
Before: "Experienced full-stack developer, autonomous and proactive, mastering many front-end and back-end technologies."
After: "Full-stack developer with five years of experience at a startup then a scale-up, on TypeScript, React and Node.js; comfortable across the whole chain, from PostgreSQL modelling to continuous deployment on AWS."
"Many technologies" worries more than it reassures; a precise stack and a clear scope place the profile.
Career changer
Before: "After ten years in logistics, I decided to follow my passion for code and retrained in web development."
After: "Junior web developer (JavaScript, React, Node.js), trained at a bootcamp after ten years in logistics; a stock tracking tool project used by an association, and a good knowledge of warehouse operations."
The second text starts with the new job, proves technical skill and turns the former career into an asset. Our article on switching careers into code offers other rewrites of this kind.
Senior or lead profile
Before: "Senior technical expert with solid experience in management and architecture."
After: "Tech lead with nine years of backend development experience; drives the architecture and code reviews of a team of six developers on a payments platform, while still coding."
Empty phrases to delete
Some phrases appear on a large share of resumes and add nothing. They take the place of useful information.
- "Passionate" about code, tech, new technologies: your background should show it, not assert it.
- "Rigorous, autonomous, proactive": qualities every candidate claims.
- "Looking for a stimulating position / a new challenge": the summary is about what you bring, not what you are looking for.
- "Mastery of many technologies": prefer three precise technologies.
- "Expert" without proof: the word invites the hardest interview questions.
- "Unusual profile": let the reader judge from the facts.
Once these phrases are removed, often little remains: a sign that the summary needs rewriting from your real experience. For the skills section that follows, our article on presenting your tech stack applies the same demand for precision.
The title and summary are read at the top of the page, where formatting matters most. The TechCV editor places them in a clear header, as text that recruitment software extracts correctly, and lets you change the title from one application to the next in seconds. You can rewrite your summary starting from one of the templates.
Frequently asked questions
Should the job title be in English?
If the ad is written in English or the English title is standard at the company ("Software Engineer", "Data Engineer"), yes. At a French company that publishes in French, the French title is often preferable.
Is the summary mandatory?
It is not mandatory, but it is very useful in tech, where the same background can target different roles. Two precise lines steer the reading and win you the recruiter’s attention.
Should I adapt the summary to each ad?
Yes, at least the title and the main technology. The rest can stay stable. This adaptation takes a few minutes and clearly improves the perceived match with the role.
How many words should a summary have?
Two or three lines, around thirty to fifty words. Beyond that, it becomes a paragraph people skip, repeating what the experience section says.