All Software Developers NEED a Portfolio
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- čas přidán 24. 01. 2019
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It doesn’t matter how good you are at programming if you can’t prove it. A portfolio is something all software developers need because it allows us to show off our work to clients and our code to employers.
This video was sponsored by Skillshare.
I share and document my experiences on topics including computer science, software engineering, and iOS development. I'm a full-time Software Engineer and a part-time CZcamsr & iOS developer. My hobbies outside of what's been mentioned include surfing, snowboarding, hunting, fishing, and playing video games.
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Edit: A couple folks have commented about their experience of getting a job without a portfolio. This happens, of course. There are variables and exceptions to everything. However, a portfolio increases your chances of getting that interview and is something you can show off. Most people I’ve spoken with say GitHub should be treated as your primary resume. What you type on a sheet of paper (your actual resume) is important, but some may say it’s all “talk.” Showing off your code shows that you can walk your talk.
E.g. - Let’s say you own a restaurant and are looking for a new chef and someone comes in who knows every technical aspect of cooking known to man. They sound like the perfect person for the job. However, you have never seen a single plate of food they’ve made. How can you be sure you’re making the right decision?
Abdullah Rt often it takes multiple proposals to just get one job. I’ve been freelancing on Upwork and even though I’ve had multiple jobs on the platform, I usually don’t get the first job I apply to. The reality is, that there’s just a lot of competition when it comes to freelancing. Here’s a link to my Upwork: www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~013984f43006ee3e7b/
I've worked on stuff but I don't want to just put it all on display for the entire world to always be able to see (on github) what can i do then ?
Virginia Beach love lol had no idea you lived in the area. keep up the videos!
Great video. How many projects should I make before applying for a job? I currently have 4 projects in Asp.Net Core (MVC 6) and a couple of React and Vue projects..
True that I have a buddy that exactly going through the same thing nothing from nothing means nothing
...got a computer science degree...couldnt get hired for a year...spent 3 months on a portfolio...got a job right away
What did you include in your portfolio and what were the requirements for your job? Which city/state?
@@geekworthy7938 job is in baltimore maryland...C# .NET...bachelors degree...pretty normal requirements for a web dev job....portfolio can be even just a glorified todo app...mine had a few node applications both with mongo and mysql databases...just understand the code...things like authentication...input validation should be included...dont get caught up on what to build...jobs are just looking for demonstration of knowledge and the ability to talk about your projects...if your interested i have a channel that explains it more... czcams.com/video/ERKc0ZSKQ_g/video.html
@@mikesantoro42
Thanks man! Great info there. I have to tell you that without a degree and 2 yrs of experience you are pretty much screwed in the Midwest. All the real starting opportunity in the U.S. is in the states near the coast...unless you are very lucky or score a great internship that turns into a job right out of college...and that means you have to apply months before you graduate.
Every successful CZcamsr I know who talks IT like this guy has a degree. Again, there is always the lottery guy that pops up...but as far as I can see they live in the high tech coastal areas.
@@mikesantoro42 damn you really got CS and... so portofolio might beat CS in the way eh?
So in order to build a portofolio all you need is to make an app,website etc and you have higher chances to be employed than with degree?
@@geekworthy7938 yea that is a good point...definitely pays to be in an area with tons of options...if youre willing to relocate for a couple years though i suppose you could always go remote later on....freelancing is also an option for you to get some real world experience
*me realizing that your name is actually forrest knight and not just a username*
😂😂
reminds of House Forrester from Game of Thrones
Yup
such a cool name to have forest knight
omg, it didn't really kick in until you've said it, so cool!
Employer here: I have interviewed many s/w engineers, and not once has previous code or a portfolio played upon my decision. I see these common mistakes from candidates over and over - how they have the tech skills perfect so they should get the job. But they immediately fail the soft skills such as communication and customer interaction. They also don't have the foresight of design by not coding themselves into a corner. Advice: tech skills are only 50% of what we are looking for. You need to be able to work with others, write status updates, understand requirements, and most of all, make sure you "give me what I wanted, not what I asked for". Client or manager may not know exactly how to phrase what they want - and you need to dig deeper and understand the problem.
