Is doing projects by following tutorials = portfolio

Hi,

Just want to ask, there are so many tutorials out there on how to make a blog, or any simple CRUD web app, lets say i have finished a few of this tutorials, and it is in my github repo. can i take credit on them and put is as my projects in my portfolio?

Edit:

Thank for you comments. Currently i am taking a Udemy course (The Complete Ruby on Rails Developer Course) and just completed 1 project out of 3 projects available for the course. I guess i will complete the course and try to do another CRUD app by applying what i have learnt for my portfolio and list the other 3 projects from the course as my learning initiative.

Not really. Honestly, I would even recommend crediting the source of the code in the documentation for each project.

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If what you create is yours then yes. By that I mean, if you are following a tutorial step by step, and the result is an exact clone of what the other person has, then no you should not take credit but if you put in the hours in order to make it yours or give it your own unique spin, then you can call it yours.

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I don’t think so either, but if after following one of those tutorials you have an idea and personalize it, or create soemthing new based off of it, then by all means. A good test could be, if you can recreate the project without using the tutorial, then you know it well enough to create something new or original with it. I think FCC projects are decent portfolio items because even though they are similar to many other camper’s projects, you’re not following tutorials for them, you’re using yoru own skills to answer a set of user stories.

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It’s definitely not a portfolio, but it can be great to share your project if you’ve added something the tutorial didn’t cover, or if you’ve solved a problem that the tutorial doesn’t address. I think a couple of my repos are projects from online tutorials, and I left a link on the tutorial page for others to check out or fix. At least once the author has checked in on it. This can certainly add value to your repository and generate some social interaction, but it’s vital you don’t take credit for the app.

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What about if originally you used a template to create the object, and then edited it so much that only a few css and javascript files were still from the template?

Could you code it again without the tutorial, only using reference material, rather than step 1, step 2, etc? If no, then it doesn’t beling in your portfolio since a client / empoloyer would expect taht it represents work you can do.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not of value, it just wouldn’t belong in a portfolio. That’s a little different than smart code reuse in which you make a deliberate decision to use open source &documented or transparent material like bootstrap as a front end example. If you’ve included bootstrap in your css, no one would expect taht youve created it form scratch

Just my opinion as a non professional.

in general I think if you have to ask, “does this belong”, then it is practice and does NOT belong, but that you are well on your way.

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Yes, you can. By definition portfolio is

2. A collection of works or documents that are representative of a person’s skills and accomplishments: a photographer’s portfolio; an artist’s portfolio of drawings.

But if you care about professional ethics, you should mention it was made by tutorial with respective links included.

I have looked into this topic a lot and most places say if any of the code is from a tutorial then it should not be in your portfolio. I always make sure to expand on projects from tutorials to show that I actually understand everything I just wrote but from what I have read that would not matter.

Anyway, even if you really can understand every line of code it is still a pretty big difference from writing the code your self. Kind of like how after learning java you can look at a simple design pattern implementation and understand every line of code but would never ever come up with the code design pattern your self.

So just use what you learned and create a new project.

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A big NO. Following a tutorial and coding an app along with the instructor is an excellent way to learn, but it doesn’t mean you have mastered the language. In fact, I think it can give you a false sense of confidence. When you start building your own application, you quickly find out the limits of your knowledge.