Showcasing your experience and skills on LinkedIn

In our first post, we covered the essentials of setting up your profile. Here, we’re diving deeper into the heart of your LinkedIn presence: your experience and skills.

Write impactful role descriptions

When listing your past roles, focus on writing concise descriptions that highlight your achievements. Avoid generic job descriptions—emphasize what you accomplished and how you added value to the team or project.

• Start with strong action verbs: Use dynamic verbs to make your role sound engaging.
  • Example: “developed,” “engineered,” “optimized,” “led.”
• Quantify your achievements: Use numbers to demonstrate impact.
  • Example: “led a team of 5 developers to create a new microservices architecture, reducing server costs by 30%.”
• Highlight key technologies and skills used: Clearly state the technologies, frameworks, and methodologies you worked with.
  • Example: “engineered a real-time data processing pipeline using Python, Kafka, and Spark, improving data throughput by 40%.”

Showcase key projects

Highlighting specific projects is a great way to demonstrate your hands-on experience and technical expertise. Use the “Projects” section to provide details on key projects that showcase your skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.

• Choose projects that reflect your strengths: Focus on projects that align with the roles you’re targeting.
  • Example: “built a cross-platform mobile app using Flutter and Firebase, achieving 10,000+ downloads within 3 months of launch.”
• Describe your role and contribution: Clearly state your role and what you were responsible for.
  • Example: “sole developer responsible for designing and implementing the backend architecture, including RESTful API development and database optimization.”
• Highlight impact and results: Show how your project made a difference.
  • Example: “developed a predictive analytics tool that reduced customer churn by 20% in the first quarter after deployment.”

Highlight relevant skills and endorsements

The “Skills” section is crucial for software developers. Make sure to list the key technical skills that are most relevant to your field. This not only helps recruiters find you but also adds credibility to your profile.

• Select the right skills: Prioritize skills that match the jobs you’re applying for or your area of specialization.
  • Example: “JavaScript, React, Node.js, Python, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes.”
• Get endorsements: Ask colleagues or past collaborators to endorse your skills.
  • Example: Reach out to a former colleague and say, “I’m updating my LinkedIn profile and would love if you could endorse me for JavaScript and React. Happy to return the favor!”
• Keep your skills updated: Regularly add new skills or certifications that reflect your current expertise.
  • Example: “recently completed AWS Certified Solutions Architect training.”

Use the “featured” section to stand out

The “Featured” section is a powerful tool to showcase your best work. Use it to highlight links, documents, or media that demonstrate your skills and accomplishments.

• Add relevant links: Link to your GitHub profile, personal website, or a portfolio showcasing your best projects.
  • Example: “link to a GitHub repository with a project that demonstrates your expertise in building RESTful APIs with Django.”
• Showcase media: Include presentations, articles, or videos that feature your work or contributions.
  • Example: “attach a PDF of a presentation you gave at a tech conference or a blog post you wrote on Medium about optimizing database performance.”
• Feature certificates: Highlight certifications that add credibility to your profile.
  • Example: “AWS Certified Developer, Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer, etc.”

Ask for recommendations

Recommendations are like testimonials that validate your skills and experience. They offer a third-party perspective on your work, which can be incredibly persuasive to potential employers.

• Request recommendations strategically: Ask for recommendations from people who have directly worked with you and can speak to your specific skills.
  • Example: “request a recommendation from a manager or team lead who supervised a project you worked on.”
• Be specific in your request: Guide the person you’re asking to focus on particular aspects of your work.
  • Example: “could you highlight my contributions to the XYZ project, particularly around API development and team collaboration?”
• Give recommendations to get recommendations: Consider writing thoughtful recommendations for colleagues—often, they will reciprocate.
  • Example: “write a recommendation for a colleague who can vouch for your skills in Python or cloud infrastructure.”

Your experience and skills are the core of your LinkedIn profile as a software developer. Make sure every word counts, and remember to keep your profile updated regularly to reflect your evolving skills and experience.

Stay tuned for our next post in this series, where we’ll talk about building a professional network on LinkedIn to connect with opportunities!

Looking for more personalized tips? At Geniuses Recruiting, we’re experts in helping software developers like you build powerful LinkedIn profiles. Connect with us!