DEV Community: Lluc Verdaguer Macias

The 4-paragraph developer cover letter that actually gets read (under 200 words, with a full example)

Lluc Verdaguer Macias — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 10:31:59 +0000

Most developer cover letters are never read, and the ones that are read are usually read for the wrong reason: the hiring manager is looking for a reason to say no. That is not cynicism, it is what happens when one person has 300 applications and a job to do. So the letter has one goal: survive the first two sentences and give the reader a reason to open the CV with interest instead of suspicion.

Here is the structure that does that. It is four short paragraphs, under 200 words, and it takes about 25 minutes per application once you have done it twice.

Paragraph 1: their problem, your proof (2 sentences)

Do not open with "I am writing to express my interest in the position of...". The reader knows what you are writing about. Open with the thing the company is trying to do, taken from the posting, and the single thing in your history that proves you can do it.

You are hiring a backend developer to move Payflow's ledger from batch to streaming. I did that at Fintra in 2025: the settlement service went from a nightly job to Kafka-driven processing, with latency down from hours to under two minutes.

Two sentences. The reader now knows you read the posting and that you are not a random applicant. That is already more than 80% of letters achieve.

If you are a junior and do not have a professional proof, use a project, and be specific: "I built a full-stack e-commerce app with Stripe Checkout and 38 tests; the hardest part was merging guest and logged-in carts, which I solved server-side."

Paragraph 2: three matches (bullets are fine)

Take the three most important requirements in the posting and answer each one with a fact. Not "I am proficient in TypeScript" but "TypeScript daily for two years; migrated a 40k-line JavaScript codebase to strict mode."

Kafka in production: three services, ~40k events/day, exactly-once processing.

PostgreSQL performance: cut the reconciliation query from 12 s to 300 ms with a partial index and a rewrite.

Small teams: I was one of two backend developers; I am used to owning things end to end.

The point of bullets is that the reader can check the three boxes in ten seconds. Pick requirements from the posting, in their order. If you only match two of three, say so honestly and explain how you would close the gap; it reads far better than padding.

Paragraph 3: why them, in one honest sentence

One sentence, and only if it is true. "I have followed your engineering blog since the post on idempotent webhooks" is good. "I am passionate about your mission to revolutionize payments" is noise. If you have no real reason, skip this paragraph; nothing is lost.

Paragraph 4: the ask (1-2 sentences)

Say what you would like to happen next and offer something concrete.

I would be glad to walk you through the migration plan I used, including what I would do differently today. My CV is attached; I am available for a call any weekday after 4 pm CET.

Sign with your name, city and a link to your GitHub or portfolio. No "Sincerely yours" theatre.

What to leave out

Your life story, how you got into programming, what you studied unless it is directly relevant.
Anything that repeats the CV verbatim. The letter is the argument; the CV is the evidence.
Adjectives about yourself: passionate, motivated, hard-working, detail-oriented. Every one of these is a sentence the reader skips.
Apologies ("although I do not have professional experience..."). State what you have; let them decide.

A junior example, complete

Hi Andrea,

Nortwind is looking for a junior frontend developer to help ship the new dashboard in React. My final bootcamp project is a React dashboard: eight chart views on a live API, with loading and error states for every one of them, and Lighthouse at 96. Live: nortdash.example · repo on GitHub.

From the posting:

React with hooks and TypeScript: both projects on my CV, strict mode on.

Working with designers: I built the dashboard from Figma files with a designer from the bootcamp; two rounds of review.

Testing: 40 tests with Jest and Testing Library; CI on every push.

I have used your product for a year as a customer and have a short list of small UI things I noticed, if that is ever useful.

I would be glad to walk you through the dashboard code. CV attached; available for a call any afternoon.

Marc Puig · Barcelona · github.com/…

168 words. It gets read.

Checklist before sending

First sentence names their problem; second sentence gives your proof.
Three matches, each with a fact, in the posting's order.
One honest "why them", or none.
A concrete offer and your availability.
Under 200 words, zero adjectives about yourself.