Very good insight. Thank you for sharing. Being able to effectively work and communicate with others is important. And being able to ask for what you actually want out of your employees is just as important. Can’t expect someone to read minds.
What do you mean by "hey also don't have the foresight of design by not coding themselves into a corner. " Can you explain ?
@@fknight too bad landing that interview takes projects.
Bring able to communicate is really important but hey " you need to give me what I wanted not what I asked for " I am a developer not a tarot card reader or a psychic.
Maybe pay them what they wanted but didn't ask for then fucking expect them to be superheroes. Shit employer. Pity your employees
@XArticSpartanX Agreed.
my portfolio is my youtube history
Kkk ㅠㅠ
😂😂
😂😂💀💀🔥🔥
Best response!
There are a lot of channels that speak about CS on CZcams but not many that talk about the necessary applicable things that we are interested in knowing and are searching for answers to. This channel however is one of the few. Thank you so much for these topics, I love this style.
My professor literally told us this last week so yeah it's really recommended
This helps a lot! All throughout school they tell you, "you learn all that stuff in the first few months of your first job" constantly. SO frustrating.
I was looking for a video like this for so long. Thank you for this concise explanation.
Finally a SD who shows an actual portfolio, and how and where to set it up! Thank you very much. Refreshing and very useful.
Another helpful video. Thanks, Forrest.
22 years developing ... I didn't even knew I needed a portfolio :D
thanks for the video!
You must be kidding me
I work as a jr dev (self taught) at a large corporation. All of the projects I've worked on are used in-house, so a future employee couldn't see the application, and are proprietary, so they can't see the code. People keep saying "you'll have to pass the whiteboard interview anyway".. you dont get to that point if you can't show reputable experience, which (apart from soft skills) is best shown through a portfolio. Great video
Work on your projects then! 🤦♂️
I mean most large corporations won’t allow you to share/show any of their code to anyone, so this is common. Most corporations won't even allow you to post problems you are having to stackoverflow since you aren't allowed to share the company’s code. You can still list what you did and what you accomplished in a manner that makes you stand out. And yes I know this was posted 2 years ago, hope things are well.
It is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
your videos inspire me!!!
you just earned a new subscriber
So informative stuff
Thanks for this :)
One of the best videos I have seen in a while 👍🏼
Great job 💯
Thank you for making an open source website where anyone can go to learn. Obviously, I don't know EXACTLY what I'm talking about, but never the less, thank you.
Thanks!
I'm so sorry I missed this! CZcams didn't even notify me, but thank you so much!
Awesome video as usual, thanks!
Good to see you, AR.
For myself, Im a beginner level coder but I want to community college for C.I.S and seriously hated it and didn't teach me anything. I know plenty of people that code very well with no college education and they're very skilled in what they do. I would say there needs to be more apprenticeships for coding jobs/anything in tech to help those that want to boost their skills. I want to become a video game developer but my skills are hard to hone because I'm confused on what's being taught to me when I learn online. As I keep doing it, I naturally get better and manage myself to understand the structure behind computer science and algorthim. I wish there were more resources around me to boost my skills because I wanna become successful but the time is limited due to working and having understand what others teach in CZcams videos to write better code. Overall, I believe if there more free market resources to help beginner coders or anyone that's willing to work hard that'll help a lot of people out. Going to school learning your career is very ineffective.
There are thousands of free recourses actually. For example youtube, udemy, mimo, sololearn, unity courses or code academy. And there are many more
Good video. I was asked a few times about github portfolio. I would say it's a good way to get yourself out there, but on the flip side as I have also interviewed individuals I rarely look at the github portfolio as it's more of a personality fit.
Solid advice man.
i agree with you've done. I think same with you, if portfolio is so important for us to become our media to show off what our products or program we've done or finish. Thank's buddy ..
The degree shows that you can code, no other profession needs all this extra work on top of the degree to just get a job. leetcode, projects, 4+ rounds of interviews
The degree doesn’t show you can code. The degree shows you can meet deadlines and do the bare minimum required. Also there are tons of other professions that needs extra work. Competitive careers require extra work. If you don’t like it, go do something less demanding. Software and web programming salary and compensation ceiling is way higher than most Bachelor degree jobs. Also the floor starts much higher than most.
