Is this portfolio good enough for a software dev role?

[m19881]

I am looking for a software dev job due to being in an unrelated industry that I am not happy with. I have been working on a few projects in my free time for the past several months and finally consolidated them into a presentable portfolio. I am been programming as a hobby for many years, but am kind of at a disadvantage since I have not done this professionally. My portfolio can be found at https://lit-wave-88479.herokuapp.com .

My portfolio currently consists of four projects:

Text Reader and Writer - A simple app that allows you to create, modify, and delete simple text files (Still capable of rendering HTML tags, so it’s possible to add images, colored text, etc. to files.) Provides a read-only screen if you want to just quickly refer to the text file, and offers you the option to make any changes as well. This is an app demonstrating basic CRUD functionality. Developed with JS and Node JS.

CSV Editor - This is an app that allows you to read, modify, and delete CSV files as well as create them from scratch. This can be a useful tool when working with large datasets, and provides the ability to make quick and easy modifications. Developed with JS and Node JS.

SimpleGraph is a simple graphing tool that lets you draw functions on a 2D coordinate plan. It contains mouse tracking, dragging, and scrolling capabilities, which allows you to navigate anywhere on the plane with your mouse.

Chart Builder - Based off of the SimpleGraph framework, this is an app that currently lets you design bar charts, line charts, and candlestick charts. This was the most difficult project that I worked on, as far as complexity goes. I guess it is somewhat similar to other graphing libraries, such as chart JS. However, I built this from scratch, on my own.

I am wondering if these projects would currently be able to land me a software dev role? If not, would they at least potentially gain the attention of potential recruiters and employers? My frontend skills aren’t the greatest (yet), but I would consider myself to be a backend developer who is capable of making complex and fully functional web apps.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[jwilkins.oboe]

HI @m19881 !

Welcome to the forum!

I moved your post over to the #career section since this is a portfolio you plan to use for jobs.

My main critique would be to structure your portfolio in a way that grabs the attention of recruiters and hiring managers.

For the entry developer market, there are tons of candidates looking for work and so potential employers will only look at your materials for a few seconds before deciding they want to reach out to you or not.

First impressions are everything.

This is the first thing I see when I click on the link

It shows a giant white space with 4 links at top.
It doesn’t contain your name, contact, project descriptions, links to your code or a link to your resume.

I would suggest following a more standard format for your portfolio.
Here are some links to look into

How to Level Up Your Developer Portfolio

5 Failed Portfolios Later and Here I Am

How to build a kickbutt portfolio

I would also suggest a custom domain name instead of the random one assigned to the heroku app.

As for your projects, you are using the word simple a lot which is not going to inspire people to want to click on them.
Even one of your projects is called SimpleGraph.

Remember that you only have a few seconds of people’s time before they move onto the next applicant.

I would work on these project descriptions.

What are some cool features about the app?
Does it solve some sort of problem?

At the interview stage, they are going to ask you about these applications.
You don’t want to just say, “its a basic CRUD app”

You want to be able to have a conversation with them beyond just a one sentence explanation of the app.

Hope that helps!

[gerhynes]

Josh Comeau has really great advice on how to build an effective portfolio.

The thing that has helped me most is writing case studies for each project. These consist of:

• What problem were you trying to solve?
• Why did you use these specific technologies?
• What challenges did you face and how did you tackle them?
• What lessons did you learn?

Writing this has the added benefit that you’ll be able to apply the same framework to talk about your projects if you get to the interview stage.

[quetza28]

This is a great demonstration of synergistic communication, the fCC community resolved an issue from someone that needed assistance to a resolution.
GR8 Teamwork