Data Engineer Resume—Sample and 25+ Writing Tips

You’re great with data, processes, and organizing a path from A to B. You’re a strong communicator, helping people grasp patterns on inhuman scales. But you’re a little stuck on how to approach writing your data engineer resume.

This article will help.

In this guide:

• A data engineer resume sample better than most.
• How to create data-driven data engineer job descriptions.
• How to write a data engineer resume that stands out.
• Expert tips and examples to boost your chances of landing your dream job.

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Still at or going back to college? Getting into academia? Side-stepping into another IT career or switching over to a management stream? These are just some of our guides:

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Data Engineer Resume Sample

Now here’s how to write a data engineer resume they’ll love:

1. Choose the Right Data Engineer Resume Format

Structure makes all the difference. Make sure your resume format is what they’re set up to handle:

Data Engineer Resume Format

• Use the reverse-chronological resume format to lead with your most recent successes.
• Go with an understated resume font like a Noto, Arial or Verdana in 11–12 pt.
• Fix the margins of your resume at one inch.
• Leave plenty of white space around headings and sections.
• Submit a one-page resume. Go to a maximum of two pages if you have many years of data engineering experience.
• Include at least these resume sections: Resume Header, Profile, Experience, Education, and Skills.

Saving your resume in PDF seems like an obvious choice—But always check that another file type isn’t required.

You might shake your head in disbelief, but some Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) still don’t do well in parsing PDF files. If the job ad clearly states that another file format is required, save your resume in that format instead of PDF. Your ATS-friendly resume might end up as a Word file.

2. Write an Attention-Grabbing Data Engineer Resume Profile

Your resume format is all about fitting in and playing to expectations. Your resume profile is where you can really start to stand out. There are two main kinds of resume profile.

Got a year or more of data engineering experience? Then start with a resume summary.

Use:

1. One adjective (efficient, dedicated, dynamic)
2. Job title (Data Engineer, Data Acquisition Engineer, Data Center Network Engineer)
3. Years of experience (4+, 7+)
4. How you intend to help (support the full and efficient exploitation of user data)
5. Two or three of your most relevant achievements (designed and built data warehousing solutions 100% within spec and $300,000+ under budget)

These resume summary examples show how:

Data Engineer Resume Summary

Innovative data engineer with 5+ years’ experience leveraging data and business principles to solve large-scale data infrastructure problems. Seeking opportunity to support Ludtrack Enterprises’ move into the medical insurance space. At InvigiSoft Medical, boosted overall data pipeline efficiency by 17% while saving the company up to $1.2M per year in database rollbacks.

Data engineer with 5 years’ experience solving large-scale data infrastructure problems. Seeking opportunity to join a forward-thinking company with an aggressive business model. At InvigiSoft Medical, designed data pipelines and monitored data-warehouse servers for performance issues.

Even the bad example makes good use of resume power words. But this is a winner-takes-all, zero-sum game. The first example focuses on quantifying benefits brought to previous employers—And what the candidate can do for their new employer.

Fresh out of college? Write a resume objective and look to coursework, projects, placement work, internships, and IT-related paid employment for relevant achievements.

Entry-Level Data Engineer Resume Objective

Dedicated data engineer with 1+ years’ experience applying data and business principles to help solve large-scale data infrastructure problems. Seeking opportunity to support Ludtrack Enterprises’ move into the medical insurance space. As an intern at Oxenford Analytics, scraped and partially structured over 1 PB of social media users’ data and developed training materials for seven company-wide cross-functional teams.

Just out of college with a BS in Computer Science. No experience other than internship at Oxenford Analytics. Looking for company with modern views and a reasonable Code of Conduct.

Focusing on what you want from the job is at best a waste of word count. Decribe what you can do for them instead.

Stuck? Write your profile last. It’s much easier once you have your job descriptions and skills section laid out in front of you.