In the Seattle market, your portfolio is EVERYTHING. We have top 5 coding bootcamps & a top 10 CS University, and many colleges turning out graduates. You’re competing against both. It’s a specialized market. You must specialize to make up for not having a degree. A killer portfolio will help separate yourself, if you suck at ux/ui or graphic design, hire someone to design your elements and make a psd mock-up for you and build it out in React/angular/vue and build out your backend.
Cool Video man keep the good content up
I have a software engineering degree not CS. I got an interview the day i graduated. I started work 6 months later. Thats only because i was being picky. I DO NOT have a portfolio, and dont see a need for one. I let my projects at work be my portfolio. None of the engineers i have ever worked with have a portfolio. You still have to interview, and you still have to pass the white board programming tests. I just started looking for a new job and i am having no problems.
I agree. Most of my coworkers don't even do any kind of coding outside of on the job work.
If I ever caught one of my employees posting a single line of our proprietary code to a public Github, he/she/za would be fired immediately.
@@itschriscash I don't think anyone is suggesting that.
A portfolio shows you can walk the talk, then you back it up in the interview. After your first job, it’s a different story.
i like how your comment is the ONLY one that hasnt got a heart from ForrestKnight lol
Good Video a little long at the beginning but plenty of good info. Thanks for sharing
I am still in high school, but I love to code. So thanks, because I was unaware of such "social media".
Cool video man, definitely need to organize my ReadMe files. Are you currently working as a developer?
Okay time to make a portfolio, thanks
Hoping for a video about ios development (what you think about it and where you stand) and also if you could give your thoughts on the ios/android mobile apps development field as of now. I've had like the worst code burnout ever lol. Haven't coded in over like 10 months. Just a video suggestion as I see it's been a while since you've talked about it :)
Semi-early :) (: Great video, always wondered your opinion on this kinda thing.
Nice video, just subscribed.
Happy bday jessus
As a newbie in freelance business, I think that would be interesting to build a simple website to be able to make something more enjoyable for potential clients, if you are trying to get into freelance business. That's my first thought about it, I'm trying to get into freelance business, and that's my first thought.
Can't wait to have more free time from medschool to start build something by coding 🙇🙇🙇
you can add images and gifs in your readme
Cool as.f.video...well on point! 😊
love you dude, dried from coding :D subed liked ;)
I started "coding" back in 2009, around the same time that I started playing Habbo. Even though I stopped playing the game a long time ago, I still do a lot of development projects related to it, such as extending the Flash client with a web overlay, using JavaScript and WebSockets to implement additional multiplayer features. I don't agree with earning money from the work of other developers, but at the same time, this has been my hobby for many years, and I enjoy working on it for free. I also made an XML editor to translate furniture, and a PHP CMS from scratch. Would you show of this kind of work to potential employers?
Wow, you gained a lot of subscribers in the last few months
Great vid!
great video
Dude, you look so much like the actor that plays Billy Grade in Peaky Blinders. WOW.
Also, great content.
Im in second year cs, for my bachelors degree and I don't have a portfolio. I've actually never built anything completely by myself outside of school assignments. Any suggestions for a first project? I guess essentially I'm at that stage where I don't know where to start. I'm taking this summer off just for personal projects, so any suggestion will be really apreciated!!
Your camera is very good
Not to bash what you're saying in the video but while struggling to build a portfolio as I too believed this would give me a better chance I ended up getting a great job just by showing my skills. Its what you can do for the employer that speaks wonders not what you say you can do. You could've copied that code into your repository changed a few things and say hey look how awesome my portfolio is, like you said you could know everything but they've never SEEN what you can do so portfolio isn't all its made out to be. Liked the video regardless more than I can say I don't have any lol.
dude spitting facts
When you work work big companies you can't have a portfolio because apps are internal and confidential stuffs. However you have a good CV and this is what you need in this case.
