This is going to sound rough or horrible, but a portfolio doesn’t really matter. Hiring managers don’t have the time to look over your portfolio for a majority of positions. They just don’t. They have real work to do and they get your CV in an email from HR saying take a look and let me know if you want to interview them. They glance your CV to look for anything that immediately disqualifies and then your skills.
The more important thing to land a job when the market is how it is right now is networking. Intentionally connecting with individuals and cultivating conversation. Don’t just blast out connections and ask for help getting a job. Intentionally connect with people at companies you want to work for. Comment something you like about the company or product or something you are interested in about the company and actually build a connection with individuals. If you have skills that are good they can help connect you and refer you to positions. Cold applying and hoping do not work like they used to.
One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
If I follow your reasoning, wouldn't it make sense to have a portfolio that is focused not on getting you the job interview, but on optimizing your chance to close it once you get a job interview ?
Meaning
1) you connect with individuals, cultivate conversations, ask what their challenges it, whatever, you get the job interview
2) during the job interview process, you ask to do it by visio, and when the HR people / hiring manager wants to know more about you, you have all the information ready on your website that's easy to communicate and makes you look good.
Hiring managers and HR don’t have time for looking at your portfolio compared to the hundreds of other applicants and probably multiple people they are interviewing. Usually the initial interview is a vibe test with the HR or recruiter anyway who has no idea about the position and wants to do a general check. When you actually get the the interview that counts it’s going to be with either the hiring manager or a delegate of their choosing who is taking time out of their work day to interview and they just want to ask questions to see if you know what you are doing or lied on the application enough to fool the HR. I have never once had an interviewer ask to see my portfolio or even acknowledge that I had one when I brought it up.
One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
When I was doing technical interviews, the only times I looked at someone's portfolio it was with an eye to disqualify someone. For example, if they did something obviously bad, like have a completely inaccessible page but list their passion for accessibility in their CV, that would be a big red flag.
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This is going to sound rough or horrible, but a portfolio doesn’t really matter. Hiring managers don’t have the time to look over your portfolio for a majority of positions. They just don’t. They have real work to do and they get your CV in an email from HR saying take a look and let me know if you want to interview them. They glance your CV to look for anything that immediately disqualifies and then your skills.
The more important thing to land a job when the market is how it is right now is networking. Intentionally connecting with individuals and cultivating conversation. Don’t just blast out connections and ask for help getting a job. Intentionally connect with people at companies you want to work for. Comment something you like about the company or product or something you are interested in about the company and actually build a connection with individuals. If you have skills that are good they can help connect you and refer you to positions. Cold applying and hoping do not work like they used to.
If I follow your reasoning, wouldn't it make sense to have a portfolio that is focused not on getting you the job interview, but on optimizing your chance to close it once you get a job interview ?
Meaning
1) you connect with individuals, cultivate conversations, ask what their challenges it, whatever, you get the job interview
2) during the job interview process, you ask to do it by visio, and when the HR people / hiring manager wants to know more about you, you have all the information ready on your website that's easy to communicate and makes you look good.
WDYT?
Hiring managers and HR don’t have time for looking at your portfolio compared to the hundreds of other applicants and probably multiple people they are interviewing. Usually the initial interview is a vibe test with the HR or recruiter anyway who has no idea about the position and wants to do a general check. When you actually get the the interview that counts it’s going to be with either the hiring manager or a delegate of their choosing who is taking time out of their work day to interview and they just want to ask questions to see if you know what you are doing or lied on the application enough to fool the HR. I have never once had an interviewer ask to see my portfolio or even acknowledge that I had one when I brought it up.
I know, that's infuriating.
I have a dream that one day IT companies will take hiring seriously and get trained on how to do it properly.
We Shall Improve Hiring Somewhat
Jean-Michel (jmfayard.dev) ・ Nov 27 '23
Agree. Portfolio establishes online presence and widens your network, right?
When I was doing technical interviews, the only times I looked at someone's portfolio it was with an eye to disqualify someone. For example, if they did something obviously bad, like have a completely inaccessible page but list their passion for accessibility in their CV, that would be a big red flag.