Keywords are how software finds you. When a recruiter searches their ATS for "React TypeScript", your resume either shows up or it does not. There is no partial credit.
But listing every technology under the sun backfires too. A resume stuffed with 40 keywords looks like spam to a human reader, and modern AI screening tools can tell the difference between a keyword dropped into a skills list and a keyword backed by real experience. The goal is to pick the right words and put them in the right places.
Here is what matters by role in 2026, which keywords are gaining weight, and which ones are losing relevance.
There is no magic number. Focus on 8 to 12 technologies you have actually used in production. Each one should appear in context within your experience section, not just in a skills list at the top.
Should I list every technology I have ever touched?
No. A long list of 30 technologies signals that you are a generalist who is not deep in anything. Hiring managers want to see depth. Pick the skills that match the role and show real experience with them.
Do ATS systems still scan for exact keyword matches?
Most modern ATS systems use some form of semantic matching, so they can recognize that React.js and ReactJS are the same thing. But older systems still do exact matching, so use the most common spelling of each technology name.
High signal in 2026: React, TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Vite, React Server Components, Zustand, Playwright, Web Components.
React still dominates frontend hiring. But in 2026, saying "React" alone is not enough. Hiring managers expect you to specify what flavor: are you writing client-side SPAs, or are you building with React Server Components in Next.js? The distinction matters because the skills are different.
TypeScript is no longer optional. Job postings that say "JavaScript" almost always mean "TypeScript in practice." If you list JavaScript without TypeScript, it reads as outdated.
Losing weight: jQuery (unless you are maintaining legacy code), Webpack (replaced by Vite in most new projects), Redux (Zustand and React context have taken over for most use cases), Sass (Tailwind has eaten this market).
Placement over count
Listing "React" in your skills section is worth less than writing "Built a patient intake form in React with server-side validation that reduced submission errors by 40%." The keyword lands harder when it is tied to a result. Read more about where to place keywords on your resume for maximum impact.
Backend Keywords
High signal in 2026: Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, PostgreSQL, Redis, GraphQL, gRPC, event-driven architecture, microservices.
Python and Node.js are the two biggest backend ecosystems by job volume. Go is growing fast at infrastructure-heavy companies. Rust shows up in performance-sensitive roles at companies like Cloudflare, Discord, and Figma.
For databases, PostgreSQL has become the default choice for new projects. If you know Postgres well, say so explicitly. Listing "SQL" alone is too vague. Hiring managers want to know which database you used and what kind of queries you wrote.
Losing weight: PHP (still has jobs but declining demand), MongoDB (its hype peaked years ago, though it is still widely used), Express.js alone without any larger framework context, SOAP APIs.
DevOps and Infrastructure
High signal in 2026: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS (with specific services like ECS, Lambda, RDS), GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Datadog, Pulumi.
Generic cloud experience is not enough anymore. Saying "AWS" is like saying "I know computers." Specify the services: "Managed ECS clusters serving 50k requests per minute" tells a different story than "Experience with AWS."
Terraform is the standard for infrastructure as code. If you also know Pulumi, mention it because the TypeScript-based approach is gaining adoption. For CI/CD, GitHub Actions has become the default for most teams, so list it by name rather than just saying "CI/CD pipelines."
Losing weight: Jenkins (still common but seen as legacy), Ansible for cloud provisioning (Terraform won), Heroku (the free tier shutdown hurt its mindshare), Chef and Puppet.
Data Engineering Keywords
High signal in 2026: SQL, Python, dbt, Apache Spark, Airflow, Snowflake, BigQuery, Kafka, Databricks, Delta Lake.
SQL is the one keyword that never loses relevance in data roles. But again, be specific. "Wrote complex analytical queries in BigQuery processing 2TB daily" says more than "proficient in SQL."
dbt has become the standard for data transformation. If you work in analytics engineering and do not mention dbt, you look out of touch. Spark and Kafka still matter for large-scale processing, but make sure you mention the scale you worked at. Running Spark on a laptop for a tutorial is different from managing Spark jobs processing billions of events.
Losing weight: Hadoop (replaced by Spark and cloud-native tools), Hive (absorbed into other tools), Informatica and SSIS (enterprise ETL tools that younger companies avoid), Tableau as a primary skill (it is still useful but BI tools are now table stakes).
AI and ML Keywords
High signal in 2026: PyTorch, fine-tuning, RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), prompt engineering, LangChain, vector databases, RLHF, model evaluation, MLOps, Hugging Face.
The AI/ML keyword world shifted dramatically in the last two years. Before 2024, the important keywords were TensorFlow, scikit-learn, and feature engineering. Those still matter for traditional ML roles, but the market has moved toward large language models.
If you work with LLMs, say so directly. Mention whether you are fine-tuning, building RAG pipelines, doing prompt engineering, or evaluating model outputs. These are distinct skills and hiring managers know the difference.
Losing weight: TensorFlow (still used but PyTorch won the research and startup market), Keras (absorbed into TensorFlow), basic scikit-learn without production context, "machine learning" as a standalone keyword without specifics.
The Keyword Stuffing Trap
There is a temptation to list every keyword from the job posting. Do not do this. Modern AI-powered screening tools check whether your keywords appear in context. If "Kubernetes" shows up in your skills section but never in any of your experience bullets, that is a red flag.
Every keyword on your resume should pass a simple test: can you talk about it for five minutes in an interview? If the answer is no, remove it. A shorter list of genuine skills builds more keyword trust than a long list of buzzwords.
The five-minute rule
For each keyword on your resume, ask yourself: could I explain a real project where I used this technology, what problems I hit, and what I would do differently? If yes, keep it. If you would stumble, drop it. Interviewers will test your list.
Placement Beats Quantity
Where you put a keyword changes how much weight it carries. A technology mentioned in your title or summary gets noticed first. A technology mentioned at the start of a bullet point gets scanned. A technology buried at the end of the third sentence in a paragraph gets missed.
The most effective structure is to lead every experience bullet with the technology, followed by what you built and what the result was. "Built a real-time analytics dashboard in React with D3.js, reducing report generation time from 4 hours to 2 minutes" puts both keywords up front and ties them to an outcome.
Open your resume right now. Read only the first three words of every bullet point. If those words are "Responsible for the" or "Worked on a", your keywords are buried. Rewrite each bullet so the technology or skill comes first.
Mobile, Security, and Platform Keywords
High signal in 2026: Swift, Kotlin, React Native, Flutter, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, mobile CI, App Store deployment, certificate pinning, OWASP mobile top ten.
Mobile roles split into native and cross platform camps. Say which camp you belong to. Listing Flutter without mentioning whether you shipped to both stores reads incomplete. Include release metrics if you have them, such as crash free sessions or install counts.
Security keywords matter even for non security titles. Write about auth flows, secrets management, and dependency scanning if you touched them. SOC2, SSO, and OAuth2 appear in backend and full stack postings more often than dedicated security roles.
Losing weight: Objective C for new projects, PhoneGap, generic mobile without platform names, security as a buzzword without naming controls you implemented.
Keywords for Career Changers
If you are moving from another field into tech, lead with transferable tools. A teacher moving into developer relations might list curriculum design, public speaking, and technical writing before framework names. A nurse moving into health tech should name HIPAA workflows and EHR systems alongside programming languages.
Do not hide your prior career. Recruiters search for domain expertise. Healthcare, fintech, and logistics companies want engineers who understand their regulations. Your old job title can be a keyword asset when paired with new technical skills.
Take a coding bootcamp certificate and prove it with project keywords. Deployed, tested, and monitored mean more than completed coursework. Link to repos where those words appear in README files and commit messages.
Marcus W.