Web apps are only a fraction of the software developper job. You can be a back end developper as well. So no , it depends on which market and client you target
been a programmer for about 20+ years, and never had a portfolio but. Good video going to start one now, cause now adays its alot harder to find jobs.
Thanks, You are nice person.
What camera are you using?
nice video~
Great video as always Forest. I’m working on my own personal portfolio at the moment. Anyone got any cool project ideas that I could work on and show my skill? Preferably in Java.
Build an android app.
I went to an information evening from a uni and they said that the progress you make during your assignments is more important than finishing the assignment. So, in theory, you could pass all your classes without ever finishing a project. And when you finally get your degree, you could have very little to nothing to show for. (They don't really do many tests on paper)
Do y expect to hear the opposite? They are paid to tell y that. Y are wasting time on y assignments. They will never tell y to subscribe to codecademy etc.. Because y pay them 300k for a bachelor and then in exchange get an internship
Also are y doing nodejs rails react native etc.. Because those are the hot techs now, which y professors do not know, did they tell y that?
@@fabriziobertoglio7342 nodejs is crap. JavaScript needs to die
To be honest I didnt even realize I needed a portfolio. I just got my degree in Computer Engineering but no one had told me that I needed to make a portfolio to help with job applications.
@EpicJonah I can tell you right now I'm still in that process. Currently I'm now working as a home health attendant part time and have done it for 2 out of those 3 years since I graduated. The furthest I've gone was through IBM but I didn't get to the interview after their coding assessment. If I were wanting to get a full time job in my major I want to do fully remote as I need to take care of my grandparents since they cannot do things on their own. It's a very difficult position that I'm in but I hope it works out if I plan to job search again.
Great Video!! I have just one question... will writing regular blog posts on a personal website help in marketing myself as a developer?
If they’re related to your market and are good, then yea.
They're definitely not needed, nor do most people look at them. In a world where people with over 5 years of experience can't even put together something that takes someone with no experience a few hours, they're not a strong signal of capability, and experience goes much further. It's interviewing that matters. That's where you're tested initially, and then your first few months on the job after ramp up time. If we could actually make hiring decisions based on portfolios, we would, but we can't, so they're about as useful as taking your word for it.
You are a lambda, what do you know? You don't even have a name!
A portfolio is ESSENTIAL for any entry level software dev applicant. It basically IS your experience.
@@deviantanomaly A portfolio reallly does nothing for you, having the working knowledge does. The goal shouldn't be to put together a portfolio since it won't get you a job, at some places it might make it slightly easier to get an interview, but what decides 99.9% of it is working knowledge in an interview, and the goal should be to build that. Networking is a million times more effective at getting interviews than a portfolio, so putting time there is what you want to do to start finding positions. The ideal case is having strong working knowledge and using something like Triplebyte as a screen since services like that basically do the networking for you and remove costs so you don't need to negotiate or figure out booking or interview schedules yourself.
@Mike Iversen I'm saying a portfolio is not going to get you an interview because it doesn't actually correlate with anything that would indicate success. Interviewing very junior candidates (fresh grads, 0 work experience) I only care about their own projects insomuch as they can hold a technically deep conversation about it, and that's never a deciding factor ultimately. A much better method is just networking or using a service that places people with an up-front interview. A few weeks of networking can get you direct phone calls or coffee meetings with hiring managers and easily line up phone screens. You may or may not have success sending out resumes, and I wouldn't really try to optimize that approach because the SNR on that approach for companies is so bad that it's near impossible to identify good candidates no matter what is taken into account (experience or some proxy for it like a portfolio).
Yes. When I was a lead engineer and responsible for reviewing/interviewing our web developer candidates I only briefly went over their github or bitbucket accounts. I mostly went for links of previous projects. I wanted to see what you can actually do or have done that was completed and is available online. I didn't have time to clone repos and test things or wade through source code on half finished projects. I would usually inspect whatever site it was to see some of the code. I have to agree. Companies are having a hard time finding solid candidates no matter how great any one metric is.
I would say your first job a portfolio helps, after that it doesn't matter.
