Projects on a Resume: How to List Them, With Examples and Ideas

Add projects when they prove something your job history cannot. PennWest's career center names the two most common cases: recent graduates, whose class, capstone or research projects show workplace skills, and career changers, whose side, freelance or volunteer projects show experience in the new field. Technical candidates at any level add a few when the work is public and relevant.

Be selective. The same PennWest guidance warns against dumping in every project you have touched: if a project does not prove a qualification the rest of your resume leaves unproven, it does not need a line. Two strong, relevant projects beat six tutorial exercises.

Placement follows your experience level. Students put a capstone or major class project under Education or in an "Academic Projects" section right after it; Ohio State's career office suggests listing the title, course and semester and formatting each entry much like a job. Experienced candidates put work projects inside the job where they happened and add a "Selected Projects" section only for public, independent work.

Career changers can place a "Relevant Projects" section above their work history when the projects match the new field better than their jobs do. Put your GitHub or portfolio link in the header, next to your email and LinkedIn, so the reader sees it before reaching the section.

Write each project as a short job entry. San Jose State University's iSchool advises giving each project a title and the year completed, marking unfinished work "in progress," and listing up to five showcase projects that demonstrate a variety of relevant skills.

Group projects count. Say how big the team was and which part was yours, because a reader assumes "built an app" means you built all of it, and the interview will test that.

• Title: a plain name that says what it is ("Transit delay predictor"), not a code name
• Context: course, client, employer, hackathon or personal
• Role and team size: "Solo" or "Team of 4, led the backend"
• Tools: languages, frameworks, software or equipment used
• Date: month and year, or "in progress"
• One to three bullets: the problem, what you built and a result (users, accuracy, speed, grade, award)
• A short link to the repo, demo or case study

Put one link in your header and, if a project has its own demo, a short link on that project line. San Jose State's iSchool recommends short URLs; a readable path such as github.com/alexkim/transit-delays does the same job, works on a printed page and shows the reader where it leads.

Then check what the link opens. Pin your best four to six repositories, give each a README with a one-paragraph summary, setup steps and a screenshot, and archive half-finished tutorial clones. Designers, writers and architects should link a portfolio of case studies that show the problem, the process and the finished work.

Your resume summarizes; your portfolio shows. The resume line says you redesigned a checkout flow and cut drop-off; the portfolio page shows the before and after screens and explains the decisions.

For U.S. jobs, keep your own photo off the resume and put photos of your work in the portfolio. The EEOC advises employers not to request applicant photographs before an offer, because a photo shows traits that cannot be part of a hiring decision, so a headshot adds nothing an employer can use.

Work photos are different. Photographers, designers, interior designers, architects, contractors and makeup artists should show finished work in a portfolio linked from the resume header. Actors and models attach a separate headshot, which is a convention of those fields. Some countries, such as Germany, still commonly expect a photo on a CV, so follow local norms when you apply abroad.

Pick projects that mirror the work in the posting. The table below gives ideas by field for Python, Java, data science, AI, IT and other roles. Whatever you build, show a result: users, accuracy against a baseline, time saved, money raised or a placement in a competition.

Avoid the projects every bootcamp and online course assigns, such as predicting Titanic survival or classifying the Iris dataset, unless you took them somewhere new. Reviewers have seen them many times. A smaller project on data you care about, with a clear question and an honest write-up of what did not work, is more convincing.

If projects are your job, they belong in the experience section, not a side section. Under each role, describe your main projects by scope (budget, team size, duration), method (Agile, Scrum, waterfall, hybrid), tools (Jira, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, Primavera P6) and outcome (on time, under budget, adoption). A senior project manager can add a "Selected Projects" list of three or four landmark projects.

Project engineers in construction should name the project type and value, the phases they covered (preconstruction, submittals, RFIs, closeout) and the software (Procore, Bluebeam, AutoCAD). Project management keywords worth mirroring from postings include stakeholder management, risk management, scope, schedule, budget, change control, vendor management and status reporting. List credentials you hold, such as the PMP or CAPM from the Project Management Institute or the Certified ScrumMaster from Scrum Alliance.

Fictional people, employers and projects. Numbers are illustrations.

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• How to Write a Resume With No Work Experience

We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.

1. PennWest University Career Center: How and When to Include Projects on Your Resume (when to include projects, where to list them, entry contents, drop school projects after the first full-time role)
2. San Jose State University School of Information: Building the Resume (title and year per project, "in progress", up to five showcase projects, short URLs)
3. The Ohio State University, Arts and Sciences Career Success: Resumes and Cover Letters (Academic Projects section with title, course, semester and tools)
4. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices (employers should not request applicant photographs before an offer)