What Should a Software Developer Portfolio Contain ?

Whether you’re a freelance developer looking for clients, a junior developer looking for your first development job, or a senior-level developer with years of experience, having a portfolio is essential. Your portfolio will help you showcase your skills and stand out from your peers during your job search.

Why Do you need a Software Developer Portfolio?

Every developer who has completed a few development projects should have a software developer portfolio. While a technical resume may be enough to start applying to some jobs, a portfolio will show that you can actually use all the skills listed in your resume.

Plus, resumes are usually only seen when you are looking for a job, while your portfolio can work for you all the time. You can share a link on your LinkedIn and social profiles like Twitter to let your contacts see what you can do. Through your portfolio, contacts can learn more about you, see your work — and it makes networking and introductions easy. Who knows? Maybe the best job will come when you aren’t even looking for it.

What should a Software Developer Portfolio Contain?

Your portfolio doesn’t need to be a complete website — it can just be a simple page. In fact, it should be. Recruiters and hiring managers are reviewing a lot of portfolios and have limited time to spend with yours. So if you are thinking of including a section, it may contain too much information. However, here are some details you should include.

1. Information about you:

We’ll start with what to include in your About section. This is the non-technical section of your portfolio. It’s where you’ll let visitors and recruiters know a little bit more about you, share some high level experience, and let people know how to contact you. Here are some things to include in this section.

2. Bio:

You’ll want to describe aspects of your personality. Maybe describe why you got into programming. You can also include any hobbies or activities. There’s no need to go overboard, but this is where you can show your personality

3. Contact information:

This is the most important part. Make sure that people can contact you from your portfolio page. Include at least your email. Many recruiters like to contact candidates by phone, but having your phone number visible may result in unwanted calls, so that decision is up to you.

4. Relevant skills:

You’ll want to list your technical skills. Don’t list everything — just those skills you are strong in and want to work with again. If you are currently looking for a job, update the skills section to fit the job you want. Want more to add to this section? Learn a new language or skill from our course catalogue.

5. Related social media profiles:

The obvious links to have here include your GitHub, Bitbucket, Gitlab, and LinkedIn profiles. There also might be other profiles you want to add. If you actively answer questions at Stack Overflow, Quora, or Reddit, you should add links to those profiles. Of course, you only want to add links to those if you have a good reputation and focus on technology topics.

6. A link to your resume:

Recruiters and HR always want a hard copy, so it is essential to include a link to your resume so they can print it out.

7. Awards, contests, or other recognition:

Add links to any articles or books that you have published. If you entered a coding contest and won, add it. If you captured a big bug bounty, add that too.

8. Project links and source code:

What types of projects should you include in your portfolio? You can include a mix of professional projects and personal projects, depending on where you are in your professional journey.

Note: While screenshots or website links may suffice during the initial stages of the hiring process, you’ll also to “show your work” (i.e. your source code) to impress the technical people involved. Choose a free software repository like Github, Bitbucket, or Gitlab and add your source code. Make sure to add documentation to your projects to explain what they are as well as how to use them.

If you want to know about Top 50 Software Development Project Ideas , please follow the article link.

9. Professional projects:

If you’re more experienced, you’ll likely have a variety of projects you worked on for others, whether a client, a job, or a programming course. Link to the projects so recruiters can see your work in action.

Make sure to include projects that utilize technologies that you’d like to work on again. Also include any relevant details about the project, like screenshots, who the project was for, and when you completed it. If the project is a live website, link to it.

Follow the Portfolio Website Project to create your own portfolio with help of your coding skills.