When do you put a programming language on your resume?

Question

I have a handful of side projects that use various programming languages. My job doesn't really warrant the use of those languages in a professional capacity, but I can still get useful stuff done in a variety of languages.

I only really feel comfortable putting the language I'm strongest with on my resume, but I don't think that's enough to get attention. However, without working in other languages in a professional capacity, I don't really feel comfortable putting them on my resume.

So, at what point do you add another programming language to your resume? Where do you draw the line?

Related:

Do you really know your programming languages?

Answer 1

When I interview people, I consider any language they've listed as fair game. So if you can make it through some programming questions with each one, I think it's fine.

Just make sure they are actually languages. CSS and HTML don't count :)

Answer 2

Place the ones you are strongest with in the most prominent place. If you would like to mention multiple languages that you are not as experienced with, or just use for a hobby, list them, but note how much experience you have with them and how you've used them.

I typically have a separate section of generic "skills" with a subcategory for my hobbies. If I've played with Python or Groovy on the side, I put it in that section. There are also skills that I only use as a hobby, but am more proficient at than some of my professional skills. Its up to you whether to group these by professional/hobby or by strength.

Additionally, for the "employment" section, I usually have a few lines about what I did there. That is a good place to list your primary language, and alternate languages, after you talk about your job duties.

Answer 3

Well depending on the structure of your resume if you have a section where you can list skills/knowledge you could certainly put "experience with" or "knowledge of" for a particular language, but I absolutely would make sure that i've done more with the language then writing hello world and making sure it compiles.

Answer 4

You can put a "also some experience with" section to add the other programming languages.

It shows that you are not bragging and gives your ability to learn new languages.

Answer 5

Don't list more than 4 or 5 languages. Unless you have work experience to back up that list. If you put too many languages without work experience, I would feel like you are just trying to pad your resume. I've seen a lot resumes (mostly from new grads) who list every programming language they've ever used, along with every application they've used.

Answer 6

If you put a language on your resume, you should also include in the resume what experience you have in the resume. I always found it amussing to get resumes back from some of the large Consulting Farms which would read like Alphabet soup but then when you ask the candidate anything about the technology, they would crumble and admit that they didn't know much about it.

If you are competent and can back up your competency with examples then by all means put it on there.

Answer 7

What I do with languages if they are items that I am not 100% fluent in, but have experience. I have a "Technologies" section, in there I can list a bunch of them, at interview time it typically prompts a discussion regarding my level of experience with the various technologies.

I typically only put items down if I have actually done a "real" project with them, not just education/research on the topic.

Answer 8

If you know several languages are are able to work decently in them (i.e. you know Pythonic from not) then list them. Maybe you're not an expert, but if you were hired to work in that language you'd be able to be up to speed quickly, right? Many times your resume will end up in the trash if you don't have the right bullet points. So put them in there, unless you really aren't comfortable listing them.

Answer 9

I've always listed only those languages or technologies that I'd want to work with again, or are relevant to the role for which I'm applying (For instance, I tend to play down my SharePoint experience, and tend to mention C# more prominently than ATL or C++)

Answer 10

To have an answer completely different than all others so far:

I have to admit that as a green bean, fresh out of college, I listed pretty much every language I had ever touched on my resume.

However, from experience in actually looking at resume's from the perspective of an interviewer/employer, I'm not at all impressed if someone can list 20 languages on their resume. In fact, if I were to write a resume now, I may only include one or two languages, and I would consider not mentioning any languages at all.

The plain and simple fact is, as an employer, I don't care what languages you know. If I need you to use C#, I'll teach you C#. If I need you to use Ruby, I'll teach you Ruby. The only time I would ever care what languages you know is if I were hiring someone to work on a piece of legacy software and needed a VB6 developer (it's hard to find people who want to use VB6).

As an employer, there are many other things I want to know about you. Do you work on any projects in your free time, open source or otherwise? Do you have a passion for developing software? Are you dedicated to being great at your craft? While some of these things may be hard to express on a resume, they are of utmost importance to me, as an employer and even as a coworker.

All that said, some employers, notably those that are not strictly software producing organizations, may not look at this the same way. So, take this advice with a grain of salt.

Answer 11

As a senior developer, only those languages that meet the following criteria:

1. I know them cold. I can answer almost any question you throw at me about them.
2. I want to work with them again.

Answer 12

I once sat down and calculated that I had been paid for writing code in over 30 different computer languages. Only an idiot would list all those on their CV. How you pick which ones to claim knowledge of depends, obviously, on the job you are going for. Basically, you must tailor your CV for the job - if you are going through an agent, make sure that they get in touch with you before putting you forward so you can do the tailoring.

Answer 13

I'd just pick the ones I feel confident in. At the current time, my job isn't really strict on what language I choose. I could write in whatever language I really wanted. I chose a combination of C# and VB.NET for my current project that I'm working on.

Answer 14

Put it so you don't start "listing" them. For example, something along the lines of

" 20 years experience with c++ and java in ... whatever

Confortable with ruby and python for small scale development."

That way they get a feeling what are your main strengths, but also they understand you can handle yourself if something alongside comes along. After all, you cannot be equally proficient with all of those 20 languages.

Due to my english the upper sentences may have come out a bit wrong, but you know the phrases which usually go in cv - this was just a principle idea.

Answer 15

If I can write more than hello world in a language; I know it. So I'll list it.

I cover at least a few of each (Functional, Imperative, Procedural and OO) languages.

Picking up another language from a any category is easy after two or three.

I have a "can read code in" section. I get comments in interviews about my honesty in stating that I can only read it.

It's very useful for porting older intellectual property to modern languages.

Answer 16

The guideline I use are

1. If I've used the language enough to work productively in it.
2. I want to work with the language again
3. I am comfortable fielding whatever questions the interviewer throws at me. (This is applicable to any part of my resume)

That being said, resume's should read like good web pages... they should be concise and free of clutter.

Answer 17

Basicly, if I've used it enough that I think I could competently use it (given proper references), I put it in. I also include some indication of how much I've used it (eg: 10 years Ada, 7 years C++, Some Java)

Equally important is to know when to take languages or tools off of your resume. For example, I really don't want to get stuck using Fortran, or VAPS ever again, so I've actually removed those two.

Answer 18

You could list them as self learned languages, outside of a job. This would demonstrate that you are actually doing continued training, which is always well seen by employers.

This way, you list them, and yet, it is obvious that you haven't used them in a professionnal environment.

As for the ones talking about markup languages and css, usually, I fit them in a category called "technologies used" in a section for each job I had. This way, you can fit about anything that isn't necessarily programming oriented, but usefull to mention.

Answer 19

Actually if i finished a tiny project with it, I simply list it mentioning the experience level i had of course.

Answer 20

Avoid listing old language, e.g. FORTAN. That dates you even if you are up on more recent languages.