Whether you’re seeking a new full-time job or some part-time gigs, you’ll need to get your resume in order. See some interesting and inspiring examples from designers and developers around the world.
It might seem counterintuitive as a designer or developer to bother with a resume. After all, your work speaks for itself. Isn’t that all that employers need to see?
Sure, they might love the work they see in your portfolio, but is that enough? For some, it’s not. The problem with relying solely on a portfolio is it doesn’t give prospective employers extra details about your background, skills or personality that also factor into hiring decisions. They want to know where you acquired your skills from and what else makes you a standout candidate.
In today’s job market, you also have to think about AI. Many people—highly qualified people—have been talking about how their resumes don’t get responses because they’re not optimized for AI. In other words, their resumes don’t even reach hiring managers because AI hasn’t found certain keywords or phrases it was programmed to find.
So, your resume really needs to hit all the marks. It should aesthetically look good and lay out your history in a way that makes you look like the best candidate for the job.
Let’s have a look at some web designer and developer resumes and what makes them so effective.
There are different ways to present your resume. If you’re applying to jobs on job boards or directly to employers, you’ll need a PDF resume in addition to your portfolio website. You may also want to create a resume page or add relevant resume details to the About page on your site.
Let’s have a look at what different web designers and developers have done with their resumes and what makes them stand out from the crowd:
You’ll find a link to graphic designer Gracie Wilson’s PDF resume on the homepage of her website. This resume is not only beautifully branded (without being over the top), but it has a clean, easy-to-follow layout.
Her headshot and logo sit in the top-left corner and are followed by her contact info, education history, skills and software programs she uses. The bulk of the resume shows off her work history.
You can see that she’s used similar styling and formatting practices that we use on webpages, like larger and bolded headings/titles and short paragraphs or bulletpoint lists. This will help employers scan through and gather info from her resume.
Lars Olson is a UI/UX designer with a special interest in game design.
If you look at his website, you’ll get a good visual idea for where his interests and talents lie. His resume, on the other hand, lays down the facts. This is a good example of how to let your website visually demonstrate what you do while the resume answers all those questions that your design can’t.
In terms of the resume we’re looking at, this is another great example of how to design and layout a PDF resume in a clean and intuitive format. There’s a clear separation between Olson’s work history (which is the most important part) and the other details, which include his summary statement, skills and software, education and related experience.
Annastina Cleary is an associate art director and graphic designer. Her portfolio website is simple and to the point. You’ll find a brief bio on the homepage, which then links to two portfolio pages for Video and Branding as well as to Cleary’s Resume page.
This online resume is light on details, yet it is still quite effective. Laid out in a vertical format, visitors find information regarding Cleary’s skills, software knowledge, employment experience, select client list and educational history. Are more details needed? Probably not. Cleary’s lengthy work history shows that she is currently employed by Simon & Schuster Publishing.
One of the problems with the PDF resume format is that it’s usually constrained to a single page. Sometimes you have more experience to include—or you just want to let all that information breathe a bit!
If you’re looking to bridge the gap between the professionalism of a PDF resume and the flexibility of an online resume, frontend engineer Olaolu Olawuyi’s Resume page is a good one to look at. It includes all the crucial details that employers look for, including technology competency, skills and work experience.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of creating a beautiful online resume and a separate PDF resume, do as Olawuyi does. Make the page downloadable.
Victor Marin is a software engineer who has created an interactive resume website. Using your mouse, you get to guide the digitized Marin avatar through his resume, eventually picking up speed by hopping on a scooter.
As you travel through his world, you’ll pass by different buildings. One of them shows you where he went to school and what degrees he earned. You’ll also encounter buildings that house his various work experiences. When you’ve finished seeing all there is to see, you can circle back to “Contact” and pass through one of two doors to contact him on GitHub or LinkedIn.
You won’t find a full resume on designer and art director Thomas Grangeon’s website. Instead, when you visit the About page, you’ll encounter this section that details Grangeon’s Work Experience and Education. (There’s more information about his education up top, too.)
This is a good option if you have a separate PDF you use when applying directly on employer sites or job boards, but still want to share some details with visitors. This section blends nicely with the rest of the About info, which includes a short bio, services summary and testimonials.
This is a one-page website for front end engineer Brittany Chiang. There are just three sections on the page—About, Experience and Projects. It’s the Experience section specifically that caught my eye.
At first glance, this looks like a pretty standard work history section. However, there are some really interesting details here. For starters, Chiang has included relevant skills and technologies under each job. Secondly, each position lights up as you hover over it (seen in the screenshot above). Lastly, a link is provided to each company, which is helpful if the prospective employer doesn’t know who they are.
One-page resumes don’t always offer up the amount of space needed to showcase your skills. Sure, you might be able to list off the primary technologies you use or disciplines you work in. But many designers and developers have a vast toolset and skill set that they work from. Maddie Harris has found an effective way to highlight those skills.
Just a little over halfway down the homepage, visitors will find this well-organized Skills section. It’s broken up into:
It’s great that Harris included sections for soft skills, hard skills and essentials. These are the kinds of things that may get discussed during an interview, but there isn’t always room to show them off ahead of time.
The work experience section is an important one for job applicants. Not only does it show potential employers what kinds of jobs you’ve worked, but how long you’ve been working in the field as well. Not only that, it gives them a chance to see the evolution of your career and roles.
On the About page of Seán Halpin’s site, there is a data visualization just below the intro. This is a unique and very appropriate way to show off one’s work history in design and development. Not only do employers get to visualize all the years of employment, but they get a sense for how Halpin is able to think outside the box as a designer.
Here’s another example of how to incorporate data visualizations into your resume or to present resume info on your About page. This example comes from the About page for designer/developer Adham Dannaway.
While a bar graph like this one might not work for a lengthy list of skills like the one Maddie Harris has, it works perfectly well for Dannaway. Not only does he emphasize his professional strengths, he adds some humor while doing it by adding skills like tea drinking (95%), gardening (75%) and calisthenics (40%). It gives potential employers or clients a taste of what his personality is like.
On this About page for Champion Creative, hiring managers will find:
The section I like the most is Values. Although resumes rarely touch on this, a prospective employee’s or freelancer’s professional values can tell you a lot about them.
Oftentimes, hiring managers will ask questions that draw these kinds of conclusions during the interview. That said, providing them upfront before you reach the interview stage could help push you to the head of the line if your values align.
What kinds of details can you add to a resume that make you stand out from other applicants? Anthony Wiktor, for instance, includes an Awards section on his PDF resume (see screenshot above). He also has a truncated Awards section on his website.
If you read Wiktor’s bio, you’ll see how relevant these awards are not only to his career as a Creative Director, but also to the “competitive spirit” he touts. For employers looking for someone who demonstrates certain traits (like competitiveness and drive, for example), providing proof on your resume is a must. This may be in the form of awards, but it can also come in the form of success statistics and metrics.
When filling your resume with information, anticipate what employers are searching for and make sure the text of your resume website or linked resume is optimized for it. Then design it in a way that will capture their attention immediately and impress them as they read through it.
Short on time or prefer to keep it simple? Create a one-page PDF resume that’s well organized and easy to follow. Want to create something unique? Create a custom resume page or incorporate key resume details into your About page. Then give it an eye-catching design, make it interactive or put your own unique spin on it.
A former project manager and web design agency manager, Suzanne Scacca now writes about the changing landscape of design, development and software.