How do I check my software engineer CV against a specific job?

Paste your CV and the job advert into CVAutomate's free scanner. It shows your ATS match score and the exact keywords you're missing for that specific software engineer job — the first scan is free with no sign-up.

🇬🇧 Software Engineer CV keywords the ATS is scanning for (UK)

Most UK employers — including the NHS, councils, and every major retailer and agency — run applications through an ATS (applicant tracking system) that scores your CV against the job advert before any human reads it. If your CV doesn't contain the right software engineer keywords, you're filtered out automatically — no matter how good you are. Here are the terms that matter, and a free way to check your CV against the exact job you want.

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Keywords UK employers filter software engineers by

These are the terms that appear most often in UK software engineer job adverts — and therefore the terms applicant tracking systems are configured to score:

full-stack developmentREST APIsmicroservicesCI/CD pipelinesunit testingagile / scrumcode reviewcloud (AWS / Azure / GCP)containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes)version control (Git)system designSQL / NoSQL databasesdebuggingperformance optimisationTypeScript / Python / Javaobservability / monitoringsecurity best practicestechnical documentation

Important: never paste keywords in blindly. The filter ranks context, and interviewers check claims. Add only what you've genuinely done — the free scan below shows which of these the specific job you want actually asks for, so you don't guess.

How to get a software engineer CV past the ATS

Mirror the stack in the job advert exactly — if they say "Node.js", write "Node.js", not just "JavaScript backend".
Quantify impact: latency cut, uptime, users served, deploy frequency. Numbers survive ATS parsing and impress humans.
Keep a skills section with plain-text technology names — logos and icons are invisible to an ATS.
Link GitHub/portfolio as plain URLs; some parsers strip hyperlinks.
One page per ~5 years of experience; recruiters spend seconds per CV after the ATS stage.
UK conventions: no photo, no date of birth, 2 pages max, include a short personal statement at the top.

Questions software engineers ask

Does the ATS read my GitHub?

No — it only parses your CV text. Put your key projects and technologies in the CV itself, with your GitHub URL as supporting evidence.

Should I list every language I have touched?

No. List what you can interview on. Padding dilutes your match score for the languages that matter.

How do I check my CV against a specific job?

Paste your CV and the job advert into the free scanner below. You'll see your ATS match score and the exact missing keywords for that job — first scan free, no sign-up.

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Your match score, the missing keywords for a real software engineer job, and an ATS-safe rewrite. Free to try.

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