If you want one written for a specific posting, that is what I do at DevCV Rewrite: a tailored cover letter is 9 EUR, a full CV rewrite 19 EUR, both delivered within 24 hours with a 14-day refund. There are before/after samples so you can see the format first.

The 7-second test: why junior developer CVs get skipped (with before/after rewrites)

Lluc Verdaguer Macias — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:57:57 +0000

Recruiters and hiring managers give a CV about seven seconds before deciding whether to keep reading. That is not an insult; it is arithmetic. A single junior posting gets 200 to 800 applications. After reading a few hundred developer CVs (mostly junior and mid-level), the same five problems account for almost every rejection at the screening stage. None of them is about skill. All of them are fixable in an afternoon.

1. The bullet describes a task, not a result

The most common line on a junior CV:

Developed REST APIs using Node.js and Express.

That sentence is true for a hundred thousand people. It tells the reader what you touched, not what happened because you touched it. Rewrite:

Built the order-tracking API (Node.js/Express, PostgreSQL) used by 3 internal tools; cut average support lookups from ~5 min to seconds.

Formula: what you built + the stack in parentheses + who used it or what changed. If you have a number, use it. If you do not, use a concrete consequence ("replaced a manual spreadsheet process", "shipped to production in week 2").

2. The skills section is a keyword dump

JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Node, Express, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Docker, AWS, Git, Jira, Agile, HTML, CSS, Python, Java, C++

Nobody believes you are equally good at seventeen things. Screening tools will match the keywords, but the human who reads it next discounts the whole section. Split it:

Working daily: TypeScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL
Used in projects: Docker, AWS (ECS, S3), Python
Familiar: Java, C++

Three tiers, honest, and now every item is credible.

3. The summary says nothing

Passionate and motivated software developer seeking a challenging role in a dynamic team.

That sentence could be deleted from every CV on Earth without losing information. A summary should answer, in two lines, "what kind of developer are you and what proves it?":

Backend developer (2 years, Node.js/TypeScript). Shipped two production services at a logistics startup; comfortable owning a feature from ticket to deploy. Looking for a backend or full-stack role in a small team.

Note the last line: it tells the reader which roles to match you against. That is a favor to them.

4. Projects are listed but not evidenced

For juniors, projects are the work history. "Built a to-do app with React" is not evidence. Give each project the same treatment as a job: one line on what it is, one line on the hardest technical problem, a link to the repo and to a live version. A hiring manager who clicks the link and sees a README with a screenshot and setup instructions has just done your technical screening for you.

5. The important information is not on the first screen

Most CVs are read on a laptop, in a browser tab, with the top third visible. What is on that top third? Often: full postal address, a photo, date of birth, a huge header, then "Education" in detail. Move contact details to one line, put the summary right below, then experience or projects. Education goes last unless you graduated within the year and it is your strongest card.

Before/after in one place

Before

Junior Developer, Acme Ltd (2024–2025)

Worked on the frontend using React

Fixed bugs and participated in code reviews

Collaborated with the team using Agile

After

Junior Developer, Acme Ltd (2024–2025)

Owned the customer-facing checkout flow (React, TypeScript); reduced abandoned checkouts by 12% after rebuilding the address form.

Closed 60+ bugs over 8 months, including a memory leak in the product listing that had been open for a year.

Reviewed PRs from two other juniors; wrote the team's first component testing guide (Jest/RTL).

Same person, same job. The second version gets a phone call.

A 20-minute checklist

Every bullet: does it say what changed because of you? If not, rewrite or delete.
Skills: three tiers, honest.
Summary: two lines, ends with the role you want.
Projects: link, hardest problem, live demo.
First screen: contact line, summary, best section. Nothing else.

I rewrite developer CVs for a living at DevCV Rewrite: 19 EUR, delivered in 24 hours, full refund within 14 days if it does not help. If you would rather do it yourself, the checklist above is exactly what I apply.