Do you have a programming portfolio? Does it help you to get a job?

Question

I am currently building (well, revamping) my portfolio. This would allow me to go interviews whenever I have my next job hunt and rather than say I know C#, WCF, ASP.NET, SQL Server, or whatever, I can back it all up with my online (and in the future, a print portfolio) portfolio.

Does anyone on here have a portfolio? I don't mean a blog with an about section. My portfolio will be selling me so will include my code samples, books I have read, etc.

This will also let me demonstrate to employers that I really can do development rather than assumptions being makde.

Thanks

Answer 1

Unfortunately, no. At least, not yet.

My work has mostly included working on either internal or closed customer products for which nothing can be shown except for maybe a login page. A few projects that I did before are long since offline and I don't feel like bringing them back online and having ongoing hosting expenses just for the sake of supporting a portfolio.

I suppose, those of use who work on customer projects, freelancers, consultants etc. are in advantage here since they may have a possibility to point out to a few online places to serve as their portfolio. Those who work internally in companies to help them maintain and further develop their already existing products, will have little stuff to show off.

Having said that, I believe that having a personal dynamic web site aka blog would be of a great advantage. At least it is something you will be genuinely interested in, so it may be expected to be around for long.

Answer 2

I do a lot of interviews for my company. I value blogs, and open source contributions more than code print outs. They are not environmentally friendly either. I usually ask interviewees if they write tech blogs, or use github, or contribute to open source. If I see a blog with lots of insightful articles on relevant technology, it is a huge plus. If I see his github account with a few gems and plugins with good code quality, and has some followers and forks on his repo, this is usually a good indication that he is a good programmer.

Edit:

Not related to the question, but to get a higher chance of getting hired is to attend programming events, be on specific groups, use LinkedIn, facebook etc, to get more network and exposure. Once you know the people, you are at home. :)

Answer 3

I don't have a portfolio for job hunting, but I do think this will help you in job hunting. I have ever been the interviewer, I will be more interested in the job hunter if he/she have a portfolio to show.

Answer 4

A programmer's portfolio should be contribution to open source projects, a technical blog, and/or participation on public-facing sites like this one.

In response to the comment:

A developer who only cares about development during business hours can't compete with one who devotes themselves to continual improvement of their craft.

Devotion to the craft isn't for everyone and there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a 9-5 developer. Using your skills to pay the bills so that you can focus on what you really care about is good work-life balance, which is what's more important to some.

However, the 9-5'er will very rarely be as proficient as the person who is a software developer instead of just pursuing it as a career. That's why many employers value a blog, open source contributions, or activity on sites such as this one.

Answer 5

The problem with a Portfolio for programmers is, what is useful to the employer?

By showing aptitude for learning and helping people (which in turns shows you can depart knowledge learnt), will help you a lot more.

Using things like SO; having a blog; posting articles on Code Project; these are the best things you can do.

Answer 6

I usually custom code something for the interview, rather than showing my history of past work.

It limits the scope of what can be presented, but it allows much stronger targeting for individual companies.

Answer 7

I don't have a portfolio per se, but I do have a large corpus of open source work I've done, and the job I just got I definitely got because my open source contributions stood as proof, even though my job history is pretty short (I'm a student). Similarly the internship I got this summer was mostly because of my involvement in open source.

Answer 8

I am working on a project that will allow people to tie snippets of code and finished products to their resume, actually. I hope to be able to start alpha testing relatively soon.

Answer 9

I did not had any previous work reference from development when I searched for work after college so one of the first questions I was asked during the interview was if I where able to show something I had done. So I think it’s a very good idea to have something to show when you are fresh.

Its not always a tech/coder that make the first interview sometime will it be better to show of some nice UI or smart functions then actual code. But of course that depends on what kind of work you are searching.

If you are fresh don’t hesitate to show something many of the projects you have done at college/home are better than you think. Many interviewers especially from HR-departments always boost how good their developers are and how good the company is at making software, but many of the HR-people have never seen a row of code. So during your first interview be prepared to hear some cooperate "bs" and have confidence in what you have done.

Answer 10

I've been involved in development for more than 20 years and have managed recruiting of technical developers at multiple projects and for numerous projects. I've never once looked at code a developer wrote outside of our organization as a criteria in making a hiring decision. I doubt many other folks do either.

A thorough technical interview can reveal a candidates expertise across a broad spectrum of topic areas. Having a candidate white-board a few development tasks can help to fully round out the assessment.

The only instance where portfolios are useful is for folks who are doing graphic or web design work. Hiring managers generally do want to get a feel for artistic ability or style.

In my opinion, it is not worth spending your time developing any sort of portfolio. That time would be better spent increasing your knowledge or writing code.

Answer 11

No, I don't have a programming portfolio but I think that's a good idea. But I think it doesn't beat having a programming blog (which I have), products in production (open where people actually can download/visit them), and of course high flair on Stackoverflow.

Answer 12

I made an Open GL game in c++ as a school assignment. I spent 400hrs on it.

The same game landed me 2 different jobs. The first one a summer-job, the second full time. 400hrs well spent!

I should add that the guys at the full time job didn't normally hire people with only Bachelor Degrees. Seems like the game convinced them to do otherwise.

Answer 13

If you want to start with a "portfolio", do what I did. I took my domain and turned it into an online resume. Nothing too fancy, but it shows I can make a decent looking website from scratch. I also added a blog (though I haven't actually put anything useful on it yet). I also link to all my pet project websites from my online resume as a semi-portfolio.

When you are done designing your site, add little things here and there. I added a jQuery Ajax call to show my last few tweets. I also hung a database off it so I can show short blurbs about what I have been up to.

My plan for my blog is:

1. Document my processes when working on my pet projects. I just migrated one site from Webforms to MVC, so I have a lot of good material to write about that.
2. Any time I get stuck on something and need help, I write down the answer. I then will add it to my blog. Things like the Master Page, Content Page Lifecycle. That has caused me headaches a few times.
3. Regular blog stuff after the previous two. Interesting articles ... whatever.

Answer 14

Yes, yes, and YES! Seriously, it's a must-do these days. Everybody googles each other; it's becoming the actual resume alone.

Answer 15

I have never had an interviewer ask for a portfolio or ask to see a portfolio. Invariably, they would rather discuss in the interview the things that I have done, how I approached the task, how I prioritized, what concepts I made use of to solve the problem and so forth. Or else give me a sample problem and ask how I would solve it, walking through the steps, approach, etc. I think most of them nowadays realize how easily a "portfolio" can be faked by a potential interviewee and would much rather make use of ways that a candidate can't as easily fake their qualifications.

Answer 16

I've just created an online portfolio for the purpose of improving my odds of finding a decent programming related job. Its all college/personal projects, but that's all I have to show at this point. Chris Hill's Programming Portfolio