How to Create an Attention-Grabbing Tech CV

(Even If You’re Just Getting Started)

📌 Part of the ‘Land Your First Job in Tech’ Series

---

Why Your CV Still Matters

Even in a world of LinkedIn profiles and online portfolios, your CV is often your first handshake with a hiring manager. It’s your one-page pitch to say: “Here’s who I am, what I bring, and why I’m worth a shot.”

But what if you’re just getting started and don’t have years of experience?

Good news: you don’t need it.

With the right structure and language, your CV can stand out—even if you’re transitioning careers, fresh out of school, or coming in from a different industry.

Let’s break it down.

---

🚀 TL;DR: What Makes a CV Stand Out?

• Clear layout, no fluff
• Skills > experience when you’re new
• Real-world projects > generic course lists
• Highlight transferable skills (retail, hospitality, military, parenting—all count)
• Use outcome-based bullet points
• Link to your GitHub, blog, or homelab portfolio

---

1. 🔧 Structure That Works

Here’s a beginner-friendly, no-nonsense format:

1. Contact Info
Name | Email | Location (city is fine) | GitHub | LinkedIn | Portfolio

2. Personal Summary (3–4 lines max)
Tailor this to the job you’re applying for. Who you are, what you’re learning, and what value you bring.

3. Skills Snapshot
A bulleted list of technical and transferable skills:

• HTML, CSS, basic Python
• Linux CLI
• Git & GitHub
• Excellent customer communication
• Troubleshooting mindset

4. Projects (Even self-taught ones!)
Talk about what you’ve built, not just what you’ve studied. For example:

Self-Hosted PiHole (2024)
Set up DNS-based ad-blocking on Raspberry Pi for home network. Documented troubleshooting steps on personal blog. Learned about DNS, DHCP, and network management.

5. Work Experience
If it’s not in tech, that’s OK. Focus on transferable value:

Retail Assistant, Sainsbury’s (2021–2024)

• Supported 200+ customers per week in a high-pressure environment
• Trained 3 new team members on point-of-sale systems
• Maintained accurate stock using barcode scanners and handheld terminals

6. Education & Certifications
Don’t worry if it’s not technical. Just be honest. Add online certs (Coursera, Microsoft Learn, TryHackMe, etc.)

---

2. 🔁 Transferable Skills That Matter in Tech

You’ve probably built tech-relevant skills without realizing:

From Where	Transferable Skill
Retail	Customer service, systems use, multitasking
Hospitality	Fast-paced troubleshooting, people skills
Military	Precision, protocol, chain of command
Parenting	Time management, problem-solving
Gaming	Logical thinking, systems understanding
Hobbies (3D printing, modding)	Technical curiosity, documentation

---

3. 📍 What to Include (And What to Leave Out)

✅ Do Include

• A short, sharp personal summary
• Real projects with context
• Self-study, bootcamps, certifications
• Homelab experience
• Github link (even 2–3 repos is fine)
• Soft skills that align with tech roles
• Outcomes, not just tasks

❌ Don’t Include

• Irrelevant jobs without context
• Buzzwords with no evidence (“team player”, “hard-working”)
• A photo (not needed in UK/US markets)
• More than 2 pages (1 page is ideal for beginners)

---

4. 💡 Pro Tips for New Starters

• Use AI tools smartly: Let ChatGPT help refine bullet points, but don’t fake experience.
• Customize every CV: Tweak your summary and top skills per job description.
• Quantify everything: Numbers make things concrete: “Helped reduce queue time by 30%” is stronger than “helped customers.”
• Include homelab wins: Running a local server, setting up Docker, using Portainer—all show initiative.
• Pair with a cover letter: Especially early on, a personal note can bridge the ‘no experience’ gap.

---

5. 🧠 What If I Don’t Have Projects Yet?

Start small:

• Build a basic website and host it
• Set up a Pi-hole or media server
• Contribute to a GitHub repo (even fixing a typo counts)
• Create a markdown doc with your learning progress and share it

💬 We’ll be covering some of these in the next blog posts—stay tuned!

---

6. 🎯 Final Takeaway

Your CV isn’t about what you’ve done—it’s about what you’re capable of doing next.

Even if you’re starting out, a smartly written, outcomes-focused CV with real projects and relevant skills will get you noticed. Pair it with a consistent learning journey and a pinch of confidence—and you’re already ahead of 90% of applicants.

Looking for a starting point?

First steps in your tech career – the helpdesk https://readthemanual.co.uk/why-starting-on-a-helpdesk-is-the-best-first-step-in-tech/

---

From Someone Who Has Been on Both Sides of the Table

I have reviewed hundreds of CVs for infrastructure and support roles, and I have sat on interview panels more times than I can count. I have also been the candidate, multiple times, across 20+ years in this industry. So what I am about to share is not theory — it is what actually happens when your CV lands on someone’s desk.

