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Business

Posted by rachelweaver
rachelweaver
15,876 Points

Questions about building a portfolio?

I want to start applying to jobs by the end of April and I am(almost) done with the web designer track. I have a few questions about building a portfolio. 1.) How many pieces should I have to show employers as a junior developer? How many full websites should be in there?

2.)Is it OK to showcase pieces of a website? Like a form or a graphic I made?

3.) Is it OK to embed codepen projects into it?

4.) Should I use wordpress, bootstrap or foundation as a framework? I want to include a blog that chronicles my adventures in design(like how I made something) as well.

5.) My portfolio is going to be entirely self directed projects. Will this hurt my chances?

Any help is appreciated :)

1 Answer

Wayne Priestley
Wayne Priestley
19,579 Points
Wayne Priestley
Wayne Priestley
19,579 Points

Hi Rachel,

I don't think there is a upper limit to how many websites you have in your portfolio, the more of your talent you can display the better, but I would think a minimum of three would be good.
If you have forms or graphics you wish to show, I would suggest building them into one of your portfolio pieces. Maybe build one site just to show the graphics you designed and include the stages of the design process and your thoughts behind each design. I think that would be a better idea than linking to codepen too.
You could use wordpress or bootstrap, but i think if you show what you can do from scratch then a potential employer will know that your capable of using a framework, maybe the exception is wordpress as its really php, so if you are thinking about building your own theme then go for it.
Finally i would suggest building portfolio sites of businesses, like a restaurant, a wedding planner, online store, florist, dental practice you get the idea.

Good luck Rachel.