How to Build Better Portfolio Projects - as a web developer

Your career as a web developer starts here!

Learn to make a portfolio project that will get you hired. 👨‍💻

This guide contains everything you need to know to build an eye-catching developer portfolio.

As a software developer, I'm reviewing portfolios and portfolio projects of aspiring developers since 2012. I changed many companies but recruiting and interviewing developers was something I always enjoyed doing.

This guide summarizes the key elements that make a software developer portfolio outstanding.

Actionable advice at the end of every chapter

This is a partial guide! Make your portfolio better one step at a time! Each chapter ends with exercises ranging from

😌 - easy, 🙂 - medium, 🤔 - hard

Pick one of these based on your experience level and apply it to your portfolio project.

Look for the ✅ inside the chapters. They contain an extra explanation about why you should or shouldn't do certain things.

What the guide covers

Why unique portfolio ideas are important - I give you actual ways of coming up with unique portfolio ideas using other free-to-use tools. I demonstrate how I'm using these tools and give you 10+ ideas for a portfolio project.

Documenting your progress is key to success - presentation is everything. You can have the best project idea if it doesn't communicate that in your portfolio.

Write Tests - one of the neglected areas of portfolio projects, that's why it's soo easy to stand out by adding some tests to your project. I talk about why this is important from the standpoint of your employer, what kind of tests to add to your project and where to find the right tools.

Online presence - the importance of being part of a global community of software developers. Your online presence is a great investment. It stays with you during your entire career, it's not tied to any company or entity. Start working on it right from the beginning.

Table of contents

Preface
Why are developer portfolios important?
Building a unique portfolio project
- Using templates incorrectly
- Taking advantage of templates the right way
Documenting your progress
- Initial commit
- How to organize your README.md file
- Table of contents
- Use images and GIFs
- Leave links to specific places in the code
- Host your project
Journaling in Git
Tests
- Understanding the value of tests
- What type of tests to write
- Find the right tools
- A few words on code formatting
Participating in the community
Quality > Quantity
Contributing to open source
Bonus tips
- Presentation is everything!
- When are you ready?
- Done is better than perfect!

Who am I?

My name is Ákos Kőműves, I'm a Software Developer, Blogger, Team Lead, CTO, Agency owner, fitness enthusiast. You can follow my journey on Twitter @akoskm.

I became interested in programming as a teenager when I created my first websites and started contributing to open-source projects.

My professional career as a Software Developer started in 2011 after graduating from the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences.

Since then I worked in different fields, such as FinTech, E-commerce, Acoustics, Workflow automation, and Human resources.

Who This Guide Is For

This guide is aimed at aspiring developers who want to land their first job in Software Development.

It can be also helpful in case you want to level up your portfolio projects to find a better-paying job or start freelancing.

What people think of my work?