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Resume Tips

Which Technical Skills Should You Put On Your Resume?

technical skills proficiency

What does your rough resume draft have in common with all the other resumes written by other job applicants? Most likely it lacks some substance since you are wondering which technical skills to put on your resume.

The short answer is the ones that showcase your competency and proficiency with various tools, software and hardware and are relevant to the published job posting. After all, technical skills are a proxy for your on-the-job experience and that’s why they need a prominent place on your resume.

Now, let’s dig in a tad deeper into the subject!

What are Technical Skills?

Technical skills are hard skills that you use to accomplish certain tasks and duties. Whether it is software knowledge, mechanical skills or other information technology expertise, this type of skills can be developed via on-the-job experience, training or formal education.

In essence, your scope of technical skills defines your digital literacy rate — your ability to interact with all sorts of apps, online tools, and other software/hardware products.

And digital literacy is now a given for most professions and will only grow in importance with the arrival of new tech. Per McKinsey, the demand for basic cognitive skills (such as basic literacy and numeracy) will be on the steady decline between 2020 and 2030, while demand for higher cognitive and tech skills will rise by 9%.

technical skills growth

Source: McKinsey

The bottom line: if you want to future-proof your career, you gotta invest in those technical skills and give them a prominent space on your resume.

Technical Skills to Put on Your Resume

As mentioned already, technical skills are a diverse bunch. They can range from specific software knowledge to advanced mathematics skills. Also, they largely vary from one profession to another.

Below is our quick list of technical skills examples for various career niches. Swipe them to beef up your resume!

Coding and Programming Skills

  • Programming languages: Java, JavaScript, Ruby, C#, C++, Scala, Python, PHP, CSS.
  • Mobile app development: iOS, Android, Android SDK, iOS SDK, iTunes Connect, Swift, RESTful APIs, Cocoa Touch, Microsoft Powerapps, ServiceNow app development.
  • Testing: Quality Assurance (QA), debugging, automated testing, Selenium, Appium, Ranorex, smoke tests, regression testing, pen-testing.
  • Cybersecurity: Network security, intrusion detection, malware analysis, risk analysis, cloud security.
  • Data science: Machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, big data analytics, data visualizations, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hadoop, Apache Spark.

General IT skills: 

    • Infrastructure management
    • Cloud computing (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
    • Network architecture
    • Front-end development
    • Back-end development
    • UX/UI design
    • Systems analysis
    • Technical support.

Add more IT skills for resume by checking out our resume samples:

Engineering Skills

  • Electrical engineering: Circuit design, chip design, system optimization, AutoCAD, MATLAB, ETAP, Alternating Current (AC) systems, SLDs (Single Line Diagrams), PLCs, SCADA, HMI.
  • Mechanical engineering: 3D/CAD design, AutoCAD, Automated model programming, statistics, Engineering product data management software (EPDM), prototyping, troubleshooting.

General engineering tech skills:

  • Computer hardware engineering
  • Geometry and trigonometry
  • Algebra
  • Process management
  • Structural analysis
  • Geomagic Design
  • Coding skills (Python, Visual Basics, etc)
  • COMSOL Multiphysics
  • CircuitLab
  • IronCAD
  • Eagle PCB

Create stellar technical skills resume by borrowing more ideas from our samples:

Digital Marketing Skills

  • SEO: Keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SemRush, Ahrefs.
  • SEM: Google Adwords, programmatic advertising, PPC, Facebook Ad Manager, Instagram advertising, ad budget optimization, data analytics.
  • Content marketing: Content strategy, editorial calendar creation, content research, blogging, copywriting, content promotion, outreach, community management.
  • Social media marketing: strategy planning, microcopy writing, and optimization, content curation, Hootsuite, Coschedule, Buzzsumo, Canva.

General digital marketing skills: 

    • MarTech
    • Marketing analytics
    • Strategic planning
    • Sales funnel design
    • Conversion optimization (CRO)
    • A/B testing
    • Landing page design
    • Email marketing
    • CMS knowledge

Want to make your resume more memorable? Check some of our creative resume templates!

Project Management Skills

  • Project management tools: Atlassian JIRA, Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Kanban boards, Gantt charts.
  • Project management methodologies: Agile, Scrum, SAFe, Waterfall, Critical Path Method (CPM), PRiSM, Integrated Project Management (IPM), PRINCE/PRINCE2.

General PM skills for a resume: 

    • Cost management and budgeting
    • Backlog and task management
    • Time management
    • Status/progress reporting
    • Mediation
    • Risk management and mitigation
    • Contract management
    • Project recovery

Learn how to weave these into your resume by checking our project manager resume example.

Tech Sales Skills

  • Sales tools and software: Salesforce, Pipedrive, Katana, Hubspot Sales, CRM software, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Software, meetings software.

General tech sales skills: 

    • Demand forecasting
    • Data analytics
    • Lead generation, qualification, and management
    • Recordkeeping
    • Price quoting and price setting
    • Request for proposal preparation,
    • Product knowledge
    • Customer needs analysis
    • Buyer persona creation
    • Customer journey mapping
    • Sales funnel design
    • Vendor management

P.S. Yes, we also have a great sales resume example that shows how to incorporate these tech skills.

Where Else to Look for In-Demand Tech Skills?

The job posting is your best source for technical skills ideas. Read it carefully and cherry-pick different keywords from the qualifications/required skills section that apply to you. Then organically sprinkle these around your resume and highlight the key ones in the dedicated skills section.

This way you kill two birds with one stone — customize your resume to the position and ensure that it will pass through that pesky application tracking system that might be in place!

Author

  • Elena Prokopets

    Elena runs content operations at Freesumes since 2017. She works closely with copywriters, designers, and invited career experts to ensure that all content meets our highest editorial standards. Up to date, she wrote over 200 career-related pieces around resume writing, career advice... more

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