The Resume System That Gets Software Engineers Hired

About the Author

Konrad Michels built his career at the intersection of engineering leadership and hiring.

• 12+ years at Facebook/Meta across 8 different roles - from founding their first technical team outside the US to leading infrastructure serving tens of billions of requests per second
• First technical hire outside the US - Hired by Facebook in 2008 to establish their European engineering presence, building SRE teams in London and Dublin from scratch
• Head of Infrastructure at Very Good Security - Led infrastructure strategy and team scaling at a high-growth security startup
• 4 patents in resource management and video conferencing systems
• Project Sandstorm - Part of the elite team that executed Facebook's first-ever planned datacenter shutdown without user impact

On the hiring side:

• Hired hundreds of engineers across multiple organizations
• Developed technical interview frameworks used to scale engineering teams
• Reviewed thousands of resumes - knows exactly what makes hiring managers stop scrolling

Now: Tech career coach helping senior engineers, engineering managers, and TPMs navigate the toughest job market in a generation.

Product Description

The Problem

The tech job market has fundamentally changed. It's a buyer's market - employers can take their time, be selective, and choose from a deep pool of highly skilled candidates.

Your resume has 7.4 seconds to make an impression. Most engineering resumes fail this test - not because the candidate lacks experience, but because they don't know how to communicate their impact.

Engineers are trained to let their work speak for itself. That approach no longer works.

The Solution

The Software Engineer's Resume System is a complete framework for building resumes that get results, created by someone who's been on both sides of the hiring table for 25+ years.

This isn't generic career advice. It's a systematic approach developed from:

• Reviewing thousands of engineering resumes
• Hiring hundreds of engineers
• Coaching dozens of tech professionals through successful job searches
• Understanding exactly what signals hiring managers look for

What's Included

5 interconnected guides that work together as a complete system:

1. The Engineer's Resume System (Main Guide)

• Master Resume concept and architecture
• Formatting guidelines that optimize for the 7.4-second scan
• Header and contact information best practices

2. Professional Summary Guide

• The Four Elements Framework for writing summaries that hook readers
• 4 complete examples across different engineering roles
• Before/after transformations showing common mistakes

3. Work Experience Guide

• The OPA Framework (Outcome-Problem-Action) for achievement bullets
• How to find metrics when you think you don't have them
• Demonstrating career progression
• Extensive before/after examples

4. Skills Guide

• Organizing skills for both human readers and ATS systems
• Strategic ordering and keyword optimization
• What to include vs. omit

5. Supporting Sections Guide

• Education, certifications, publications, patents
• When each section matters
• Special cases (no degree, career changers, extensive publications)

Who This Is For

• Software Engineers (all levels) looking to stand out in a competitive market
• Infrastructure/SRE/Platform Engineers with complex technical achievements to communicate

Who This Is NOT For

• People looking for a quick template to fill in
• Those unwilling to put in the work (this system requires real effort)
• Non-technical roles (this is specifically designed for engineering careers)

FAQ

Q: How long will this take?

Building a strong resume using this system takes real effort - typically 8-15 hours spread over several sessions. This isn't a template you fill in; it's a framework for articulating your unique value.

Q: I already have a resume. Do I need to start over?

The guide recommends starting fresh in most cases. Trying to edit an existing resume into shape usually creates more problems than it solves. Your old resume serves as a reference for dates and details.

Q: Will this work for my specific situation?

The frameworks are designed for Software Engineers and Infrastructure/SRE/Platform Engineers. If you're in a technical role and struggling to communicate your impact, this system will help.

Q: Is this just generic resume advice?

No. This is specifically designed for technical roles, by someone who spent 12 years at Facebook/Meta and has hired hundreds of engineers. The frameworks address the specific challenges engineers face in articulating their work.