3. Populate Your Data Engineer Job Description and Skills Sections

Hiring managers are more or less predictable even if you don’t have access to their personal data. The best way to impress them?

Describe what you were able to do for previous employers—Fill your resume work experience section with quantified achievements.

How to write job descriptions for data engineers:

1. Go back over the job ad.
2. Flag any data engineering skills and duties.
3. Think of times you’ve used those skills to get results.
4. Write resume bullet points that describe and quantify the above.

These big data engineer resume examples show how:

Data Engineer Resume Job Description

Big Data Engineer

InvigiSoft Medical

September 2018–present

• Designed data pipelines to move data across data warehouse, online cache, and real-time systems with a mean efficiency 17% above the norm.
• Supported 11 new sources of data brought into the data warehouse over a 20-month period.
• Created 10+ automated applications and reporting solutions that saved the team 30+ labor hours per month.
• Monitored data-warehouse servers for performance issues, saving up to $1.2M per year in preventable rollbacks.

Big Data Engineer

InvigiSoft Medical

2018–present

• Designed data pipelines to move data across data warehouse, online cache, and real-time systems.
• Supported new sources of data as they were brought into the data warehouse.
• Created automated applications and reporting solutions.
• Monitored data-warehouse servers for performance issues.

Quantified resume achievements make a much greater impact.

Writing an entry-level data engineer resume? Draw upon your studies and other jobs you’ve had for accomplishments that demonstrate key data engineer skills.

Speaking of skills—You’ll need a resume skills section.

The trick: be extremely selective. Let the job ad dictate which of your data engineering skills you include. The lists below are meant only as food for thought:

Data Engineer Resume Skills

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4. Turn Your Education From a Formality Into a Talking Point

The right education is a big part of becoming a data engineer. Most candidates will have a similar education to yours. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use yours to stand out.

List degree names (with majors), schools, and years attended. And then, add bullet points that speak to key skills.

This data engineer resume example shows how:

Data Engineer Resume—Sample Education

BS in Computer Science

New York Institute of Technology, NY

2012–2016

• Pursued a passion for machine learning coursework.
• Held merit-based FASTRAC scholarship.

Expand your education section even further if you’re short on experience:

Include projects, courses, and accomplishments that point to data engineer skills, both hard and soft.

5. Enrich Your Data Engineer Resume With Added Sections

Some candidates just stopped there—Lurch ahead of the pack by adding one or two additional sections:

• Additional Activities
• Foreign Languages
• Classes Taken
• Awards
• Hobbies and Interests
• Volunteering on a Resume
• Certifications
• Professional References

All these are fair game, but there’s one golden rule:

Everything you add has to be directly relevant to the job at hand. These two data engineer resume examples show yes vs no:

Data Engineer Resume Sample—Extra Sections

Software 

• Git
• Apache Spark
• Apache Hadoop
• Apache Kafka
• Apache Airflow
• Snowflake
• Redshift
• BigQuery
• Looker
• Various ETL solutions

Programming Languages

• Python
• Java
• Scala
• SQL

Software

• Data analysis
• Data engineering
• Database
• Office suites
• Operating systems

Hobbies and Interests

• Balisong tricks
• Urban drone flying
• Photography

One last thing—You need to write a cover letter to go with your big data engineer resume. Not including one can be like losing the PGP key to an encrypted database: Hardly a recipe for success.

Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.

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Key Points

For a data engineer resume that gets interviews:

• Use the data center engineer resume sample up top as your template. It’s preconfigured to check all the right boxes.
• Put data engineering achievementsin your profile, work history, and education sections to let facts speak for themselves.
• Choose the right data engineering skills to include in your resume. The job ad will be your guide and gatekeeper.
• Include a data engineer cover letter. Use it to make your case as you spotlight your passion for all things Big Data.

Still have questions remaining? Got any advice to share? Save yourself and others the trouble and drop us a line down below. We’d love to hear what you have to say.

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