How to write projects on your resume
Projects are strongest when they show real constraints, real choices, and measurable outcomes. Treat them like mini work experiences.
Use this structure
- 1) What it is: one sentence with the user/problem.
- 2) Your ownership: what you designed/built/led.
- 3) Tech choices: mention key tools only where meaningful.
- 4) Impact: metrics (users, speed, cost, quality) or a clear outcome.
Example project bullets
- • Built a real-time collaboration feature (WebSockets + Redis) supporting 5k concurrent users with 99.9% uptime.
- • Designed a data pipeline (Airflow + BigQuery) processing 120M events/day; reduced reporting latency from 24h to 2h.
- • Implemented CI performance tests; caught 3 regressions pre-release and reduced incidents by 18%.
Common mistakes
- • Listing a tech stack with no result
- • Writing “built an app” with no user/problem
- • Hiding your contribution (“we did…”) without ownership