What should a newbie in IT add to their portfolio to get a job?

So, as a term paper, I wrote a “VK killer”. The “killer” turned out to be so menacing that it could only display a user profile and send messages, it was terribly slow and crashed periodically. But the teacher still appreciated my efforts and helped me get my first job. Unfortunately, the screenshots were not saved, which is a pity.

Own projects

If you don't have your own pet project, it's no surprise – most of my colleagues don't either. But if you're at the beginning of your path in IT and are determined, implement projects that you're really interested in. This is the only way to stay motivated, otherwise it will turn into a second job for you, and not necessarily a favorite one.

Below are some examples from me and my colleagues. These specific projects were completed by already working specialists, but similar ones are shown to us by candidates whom we subsequently hire. Or for an internship, and from there – to work.

Kicker Tournament App

Kicker and table tennis are known to be traditional IT sports. I personally really liked kicker, and the excitement, as well as the desire to measure statistics, prompted me to write an application for table football with obscene voiceovers of goals. The application is simple: it counts goals and allows you to choose which of the four players scored a goal. Then all the statistics are displayed on the site with ratings.

We held several tournaments within the company and gave participants the opportunity to compete. 404 fests And Design Weekendand the guys were happy. And during various job fairs, universities ask if we'll bring a table for kicker. True, the sound has to be turned off 🙂

A joke betting game with rumors about new Apple products

In the company where I work, there is a good tradition of getting together as a team and watching Apple presentations together. Before each event or WWDC, we try to guess what Apple devices will be announced this time.

To make guessing more fun, my colleague created an “apple sweepstakes” in Google Sheets for fun. To do this, he wrote a formula for calculating the probability with a decreasing coefficient, so that the least obvious bets bring more “apples”.

When almost the entire company got hooked on the Apple sweepstakes, they realized that the table had become too cramped. In a couple of weeks, they created a separate website, opened access to everyone, and the Apple sweepstakes turned intoApple-sizer“.

During the iPhone 11 presentation on Yablozator made bets Wylsacom — a crowd of geeks flew into the app from his stream, and, apparently, virtual apples were to their taste. So from a Google spreadsheet, “Yablozator” became a fun service with a peak online of 10,000 users.

Improving Profits

You don't always have to come up with projects from scratch. Sometimes it's enough to take a good look around – maybe you can significantly improve something that is already actively used.

The arrival — a once popular application used to track municipal transport in Samara: how long before a bus arrives or where a tram went. Pribyvalka appeared long before a similar function in Yandex and Google maps. And although the application was used daily by thousands of city residents, at some point the iOS version stopped being updated and became obsolete.

Back in 2015, my colleagues, a designer and an iOS developer, decided to remake the iOS version of the app. A few weeks later, their version was officially released.

Projects from courses

Courses are good. Thanks to them, you can learn how a particular tool works and immediately apply the acquired knowledge in practice. But the projects that students create in courses will not impress the reviewer. Tutorials and online stores will not tell an experienced developer anything about your ability to think and find solutions independently. So here's some advice: apply the skills you've acquired in courses to your own projects, which you can then add to your portfolio.

Less is more

The main lesson for juniors: cases in the portfolio can not only not help, but also harm. We had a case when we rejected a candidate due to a large number of weak pet projects and contributions, and for this position we hired a person with a minimum set of skills needed at that time.

I also devoted my time to finding a job. series of posts in my team's TG, I told how I started. Plus, there is also about our technical stack of front-end development, my experience in mobile development on React Native and a little about fun projects.

Summarizing

Coursework, labs, diplomas

If you are studying at university, don't waste your time. Technical universities have a lot of boring subjects, so when you have an opportunity to do something interesting and practically applicable during your studies, take it. I got my first offer thanks to a student project.

Pet projects

You need to start your own project with your eyes shining, otherwise what's the point? Even a very simple idea will be good if you really want to bring it to life. Work on projects that are interesting to you and useful to others. And remember: at first, usefulness and practical applicability are more important than the purity of the code.

Courses

Template applications will not help you get a job at a cool company. The main benefit of courses is that they help you master new tools. Use the skills you gain in your own projects.

And finally: don’t add everything to your portfolio, choose projects that you are confident in.

Good luck!