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Chris Jarvis
Chris Jarvis

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How many Projects should you add to a Portfolio?

I recently updated my portfolio. You can see it at ChristopherleeJarvis.com. I used a Dopefolio template from Ram Maheshwari in this post.

The big decision was what projects to add? What interactive things to add? I picked a couple web sites, a few projects, my blog, and some case studies of things I built or helped build.

Screen shot of phone app. The app is a entry form.

How many interactive things need to go up to show that it works?

app screen shot. stylized view of audience member looks at a stage. in center of stage is computer screen.

If you are in a position to hire, do you check developer's projects or their read code? How many projects do you actually touch?

Top comments (2)

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Joe Mainwaring • Edited

Given that you're not starting from scratch, asking about the quantity of projects you showcase in your portfolio isn't the right question. What you should be focusing on is the type of projects you're showcasing and the quality of those projects and the portfolio as a whole .

  • I would ditch the JavaScript blog in the showcase, put it somewhere else in your site like the Nav. You have enough other projects that you don't need it.
  • You're wasting an incredible amount of space in your showcase, and if I was the hiring manager reviewing your candidacy - I'm unlikely to read all the way to the bottom because of it. If you're going to use a two-column layout for your showcase, then each column in a row should have a project.
  • You have some amazing content in your showcase (UX study) but I also see some content that is not worth my time reading. This showcase for example should be reworked to flush out the content sections further or eliminating several of them.
  • I get 404s if I click code links for several of your projects, either fix the link or don't promote that i can see the code behind the project
  • JSON is not a skill.
  • Several of your layout or content choices baffle me. Why is there a row of icons with no context? I see what looks like a trello board and slack icon, are you telling me that you've done work for those companies or that you use those tools? If you're telling me you use slack, it's like telling me you're familiar with Microsoft Word - it's not worth highlighting.
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Chris Jarvis

Thank you for the advice. I will rearrange some part and reduce the showcase size.