Guide to Building a Strong Tech Portfolio

Overview

Quality Over Quantity

As the wise says, always focus on quality over quantity. Instead of including every project you’ve completed, focus on showcasing a few high-quality projects that reflect your expertise.

Prioritise Relevant Projects

When there is limited time (which always seems to be the case), prioritise projects that are aligned with your targeted industry. For instance, if you aspire to be a data scientist in the financial field, focus on finance-related projects like credit default prediction or fraud detection. This highlights your understanding of the specific challenges in the desired sector and illustrates your ability to apply your technical knowledge to solve real-world scenarios.

Showcase Diverse Projects

With that said, it is still important to include a variety of (relevant) projects that demonstrate your versatility and expertise. Employers will always be on the lookout for a jack of all trades (and master of all). For example, if you are a software developer, you can display accomplishments like web applications, mobile apps, open-source contributions, or any other relevant projects.

Provide Detailed Project Descriptions

Give detailed explanations and descriptions of the projects show-cased. Include the problem you aimed to solve, the technologies used, the challenges faced, how you overcame them, and your role/responsibilities in the project.

Provide Links To Live Projects

When possible, provide live links to your projects so that employers can interact directly with them. This shows that your work is both functional and deployable. Heicoders Academy offers two courses that teaches students how to deploy live projects via URLs. The first would be the AI300: Deploying Machine Learning Systems to the Cloud, which teaches students how to do so using a website integrated with their ML model. Secondly, in our newly launched DA100: Data Analytics with SQL and Tableau course, students will be able to deploy their Tableau dashboard to an URL. 

Showcase Code Quality

In addition, provide links to the GitHub repositories of your projects. This way, employers will be able to assess your programming skills and appraise the quality of your work. If you are unsure on how to use GitHub, consider the aforementioned AI300: Deploying Machine Learning Systems to the Cloud, which teaches students to use GitHub for version control and to showcase your portfolios.

Highlight Achievements And Impact

More importantly, beyond code quality, highlight any awards, accolades, or significant achievements related to your projects. Ultimately, all profit-driven businesses will still place more emphasis on ROI and tangible results. In addition, if your projects have been used or positively impacted users/communities, mention these milestones too! 

Include Learning Journey

Lastly, include any online courses, certifications, workshops or hackathons you have participated in. Continuous learning is highly valued in the tech industry (or most industries, for that matter), and demonstrating your dedication to growth will definitely leave a lasting impression. To further boost your resume, get certified with Heicoders Academy now!

Just as your eyes are the windows to your soul, your portfolio is a reflection of your skills and professionalism. A strong portfolio will not only exhibit your abilities, but also your passion and commitment to the tech industry. With that, best of luck to all the aspiring tech professionals looking to impress your next prospective employer!