You are very enjoyable to watch and I honestly gained some more inspiration about coding from you. I now know to host a github with my projects. I'm self taught in python so I will need this in order to represent my credibility... like you said yourself. They don't that you can do what they ask of you if you can't show proof of experience!
Wait, are you in Virginia Beach? Subscribed.
4:17 for the actual help
Can you guide me how complex the projects should be in the portfolio eg. I am currently working on a project a online furniture store and my domain is frontend how much detail my rojetc should have ?
Do you know what I learned, dude?
That you and I have a helluva set of red-eyes from coding until wee hours of the morning :)
Nice!
Like your portfolio!
Good tips on READ ME file.
The best way to land a job is to actually being good to a point where people notice you. Be the guy on top of your class assignments, go to meetups and contribute, give talks about some subject you find interesting, let people know you and they will provide you the bridges you need to cross to land a job. A portfolio isn't that important, unless your work is more visual than hidden: UI Designers may need a portfolio, while backend developers don't. It's by no means a rule.
Gilfoyle, is it you?
Thanks Obi-Wan!
Can you make a video on how to use markdown ?
well, i had no idea about this. Thx Forrest. Btw, im new to this world because im still in college but its great to start from now preparing my face for the companies so they can see what ive done and what i can do. Just that ive never used github before and i think meaby im no t the only one here. So id like if you want and think is important to help us to "use" github meaby just the basics or some important tips and stuff that can allow us to be better at what we do.ok bye and thx for the vid :)
Life update?
these vids are so interesting to watch, now only if I am smart enough to understand this.
I feel that it's difficult to showcase projects that I have worked on, because most of the work I have done is tools made for internal use only, hidden behind enterprise authentication, and I can not publish the code.
Hey Forrest, great video (as always). Have you ever thought of streaming some games or programming on Twitch? Would be sick to watch and interact. Cheers
Oh shit, programming on Twitch would be a sick idea! I'd watch that!
I'd love a programming stream to code next to that'd be great! :D
Nice Idea... :)
That's a pretty retarded idea. To look how other people program is the most boring thing you can ever imagine. Sometimes I wonder that people think the programmers do their shit like in the movies. In what are you thinking, maybe Johnny Mnemonic style?
I’ve streamed video games and just interacting before, but never coding. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate lol
You are proving how good you are in programming at technical interview. Which is usually 1.5-2h of questions and exercises on various topics which cover architectural knowledge such as OOD and SOLID principles, then knowledge of the advanced aspects of the programming language of choice, Framework knowledge, Database knowledge. Some CI\CD questions may be thrown in.
So how can some pet projects cover any aspects of any part of enterprise software development? From my experience nobody even asks for your github profile, as most likely all your current work projects are private, and there is no value checking pet projects of any developer with real experience.
A portfolio shows you can code to get you into talk about those technical aspects. And this is more so for your first job. It’s better to have something to backup what you say than not.
What if I’m planning on selling my app on the App Store but also want to use it in my portfolio? I’m not so sure I could just post the code publicly like that.
Wait, you hunt?
Which rifle do you use?
Never had a portfolio, probably it's good if you are just out of college so they can see if you really learnt something, but once you worked for a couple of years in the industry your portfolio are your past jobs/companies.
Agreed.
One question I have, posting your codes into github doesn't exactly get you hired because the people who are hiring may know nothing about code. In this perspective, how do I attract them to hire me? If I have a portfolio website linking to my github they might brush off it, do I need to make each code I make into an app so they can click and run the code?
every programmer youtuber talks about “software development” but they only spend time talking about web and mobile apps. software is more than that
Its like most have mistaken the forest for the tree.
They’re front end devs
@@LuisRuizHalo No its the whole web stack that people mistake as all of programming.
Bret Horne No, if he just does apps, then he’s just a front end. Ik there’s more lol, I work at google.
@@LuisRuizHalo Web apps arent just 'front end'. Figured people at google would know better.
Besides your missing the point.
I believe i can fly🐣🐣🐣
Once you told me to use my class work, I’m going back to get all my assignments cuz there’s a lot
What if I don't want to share the intellectual property of my projects
I fucking love your beard. Love it !
And your hair is pretty good too.
