I disagree with the first point. University projects might not count in a portfolio when applying for a regular development position, but they do most certainly count when applying to an internship.
It's all about reasonable expectations. Full time college students may not always have a bunch of personal projects. I've hired many interns whose portfolios contained only a selection of their best university assignments, and they turned out to be some of my best programmers. (And anyway, if an internship hiring manager is expecting a bunch of polished personal projects in a student's portfolio, the internship is not likely to have reasonable expectations about experience anyway.)
That said, interns, help us help you! Pin your best projects to the top of your GitHub profile. Include READMEs. Make it easy for us to find what you're proud of.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply!
As a follow-up,
Is a portfolio a must-have or will it allow one to place ahead of the pack?
Again, thank you for your time.
Portfolios are excellent! They definitely put you at the front of the pack.
Might depend on what we mean under portfolio.
I suggest including a portfolio if it is truly relevant. Otherwise it is just noise, or worse, generates false expectations.
I disagree with the first point. University projects might not count in a portfolio when applying for a regular development position, but they do most certainly count when applying to an internship.
It's all about reasonable expectations. Full time college students may not always have a bunch of personal projects. I've hired many interns whose portfolios contained only a selection of their best university assignments, and they turned out to be some of my best programmers. (And anyway, if an internship hiring manager is expecting a bunch of polished personal projects in a student's portfolio, the internship is not likely to have reasonable expectations about experience anyway.)
That said, interns, help us help you! Pin your best projects to the top of your GitHub profile. Include READMEs. Make it easy for us to find what you're proud of.
Makes sense. I stand corrected.