Résumé words · Communicating and working with others
Another word for “Wrote”
What it is trying to claim: That a document, or code, exists because you produced it.
Why it underperforms
Plain, strong, and undersold by people who reach for "authored" instead. Its real weakness is that writing is judged by whether anybody read it, and most bullets name the artifact without any evidence that it was used. A document nobody opened is a task; one that changed how people work is a contribution, and the words are identical up to the point where you add the reach.
Stronger than "Wrote"
Not ranked. Each is right for one situation, and the situation is the column that matters.
| Word | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Documented | The output records how something works. |
| Published | It went to an audience beyond the team. |
| Drafted | You produced the first version; others finished it. |
| Specified | The document defined what would be built. |
| Edited | You shaped somebody else words. |
A real bullet, fixed
Before
Wrote documentation for internal tools.
After
Wrote the runbook for the on-call rota; time-to-first-action on overnight pages dropped from about 20 minutes to under 5 once people stopped waking a senior engineer to ask.
Documentation is measured in what it prevents, and the thing it prevented here is specific enough to picture.
When “Wrote” is the right word
Almost always, in preference to "authored". Add who read it or what it replaced and it becomes one of the more persuasive verbs available.
Common questions
- What can I say instead of "Wrote" on a résumé?
- Documented, Published, Drafted, Specified. Pick the one that matches what you actually did, then follow it with a number. Documentation is measured in what it prevents, and the thing it prevented here is specific enough to picture.
- Is "Wrote" bad on a résumé?
- Plain, strong, and undersold by people who reach for "authored" instead. Its real weakness is that writing is judged by whether anybody read it, and most bullets name the artifact without any evidence that it was used. A document nobody opened is a task; one that changed how people work is a contribution, and the words are identical up to the point where you add the reach.
- When is it fine to use "Wrote"?
- Almost always, in preference to "authored". Add who read it or what it replaced and it becomes one of the more persuasive verbs available.
Fix these next
- AuthoredThat a document exists and you wrote it.
- CommunicatedThat you conveyed information effectively.
- Excellent communicatorThat you write and speak well.
- PresentedThat you delivered information to an audience.
- Go-to personThat colleagues came to you when they were stuck.
All 125 words are on the résumé words index. For the verbs grouped by what they claim, read résumé power verbs.
After the résumé
Fixing the words is the easy half. The applying is the slow half.
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