Cover letter for a junior developer job, from a fresh graduate
Who wrote it
Zaid Obeidat graduated in software engineering in Irbid in 2025 after a bank internship. He applies for a junior backend role at a payments start-up in Amman.
The writer and every detail about them are fictional.
What went into the template
- Role
- Junior Backend Developer
- Company
- Thabat Pay
- Your experience highlights
- BSc Software Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, 2025
Graduation project: booking API for 3 clinics in Irbid, Node.js and PostgreSQL, 4,000 real bookings in 2 months; fixed double bookings from double taps with a unique constraint and a retry-safe endpoint
6-month internship, IT department of a bank in Amman: integration tests for the transfer service; two caught bugs before a release
Fixed a Hijri date conversion bug in an open-source JavaScript library used by about 300 projects - Why this company?
- Their engineering blog post on idempotency keys: how they charge each of their 9,000 shops once even when a request is sent twice; I want to work where reliability is the product
The writer’s facts, as typed into the template’s form. The example uses nothing else.
The example
Cover letter: First job, tech
Numbered notes in the margin explain each choice.
Dear Ms Nasser,
Greeting
When a payment request is sent twice, a good system charges the customer once.1 Your engineering blog post on idempotency keys explains how Thabat Pay makes sure of that for 9,000 shops, and it is the reason I am applying2 for the Junior Backend Developer role: I want to work where reliability is the product.
Opening: why this company
Note 1: The letter opens with the company’s own problem. A hiring manager reads on because it is about them.
Note 2: One specific reason, drawn from something he really read, beats any amount of praise for the company.
My graduation project at Jordan University of Science and Technology was a booking API for three clinics in Irbid. I built it in Node.js with PostgreSQL, and over two months it handled 4,000 real bookings3. The hardest bug taught me the most: when patients double-tapped “Book”, the system created two appointments. I fixed it with a unique constraint and a retry-safe endpoint, the same idea your post describes at a much larger scale4.
First highlight
Note 3: A student project with real users and a number is evidence an employer can weigh.
Note 4: He connects his experience to their work himself, instead of leaving the reader to do it.
During a six-month internship in the IT department of a bank in Amman, I wrote integration tests for the transfer service of its mobile app, and two of them caught bugs before a release5. Outside work, I fixed a Hijri date conversion bug in an open-source JavaScript library that about 300 projects depend on.
Second highlight
Note 5: A short result from a short internship. It shows care, which is what a junior role needs most.
I would be glad to talk about the role in an interview. Thank you for considering my application.
Closing
Kind regards,
Zaid Obeidat
Structure
How it is built
Each part in order, with its share of the words.
Checklist
Before you send
Go through your own draft line by line.
Before and after
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Lines like these turn up in many drafts by Arabic speakers. Each fix keeps the meaning and changes only the English.
I am writing to apply for the position of Junior Backend Developer which I saw on LinkedIn.
When a payment request is sent twice, a good system charges the customer once.
I have a strong background in programming and I am a fast learner.
I built it in Node.js with PostgreSQL, and over two months it handled 4,000 real bookings.
I am looking forward to hear from you.
I would be glad to talk about the role in an interview.
Questions people ask
How long should a cover letter be?
Three or four short paragraphs, under one page: about 200 to 400 words. This one has about 210, because a graduate’s strongest letter is short and specific.
Do I need a cover letter if the application says it is optional?
Write one when you can say something specific about the company and the role; that is when it helps. A generic letter adds nothing and can hurt.
What if I do not know the hiring manager’s name?
Check the job posting and the company’s LinkedIn page. If you cannot find it, “Dear Hiring Manager” is fine. Avoid “Dear Sir” and “To whom it may concern”.
Every writer in this library is fictional, and so is every detail about them. Universities and companies appear only as places someone applies to; the professors, papers and facts mentioned around them are invented for teaching. Use the examples to learn the moves, never as text to copy: committees notice, and your own facts are stronger.