Good portfolio projects

Question

Hi, I am a recent graduate and am looking to start a career in web development. Its kind of a catch 22 at the moment as I have a fair bit of programming experience from university but not really in web development and to get a job in web development a portfolio is typically required.

So, I am looking to start a building a few application in order to have something to show potential employers. Im more into the backend stuff although am just as comfortable with front end development.

Does anyone have any thoughts on some potential projects that would be both relatively quick (as i need to get a job soon!) to build but show off enough programming knowlege / skills to be impressive to employers.

At the moment i am also learning to use the zend framework and I would hope to find work using such a framework (mvc).

My initial thoughts would be things like a webmail app or maybe a custom CMS.

Any ideas would be greatley appreciated.

Answer 1

Some quick simple sites are also good starts for your projects. You can try making a custom CMS that a client or you can use for making a web presence.

There are a number of businesses out there that only need a web presence, i.e. they don't need fancy schmancy sites that are copies of facebook or something. They just need some sort of web "business" card and you can target those businesses. Make a CMS for them that creates static pages ala wordpress or something so they can set it up on their own(with your design as a bonus)

You can also do some simple e-commerce sites for businesses that sell something for starters.

Answer 2

You Could Start your own project, But i think you better off working in a Open source Project, you can find plenty in http://sourceforge.net

For example, i have this PHP user authentication class project http://uflex.sourceforge.net and a guy just like you is building a Demo App for it. We both gain, as he gets a new project under his portfolio, credits for his work and i get to showoff my PHP Class.

Answer 3

Ask around a bit and you'll find plenty of opportunities in local charities, sprotsclubs, PTA's, and other community endeavours. They usually have some interesting, euhmmm...., requirements which you can use to display your technical prowess.

However be prepared to learn more about human relationships than you bargained for. This is probably even more valuable experience you get from this. It is also great to build a network to help you in your job search.