Go be a model or something dude.
He inspired me to grow a beard. I’m a computer geek!
You can do iOS dev and fullstack development?! I know allround overall experience but I am 17 years old and still go to school. What should I do, any advise?
What a coincidence. I'm actually attending ODU
I created kind of a portfolio during senior year of college of all my projects I have ever done, But I don't think it was refined enough to get call back for developer positions. Then again, I was computer information systems major. Right now working as an application analyst, but studying currently for security certifications paid for by my company.
Also how would you provide other documents besides code and txt's on github? for some of my projects, I had powerpoint and visio files and they would not go into github.
I’ve never tried so not sure.
Hey I'm nearly 17 years old and want to get a master in computer science would there be anything I can do now to make a portfolio or should I wait till I'm in uni?
Learn online. There are plenty of free tutorials online as well as cheap tutorials online. Learn and make stuff before college and learn the theory in college. After a few basic classes, you probably won't code much, but you'll still need to learn to code if you want to get a programming job in the future.
Hi, do you think that programmers with 4, 5, 6 years of experience working in companies should also spend time making a portfolio? Or is it only for beginners? Cause I think after you get a job or already has a carreer as a software developer, working experience counts more than a portfolio and you couldn't put everything you did in these companies in a portfolio, right? ty
Hope someone see’s this and can help me out. I’m lost on what I want to do. I want to be in technology, the future is technology. I live on the east coast without a degree. I’ve been told to peruse sec+ and ccna to try and score a infosec job. Should I continue and try that or try something like software development.
How did you get the GitHub dark mode?
My biggest problem is I don't know what industry I want to get into, what language I want to "focus on" or anything. Feelsbad
4:13 is where the content starts.
How should a portfolio, tailored to clients in a freelancing business, look like in your opinion?
I've been trying to get a job in the field but companies here are so picky and cheap at the same time. The more interviews I go to, the more I feel like it's not my place. Yet, I love coding and learning so I've been thinking of doing freelance work but the thought of putting myself out there is quite scary.
P.S. You channel has been growing on me recently. It's hard to create unique content in this field as it's so competitive but you're doing great.
If you’re looking for work as a freelancer, I wonder how a website would work. I’d be sure to include images of your work.
Thank you for the kind words.
git contribution vs making our own git open source project which is good?
Guess I'm one of the few outliers. Never did a portfolio or github. Got my first software engineer job over five years ago. I'm now a senior consultant - full stack engineer at a consulting firm. Overall I still agree that you should do a portfolio. You will probably get more opportunities that way. I probably got lucky but I did get a computer science degree.
Congratulations on the success! I wouldn’t say lucky because you still put in the work to do what you did.
@@fknight Thanks man! It wasn't easy getting to where I'm at but it has been worth it. And also studying a lot for interviews, that has given me an upper hand. Another skill in it of itself.
Got my first job as a full stack engineer two months ago, and I don't have a portfolio; just a github with two simple projects at the time. What nailed me the job was correctly answering all of the interviewers questions!
And my personality.
Being likeable greatly increases your chances of getting in, I believe.
Good video by the way!
@@anthonypenna476 Completely agree! Passing the interview process is usually the hardest part, as you can learn a lot of things on the job, If you get the offer. I had projects experience from school but I know that beating other candidates in the interview process what was going to set me apart, which like you said, answering coding problems correctly (and probably having a more in depth answer) and personality. I studied so much on javascript, algorithms, data structures, oop, how networks and the internet works, and etc. Pretty much learning how all these technologies work (not necessarily how to implement them but how it just works), even if I didn't have years of experience. Like I said above, interviewing is a skill, with in of itself.
I want to have software to help people that has been electronically harrras been harreses like twenty years now I'm going to school now I l know what these tech have the ability to do I'm going to school for Buiness and assciate just know got harrased by a group of tech it suck you can't just be who you are In life thank you for not zapping me like everyone else has done
When is it a good time to start building a portfolio? Your last at college or your first year? Or in the middle
I'm sitting here about to graduate college and really wish I'd built a clean and concise portfolio years ago.
starts from 4:16