Free software developer cover letter template

For junior, mid-level and senior developers, front end, back end and full stack. A full example and what to mention in yours.

  • Free to copy
  • Matches your CV design
  • With your signature
Write yours free See the example
A software developer cover letter in the Manchester design, with a made-up name and a typed signature

Software developer cover letter example

Sam Whitfield, Software Developer, product team · eighteen months as a junior developer at a booking software company

Dear Ms Marsden,

I would like to apply for the Software Developer role in your appointments team. For the last eighteen months I have been a junior developer at a small company that makes booking software for gyms, working mostly in TypeScript, React and Node.js, and I am ready for a bigger product with more users.

In my team I build features end to end, from the API to the screen. I recently rebuilt our class timetable page, which had become slow for larger gyms: I moved the filtering to the server, added pagination and wrote tests for the edge cases, and the page now loads in under two seconds instead of around six. I review my colleagues’ pull requests every day and look after part of our GitHub Actions pipeline.

Your advert mentions PostgreSQL and accessibility. I write most of my own SQL, including the migrations for a new memberships table this summer, and I have been working through our main screens against WCAG 2.2, fixing keyboard focus and contrast problems as I go.

I use your patient booking app myself, and I like that your engineers write openly about how you test. My GitHub profile is on my CV, and I would be glad to talk through any of the code there. My notice period is one month.

Yours sincerely,
Sam Whitfield

Or write yours from the job advert

What to mention in a software developer cover letter

Keep it to one page. Pick what the advert stresses most, and give an example for each point.

Writing the CV too? See the software developer CV template and our junior software developer CV example.

Invited to interview? Read our software developer interview questions, with how to answer each one.

Tips for yours

  • Keep it short. Engineers and recruiters skim, so three or four tight paragraphs beat a page of adjectives.
  • Lead with evidence, not a list of technologies. Your CV carries the full stack; the letter shows what you did with it.
  • Use the company’s own names for its stack and products, so a recruiter matching your application to the advert finds them.
  • Make your best repository easy to find, with a README that says what it does and how to run it.

  1. Your level and stack

    Junior, mid or senior, and the languages and frameworks you use most, matched to the advert.

  2. One thing you built

    The problem, what you did and the result, such as faster pages, fewer errors or a feature shipped.

  3. How you work in a team

    Code review, testing, pairing, CI/CD and agile ways of working, if they are part of your week.

  4. Why this product

    Something real: you use it, you like how they build it, or the problem they solve interests you.

  5. Links

    GitHub, a portfolio or a live project, mentioned once and listed with your contact details.

  6. Practical details

    Your notice period, and whether you want office, hybrid or remote work if the advert leaves it open.

Software developer cover letters: your questions

Do software developers need a cover letter?

Not always. Many tech roles go through recruiters or forms with no letter. When you can send one, a short letter helps you stand out, especially for junior roles, career changers and small companies where the hiring manager reads every application.

What should a junior developer put in a cover letter with no commercial experience?

One or two projects you built, with the stack and what they do, any degree, bootcamp or course, and what you learned working with others, for example in a team project or open source. Link the code and say why this company appeals.

How long should a developer cover letter be?

Shorter than most: about 200 to 300 words. Your CV and your code carry the detail.

Should I mention remote or hybrid working?

Only if the advert leaves it open or it decides whether you can take the job. Keep it to one line near the end.

Keep going

Cover letters for other jobs: Nurse Healthcare assistant Care worker Teacher Teaching assistant Retail Customer service Hospitality Administrator Receptionist Accountant Project manager Sales Marketing Electrician Warehouse School leaver Apprenticeship Part-time job Career change

Your turn. Write yours

Paste the job advert and make the draft your own. Download it in your CV’s design, with your signature.

Write yours freeSee the example