1. Portfolios and Side Projects
Good portfolios and side projects can make recruiters think you lack enough experience, meaning you are better off selling your professional experience instead of GitHub code.
Hear it at 0:03 →Engineering video
0:40 · 25 July 2023
Why Developer Portfolios Are Useless - Software Development Myth 1/100
Key concepts in this video:
2. Framing Side Projects
If you lack professional experience, frame your side projects as production-ready code by emphasizing professional aspects like testing, performance, deployment, and architecture.
Hear it at 0:26 →Transcript
Software development myth debunked one out of 100. Myth, you need a nice portfolio or a great looking GitHub profile to get invited to Toptal interviews. Good, portfolio since side projects work against you when applying for jobs. They make recruiters think that you don't have enough experience, so you make up for it with things on the side. No matter how little professional experience you have, you're better off selling that than some GitHub code.
Or, if you don't have any professional experience, just frame your side projects as production ready code by emphasizing more professional aspects of software development, like testing, performance, deployment, and architecture.