Projects
Show impact and technology together, one of the highest-leverage sections for juniors and career switchers.
When work history is short, a project section carries real weight. It's proof you can build something end to end, not just study it.
Treat each project like a mini work-experience entry
Name it, say what it does in one line, name the stack, then, same as work experience, lead with the outcome or the hardest problem solved, not a feature list.
Pick projects that map to the job, not just what's impressive to you
A distributed systems side project is a stronger signal for a backend infra role than a mobile game, even if the game got more users. Choose the two or three that argue for the specific job you're applying to.
Expense Tracker (React, Node, PostgreSQL): built and shipped a full-stack app used by 400+ students; added receipt-OCR parsing that cut manual entry time 70%.
Made a to-do list app. Used React. Was fun to build.
Put it into practice
Build your resume in Fit The Role and these principles are already built into the editor and templates.