Hello there!
My main aim of starting FCC Curriculum this month is to refresh my JavaScript knowledge and try to get to the certification level of full stacks developer. Because my main focus is on coding and not design, I feel like my Responsive Web Design projects were lackluster:
https://codepen.io/collection/DdRPGK/
I made some of them just to pass check pretty much, with portfolio being what I put most thoughts in, because that would be important even for coding position and I plan to revisit that page after finishing full curriculum.
So before I claim first Responsive Web Design certification I figured I would ask, how appropriate it would be to claim it with projects like that, if I do not actually plan on doing any design?
Should I spend more time on making it look good? Main lackers are probably tribute page and product landing page, I was not motivated to work on those at all, I think other 3 are decent enough.
Hi @arigoru
I think that part of being a Full Stack Developer is being able to work with all aspects of the stack.
User Interface and User Experience are very important to keeping happy clients and employers. And people like to play with fun, attractive and creative apps - it makes them happy (which helps make us more money).
In my mind, that means designing something that showcases your coding skills on all levels. And JavaScript and its libraries are great tools to make that happen.
As to your actual projects, are prospective employers or clients going to be looking at them? If so, then show your best work. We have links on our profile page that can display our challenges, and we have GitHub profiles to show our portfolio. This is where we’ll want to send others to see our work.
Your portfolio says: “My strong side is ability to learn, solve problems with open mind and approach them from different angles.” That creative approach is part of design.
These are just my thoughts. But realize that many coders may be applying for the same position as you - and will take the time and energy to stand out from the crowd.
Go the extra mile and add styles, responsiveness and design to your projects.
Thank you for reply, I appreciate the feedback!
I did think about it more and decided to revisit it later again and do some more touches to it.
That is the thing, those projects are way to basic and unrelated to what I aim to do, so I was going to make proper full fledged projects for actual portfolio. Linking something on the level of tribute page or survey page would be somewhat embarrassing, and there is not much coding to showcase in projects like that either. For something that I would actually show to potential employer I already have 2 side projects, one already has proof of concept\alpha version and other one is on concept level right now. Those 2 projects are not something I would be embarrassed to show.
The reason I was feeling unmotivated to do them is because I have no intention to showcase projects that were created on basis of “codecamp told me to make it, so I did” and show more personal projects instead.
With this said, the fact that I made this topic shows that I myself did not think that just skipping this over is good enough, because if I myself were convinced I do not need to finish them up fully, I would not be creating this topic.
With all this in mind, I will be revisiting those 5 projects tomorrow and make them look better to get it out of my system and stop bothering about it.
Going to update this in day or so and ask for feedback.
I had fun (and frustration) making a lot of my projects. I learned a lot while I was doing it. Not just because fCC said so, but because they were interesting challenges to me.
I’m glad that you have other projects that you want to share. I guess the real question is what exactly do you want to do with your Full Stack?
Here’s my portfolio. I hope some of my projects make you smile : https://konikodes.github.io/Portfolio/
I’ll look forward to seeing your next updates.
@KoniKodes if you still interested, I revisited most of the Responsive Web Design projects and even completely reworked product landing one.
Here is updated collection:
https://codepen.io/collection/DdRPGK/
I could not figure out what kind of product to take as example so I just went with pleasant design and learned how to do transitions and animations for it.
@arigoru These are looking good.
I like your Document page.
As for your Product Landing page - perhaps you have a game, video or hobby that you can focus on? Mine was based on the topics I wanted my husband’s web site to eventually showcase.
I don’t know if you want to keep a theme going (mine are tropical and beaches) but Space and Fantasy seems to attract your attention…
The format itself looks great, I would just prefer to see some of your creativity replacing the placeholders.
Well done!
I’ve tried to do that, but I realized that if I try to work around existing product, it is hard to work without doing any kind of plagiarism.
Most of my creativity went into playing around with CSS instead of content. I even made page easily adjustable to any number of menu items and made most design parameters variables.
That page uses CSS calc() function to calculate placement of menu buttons for example, and adjusts font for smaller screens relatively to main one. I just could not help but do it.
I am afraid that I will just endup trying to program in CSS if I try to stick on those projects more, so I moved on to JavaScript sections. I think for now I will consider those projects as a pass, since it is for educational purposes.
Thanks for the feedback though!
@arigoru Actually, you’re ok if you link back to the actual product.
But I do understand what you are saying. I’m glad that you’ve learned from them, and I’m glad that you are moving forward on your certs.
Happy Coding!