What is LaTeX? #
LaTeX is a markup language built for typesetting documents, mainly in academia. It’s commonly used to write papers, theses, and technical documentation where structure and formatting matter. It’s not what you would typically reach for to make a CV, but that’s exactly why I did.
Instead of something like Word or Canva, LaTeX gives you full control over layout, fonts, spacing, and logic. Think of it as programming your document instead of designing it manually.
Why #
I wanted to learn LaTeX, and this seemed like a fun way to do it. Writing a CV is a structured task, so doing it declaratively with LaTeX actually made sense. Plus, it looked a lot cleaner than anything I could do in Word.
Building It #
I used Overleaf to write the CV. It’s a cloud-based LaTeX editor with live preview, which made it easier to learn what each command did.
The document starts with this setup:
\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{fontawesome}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}
These lines define the paper size, font encoding, layout tweaks, icons, and hyperlink styling. Instead of dragging and dropping textboxes, everything is controlled in code.
Layout and Sections #
The CV is built up from custom sections using commands like \section*{Experience} and lists with itemize. For example:
\section*{Education}
\textbf{PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts}\\
\textit{Electronics Engineering - Embedded Systems}
\begin{itemize}[leftmargin=*,itemsep=0pt]
\item Bachelor Degree
\item Minor: Industrial Projects
\end{itemize}
This creates a clean, professional section with consistent spacing.
What I Learned #
- I now know how to build and format basic LaTeX documents.
- I learned how to create custom spacing, use packages like
enumitem, and how to align sections. - I also played around with math formatting just to see how it worked.
Let $f(x) = x^2 + 3x + 2$, then $f’(x) = 2x + 3$
Final Thoughts #
LaTeX forces you to think differently more like programming than designing. It’s not quick at first, but the end result is clean, consistent, and version-controllable. Definitely worth it if you want a CV that stands out without flashy templates. My only issue with latex is that it is quite hard to do fine formatting.
I might try making a report or thesis next, just to get deeper into the ecosystem.