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crfries
crfries

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Portfolio advice

Hi everyone! I’ve started to apply at companies and could use some advice on my portfolio. I have been putting in apps like crazy and just not receiving many call backs or interviews. If you could take a look and any criticism is welcomed. Thank you! http://www.coreys.world

Top comments (31)

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peterlunch profile image
Peter

On your intro you say - "I am currently seeking a position at a company to grow and expand my abilities."

I'd personally adjust to "I am currently seeking a position at a company where I can contribute with my x, y, z skills while I learn and grow from other developers."

It's always good to say explicitly what you are offering the organization.

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crfries profile image
crfries

Awesome advice. I will update thank you

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andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

Solid advice the wording makes a difference.

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alvaromontoro profile image
Alvaro Montoro • Edited

Design-wise, I really like your portfolio, and I don't see any reason why a recruiter wouldn't call you based on it. Sometimes it takes a while to get the calls, maybe try diversifying how you share it or where you apply to.

Some feedback on the code (and again, I don't think they'd impact how recruiters see your page, but it would be nice in general as some are big issues):

  • Routing is broken. I can access the projects by going to coreys.world and clicking on the Projects link, but if I copy the projects URL (coreys.world/projects) and share it, I will get a 404.
  • Make the site accessible. There are some a11y issues that should be addressed: low contrast, empty links, screen reader usage is "broken", images are missing alternative text...
  • Make use of HTML5. The site is just <div> upon <div> upon <div>. Make sure you use the semantics tags (<header>, <main>, <section>...) to identify the different regions on your pages.
  • Validate the HTML. Currently, there are a few things that make the HTML invalid: images missing alternative text, interactive content inside interactive content (<button> inside an <a>)...
  • Make the site SEO- and social-media-friendly. Add metadata that will make the site friendlier for sharing: use opengraph, twitter cards meta info, add a favicon...
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crfries profile image
crfries

This is what I was looking for. Thank you. You’re awesome

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dan_v profile image
Dan V • Edited

Hi @crfries . Your portfolio site looks great, good job.

As some other people have mentioned, recruiters probably aren't going to be paying attention to your code, so changing that will only get you so far.

That said, if I was reviewing your portfolio site code, I think the main thing I'd suggest to work on is refactoring your components out into their own files within a src/components directory. Your App.js file is pretty long and there are a few components in there which you could be importing instead.

A good skill to demonstrate in React is being able to identify which parts of your UI/code could be extracted into their own components.

The next thing I would do is add some unit tests, even just a few to demonstrate that you have some knowledge. I'd recommend using jest with react-testing-library, as these are very popular.

Don't spend too long on these things though; it's probably more helpful to get more applications out there. Most employers will give you a tech test to do anyway and might not look at your site's code.

I can't give expert advice on what recruiters are looking for when they read your resume, but it would be best to assume that they are reading through stacks of resumes and probably only skim reading. So keep it simple and to the point: say what you're good at, what you're offering, give links to projects, tell them solid examples of things you've done in your career (even if it's just transferrable skills from non-dev jobs).

Best of luck!

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crfries profile image
crfries

advice taken. thank you

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0xkoji profile image
0xkoji • Edited

Maybe you can unify the project-card size on the project page.

I guess making your cv accessible is easy for people.
Currently, people who might be interesting in working with you need 2 actions (request your cv via the contact form and check your cv). Probably most people prefer 1-step to 2-step.

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crfries profile image
crfries

That’s something I just noticed, thank you! So I originally had my resume on there but it has my personal info and rather not leave my phone and address in easy access. Maybe I’ll remove the address and just leave phone. Thank you.

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abidishajia profile image
Shajia Abidi

Hi Corey! Loved your website. You've some great projects in there. I'd probably replace the Let's Talk button from the home page with a link to your Projects page only because as a user I'd like to see your projects first before contacting you. But that's just my take on it.

I know you are just looking for advice on your portfolio, but if you need advice on your resume, let me know and I can point some things I would change there. Good luck :)

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crfries profile image
crfries

thank you so much!

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crimsonmed profile image
Médéric Burlet

I like the colors and simplicity however I feel there is some UX issue.
T#He navigation is inconsistent in the sense you have clickables at the top right and left. bottom left, on your page. And then you have something that looks like clickables on the rigth (tech stack). I would change the tech stack to another page or put it as a horizontal line below the lets talk.

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pradeepradyumna profile image
Pradeep Pradyumna

It's appreciable how you chose to have your own portfolio. I liked the overall color theme and quality of your portfolio. I liked your projects section as well, especially the links to the Github repo, and the apps are really good. Just two things:

One:
This is in reference to Whatsapp & Music Player projects/
Try to add more details in the Readme of the repository, explaining what the project is all about, what problems it solves, and so on. This would be really helpful, when just in case your deployed applications don't launch in an office setup (for a person who is accessing your site where certain sites/ domains are blocked), in that case, information present in Readme, will help the person understand more about the application, without even launching it.

Two:
This one is from one of my personal experiences. While pushing changes to your repository, I noticed some of your commits are done in a single shot. Try to push changes (make commits granular) when it solves a bug or as the development progresses. This will be good to track the changes and understand how your project evolved (during the development process). It gives confidence to the technical recruiters that you have a good understanding of using version control tools and development

Wish you all the very best!

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crfries profile image
crfries

I actually planned on doing the readme for them and got sidetracked with other things. That makes a lot of sense. I'll take that into consideration. most of the time the extra commits are cause of weird mobile bugs that dont show in responsive mode, until I view it on a mobile. Thank you for the solid advice though.

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niorad profile image
Antonio Radovcic

Contact forms in general are annoying and feel weird, because you never know if the message arrived. It feels like talking on an answering machine. Put the e-mail more visibly on the front-page.
Also put your resume-PDF on the front-page to download directly without having to do the contact-form first.
Assume the people who see your site aren't technical, and they won't bother checking out the Github-Projects. Technical folks probably won't be putting too much weight on it, too, since it's easily faked and there is no way to validate it.

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pr332y profile image
Priya S

It looks really nice. May I ask what technologies you're using?

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crfries profile image
crfries

Thank you. Mostly react and the basics.

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natalia_asteria profile image
Natalia Asteria

Maybe you can improve your color palette a little bit? And maybe put the logo down a little bit on mobile?

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crfries profile image
crfries

I will look into that. Thank you!

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natalia_asteria profile image
Natalia Asteria

Your welcome!

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imagineeeinc profile image
Imagineee

Really nice animations

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crfries profile image
crfries

thank you! <3

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cadams profile image
Chad Adams • Edited

Contact page is not mobile friendly. Send message button is overlapping the linkedin icon.

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cwraytech profile image
Christopher Wray • Edited

Make sure to add some padding to the containers so that on mobile the text and borders don't go all the way to the edge of the screen.

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crfries profile image
crfries

Yeah I noticed that earlier. In responsive mode it’s fine..but on actual mobile it has some weird formatting. I’ll fix tomorrow. Thank you

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jimousse profile image
Jimmy Castex • Edited

Looks great! However, the text is not visible when selected. Maybe change the color of the selection?

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liamedwards profile image
Liam Edwards

Selection colour is default for me. What browser are you using?

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jimousse profile image
Jimmy Castex

Here's what I see: dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/up...
Latest chrome on Mac.

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crfries profile image
crfries

Really? I don’t use a Mac but I use chrome. I have tried it across multiple devices and that hasn’t happened

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crfries profile image
crfries

I took all of your advice and reworked everything. Went from a 65 in lighthouse with first paint at 3s to a 99. you all are awesome