Previously, we covered the résumé terms you should deploy if you’re hunting for a cloud-based or DevOps position. The tech world is much larger than that, of course, so now we’re expanding it to other crucial areas—including data science, Java, and web development.

By highlighting these terms in your résumé (along with any others cited by the job posting you’re applying to), you have a better chance of catching the eye of recruiters (and their automated tools), who often have only seconds to scan your application materials—and are thus focused on particular keywords.

Java

Java lives on! It’s nearly 25 years old now—and still going strong, with a number-one ranking on the (somewhat controversial) TIOBE Index of popular languages. Meanwhile, an entire ecosystem has grown up around the language, including tools such as Microsoft .NET. If you’re applying for a Java-based job, here are some terms you definitely need to drop into your résumé:

J2EE and J2SE: J2EE stands for Java Enterprise Edition. The “2” really isn’t included anymore in the name, but people still use it, and it’s often present in job listings (as such, you might also want to include Java EE, even though it’s somewhat redundant). As for J2SE, that’s the standard edition, and it’s a subset of J2EE. Your best bet is to learn both (J2EE and J2SE) and name-drop them on the résumé.

Spring: Most Java jobs are going to require Spring, which is the most popular framework for development applications in Java.

 

Data

Many data jobs fall into two categories: Big Data developer and data scientist. What’s the difference? Data scientists tend to be experts in analyzing large sets of data to come up with insights presented in many different ways (including visualizations).

Big Data positions sometimes overlap with data scientist positions, but focus more on developing software that manages huge datasets (as opposed to mining those datasets for strategic ideas). How huge? So big that “smaller” database tools such as MySQL will choke—think billions (or even hundreds of billions!) of rows of data.

First, let’s tackle a hard cold truth regarding data scientists: your résumé will need to emphasize your education. A Master’s or Ph.D in a data-related field is always helpful, especially if you’re aiming for a mid- or senior-tier position. Here’s a helpful graph illustrating the sorts of skills you’ll want to emphasize for each kind of position: 

Big Data developers likely need to know (and show they know) Java. That’s in addition to the following:

Hadoop and related tools: Hadoop, the open-source framework that allows firms to run data applications on large hardware clusters, attracted a lot of hype a few years ago. Although that buzz has cooled somewhat, it’s still very much in use in the Big Data world. You’ll need to be familiar with it (hint: it’s not nearly as hard as some people claim it is).

Scala or R: If you’re doing anything related to Big Data, you’ll likely need to know Scala. (If you’re looking to land a job as a data scientist, you’re more likely to need to know R and Python.)

Machine Learning: There’s a lot of hype right now around artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning (ML). Many businesses are interested in how these magical technologies can supposedly streamline business processes, render their tech stacks positively futuristic, and boost profits. A trivial but very real example of ML in the wild is how Amazon displays its recommendations based on your previous purchases and searches. If you truly know how to work with machine-learning tools and libraries such as Google’s TensorFlow, make sure to highlight that on your résumé—those are collectively a very big deal right now.

Web Development Terms

Working in web development? A large portion of tech jobs these days (naturally) revolve around the web, so throwing any related terms onto your résumé can greatly help the job hunt.

React: Created by Facebook all the way back in 2011, React was open-sourced in 2013. Since then, it has only grown in popularity, with many developers and companies opting for it as their framework of choice.

Angular: Yes, Angular is still around, and it’s not going anywhere soon. Fortunately, learning it is pretty straightforward, and it’s intensely useful in many aspects of web development.

JavaScript: I hesitate to even include this one, because if you’re going to do web development, of course you need to know JavaScript. That’s a given. However, recruiters still look for this as a keyword, and so you’ll need it on your résumé. (And if you don’t know JavaScript, it’s time to learn it once and for all.)

TypeScript: Wait, what? Microsoft created TypeScript in order to add static typing to JavaScript. It’s a superset of JavaScript. But should you learn it? Sure; it’s popular on GitHub, indicating a high level of developer usage. It’s likely that, if you’re interviewing to become part of a developer team, TypeScript is a valuable part of the company’s tech stack.

There are other web frameworks you’ll want to know, but aren’t quite as commonly used as React and Angular. Vue.js is powerful and growing rapidly. If you know it, by all means include it.

Conclusion: Also Avoid These Résumé Traps

Now that you know some tech terms to include, here’s another piece of advice: do you utter best to rid your résumé of clichés such as “works well with people” or “self-starter.” Recruiters roll their eyes when they see such terms. Indeed, there are a number of things you should avoid doing when the time comes to sit down and write out your accomplishments—keep your fonts reasonable and always, always make sure to have someone copyedit your work.