How do you make a great resume?

How can I, coming from a non-CS background, make sure my resume is shortlisted by software companies like Oracle, NetApp, Amazon and others?

• I come from a good college in India, but from a non-CS and non-Electronic background. I have had a flair for programming and computer science concepts since I've known. And in my pre-final year, I realized that software engineering is the thing for me. I would say, I am as good as an average Computer Science student in terms of knowledge of Data Structures and Algorithms as well as subjects like OS and Networks. I have been doing a lot of coding from a couple of years too. But coming from a non-CS background, I am apprehensive if my resume can reach good software companies. I have done considerable amount of work in my college days related to programming, that I can include in my resume. How can I make sure that my resume reaches companies listed above and the like?

• Answer:

  The best ways to get past the initial filtering and reach the interview stage is- 1) Have an awesome resume. 2) Have friends or alumni working in said companies who can attest to your skills and can refer you. Get networking. 3) Have some kind of non-partisan assessment of your coding skills - Such as GSoc, Open Source contributions, Codechef/Topcoder and Github projects so that prospective employers can investigate your code online. Also interviewstreet. Familiarize yourself with interviewstreet. Now, I landed a job at Oracle during the placement season at my college with a non-CS non-EE engineering background, so I can tell you how that happened. It might help a bit. They had a first round aptitude test which tested mathematical, verbal and logical aptitude, apart from coding skills and CS concepts. It was open to all branches, not just computer science. I missed this test. On PPT-Day, I wasn't shortlisted for the company. When they came on campus I went to them with my resume and handed it to the HR-manager who had come with them. He said he'd look at it, but left my resume lying on a table when he left. On the day of the interviews I was sleeping in my room, thinking I'd forget about Oracle and try for either NetApp or Zynga, which were coming a day afterwards, they were paying a bit more too. Then a couple of friends called me up and told me that I was being an arrogant defeatist prick by giving up after the first try. I realized that the reason I was not going to the Oracle interview was not because I was confident of converting Zynga or NetApp, but because I'd been demotivated by what the HR-Manager did to what I thought was my super-awesome resume and didn't want to get rejected again. So I decided to suck up that cowardice, got up again, fired up my ego, and put on my best suit. And my pant's zipper broke. And so I walked into the Oracle interviews in a borrowed suit. I found the senior-most guy around- a VP, and showed him my resume. I told him I had missed the test but that I was confident of being good enough for the job and had as good a knowledge of Data Structures and Algorithms as the average CS guy. He told me to wait outside, and that he just might consider it. 20 minutes later I was told I was part of the interview process. I was the last guy interviewed, and they grilled me thoroughly on multithreading, data-structures and algorithms, then on the practical applications of all the software projects I had developed. I went through 4 rounds of interviews that ended at that started at 2PM and ended at 8. Then I got the job offer. Later I found out that the questions they'd asked me had been much harder than the ones they asked other people, since I'd seemed like I was exaggerating on my resume. Long story short- be bold, be persuasive, and (most importantly) be competent.