The honest truth? Most CVs are forgettable. Not because the candidates are bad, but because the CVs all look the same. Generic objective statements, a wall of buzzwords, and no evidence that the person has ever touched a real system. The ones that stand out are the ones that show me you have actually done something — even if it was on your own time, on your own hardware, for no one but yourself.

---

What Hiring Managers Actually Look For

I will let you in on something that might surprise you: qualifications are not the first thing I look at. Certs are useful — they prove you can study and pass an exam. But what I really want to see is evidence of curiosity and hands-on work.

When I am reviewing a CV for a junior role, here is my actual thought process:

• Have they built anything? A homelab, a project, a script, a website — anything that shows initiative beyond coursework.
• Can they explain what they did? Not just “set up Docker” but “deployed a reverse proxy with Nginx to route traffic to three self-hosted services.” That tells me you understand what you did and why.
• Do they learn on their own? If your only experience is what an employer handed you, that is fine for mid-career. But for entry-level, I need to see that you can teach yourself.
• Is there a GitHub link? Even two or three repos with documentation show me more than a list of certifications.

The candidates who get callbacks are the ones where I finish reading and think “this person is already doing the job in their spare time.” That is the bar. It is not as high as you think — but you need to show it, not just claim it.

---

Your Homelab IS Experience

If you have built a homelab, you have more relevant experience than you probably realise. The problem is that most people do not know how to present it on a CV.

Here is how to frame homelab work so it reads like professional experience:

Instead of: “I have a homelab with some servers”

Write: “Designed and maintained a self-hosted infrastructure environment running Proxmox virtualisation across two nodes, hosting 15+ containerised services including reverse proxy (Nginx), monitoring (Uptime Kuma), DNS filtering (Pi-hole), and file storage (Nextcloud).”

See the difference? Same homelab. Completely different impression. You are using the same language that appears in job descriptions — virtualisation, containerisation, reverse proxy, monitoring. Because that is exactly what it is.

Skills you can legitimately claim from homelab experience:

• Linux administration — if you have SSHed into a server and configured services, you have done sysadmin work
• Docker and containerisation — deploying, configuring, troubleshooting containers is a commercially valuable skill
• Networking — VLANs, DNS, DHCP, firewall rules, reverse proxies. All of it counts.
• Monitoring and alerting — if you have set up Grafana, Prometheus, Uptime Kuma, or similar tools, that is operational monitoring
• Backup and recovery — if you have a backup strategy for your homelab, you understand DR fundamentals
• Documentation — if you have written up your setup, that is technical documentation experience

Do not undersell this. I have hired people whose strongest experience was their homelab. It showed me they cared enough to invest their own time and money into learning.

---

The Projects Section Matters More Than Certs

Certifications tell me you can study. Projects tell me you can do.

If you are early in your career, your Projects section should be the most detailed part of your CV. Here is how to structure it:

• Name the project — give it a clear title, not just “homelab stuff”
• Describe what you built — be specific about technologies, architecture, and scale
• Explain why — what problem were you solving? What were you trying to learn?
• Link to evidence — GitHub repo, blog post, documentation. If I can click through and see your work, you are already ahead of 90% of applicants.

Example project entry:

Self-Hosted Infrastructure Stack (2025 — Present)
Built a multi-service homelab environment on Proxmox, running Docker containers behind Nginx reverse proxy with SSL termination. Services include Nextcloud (file sync), Jellyfin (media), Gitea (version control), and Uptime Kuma (monitoring). Managed via SSH, documented in a private wiki. GitHub: github.com/username/homelab-configs

That single entry tells me more than three certifications and a generic personal summary combined.

---

Common Mistakes I See

After reviewing hundreds of CVs, these are the patterns that get people rejected — or more accurately, overlooked:

• Generic objective statements. “Enthusiastic IT professional seeking a challenging role where I can grow.” Every single applicant writes this. It says nothing. Replace it with a specific, honest summary of what you bring and what you are aiming for.
• Listing every technology you have heard of. If your skills section includes 40 technologies but your experience section shows no evidence of using any of them, it reads as padding. Only list technologies you could answer questions about in an interview.
• No evidence of hands-on work. Listing “Docker” as a skill but having no project, repo, or experience entry that mentions Docker. Skills without evidence are just words.
• Burying the good stuff. Your homelab, your GitHub, your side projects — these should be prominent, not hidden at the bottom under “Hobbies and Interests.” They are more relevant than your GCSEs.
• Two-page CVs for entry-level. If you have less than five years of experience, one page is enough. Hiring managers spend 30 seconds on a first pass. Make those seconds count.
• Spelling and formatting errors. If your CV has typos, I am going to wonder about the quality of your documentation. In IT, documentation matters. Get someone else to proofread it.