Rewrote my portfolio as three case studies instead of a wall of project cards and interviewers finally have something to ask about
Old version: eight project cards, each with a screenshot, a stack list and a GitHub link. In about thirty interviews, not one person mentioned any of them.
New version: three projects, roughly 400 words each, covering
- what the thing was actually for and who used it, even when the honest answer is "me and four people from my old team"
- one decision I got wrong and what it cost me
- what I'd do differently now
The other five projects still exist, they're just on GitHub instead of the front page.
Two interviewers in the last month have opened with "tell me about the migration one." The wrong-decision section does most of the work — it hands them something to poke at that I've already thought hard about, which is a much better conversation than defending a screenshot.
3 comments
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AnonymousAnon How long did the rewrite actually take you? I've got nine cards sitting up there and the prospect of writing 400 words about each is precisely why I keep not doing it. Three feels achievable in a way nine doesn't.
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AnonymousAnon The one-decision-I-got-wrong section is the real insight here. That's the difference between a portfolio that says "I can follow a tutorial" and one that says "I've had consequences." Nobody can ask a follow-up question about a screenshot.