Why MOST Developer Portfolios are Worthless

[@TravisMedia]

Click the link sponsr.is/bootdev_travismedia and use my code TRAVISMEDIA to get 25% off your first payment for boot.dev. That’s 25% off your first month or your first year, depending on the subscription you choose.

[@chthonianboy]

Great, I was feeling kinda worthless because I couldnt develop anything beyond tier-2... now Im certain to be completely worthless. Certainty brings peace of mind.

[@TravisMedia]

Easy enough to pass the blame than to do the work

[@mostviewedtoks]

The only reason you feel like that is because you tried. Trying is step1 to victory believe in yourself

[@oksdoksaodkad]

Why would you think you're employable after following a youtube tutorial?

[@korg47237]

Not the kind of attitude that lands you the job! I think simple projects like these are a good single mention in interviews to show what you're doing to develop your skills, but only in junior roles where scripting isn't the main focus, but that may be more IT focused.

[@theloststarbounder]

I made tools at every internship that helped but couldn't go beyond internship so be proud that you tried tier 2, at least you're not stuck in it xD

[@WestTechLol]

Many software jobs involve MUCH more reading code than writing code, particularly if they've been around for a while. If you hack an open source project by fixing a bug or improving something you can demonstrate that ability. Make the world a better place!

[@DemetriusZhomir]

Just decided to create a meaningful project - and boom, YT has shown this video to me. I will make an announcement soon 😁

[@lewie8136]

The industry is fucked because most of the people looking at CVs have no real knowledge of programming to begin with. Front end specifically all they seems to care about it the perfect looking e-commerce app even though that's been done a million times. My portfolio is not unique in the sense its full of really original ideas, but it's original in the sense that I displayed the core concepts of web dev front & back., instead of shitty todo apps and hangman. They're simple in scale but focus on fetching from APIs, creating RESTful apis, caching from databases and displaying data is commonly used ways, nothing flashy, but also not copy pasta from some guide on youtube. Still can't get my CV in from of any junior roles. The UK junior dev industry is shot to shit from my perspective.

[@EFC_Break]

I’m personally working on a 3D game engine in C#, 9 months into the process now. Been learning a lot, and it is now starting to look really good, both aesthetically and programmatically. On the school Gitlab, my project is as high as my teachers projects 😆 This is by far the project I’m most proud of, and it sure as hell will be my portfolio front-page

[@TravisMedia]

That's great!

[@DemetriusZhomir]

@@EFC_Break oh that sounds awesome man. Very curious to see what it looks like in C#. Like, we know dotnet performance is great in web APIs. Couldn't think of a game engine made with that!

[@andrewshorts1198]

@TravisMedia I generally believe having a portfolio is worthless, most tech employers have screening to filter you and your portfolio anyways. All that effort to go into this won't mean jack if you're going through some A.I to determine if your worthy or not.

[@TravisMedia]

If you are brand new, it's really all you have to work with. As years go by and gain experience in the industry and can display that experience, the portfolio becomes less important.

[@OZTutoh]

Is it troubling if *you're* looking for a job in an IT field but you don't know how to spell *you're* properly?

[@duty_cycle]

Is it worth adding projects to your portfolio built mainly in a different programming language other than your primary ones?

[@tell_your_story]

Means you can learn different ways of doing things. As long as the projects are good, I don't see any reason you can't or rather shouldn't.

[@Tomasz-ug4ru]

I love such pieces of advice: "let's say you build a reddit clone", I beg to disagree though. If I did, it would be startup / product like material and wouldn't try to become freelancer / employee. For me it's a more than enough proof for IT job market insanity

[@mickmister]

I'm typically thinking the audience of my website is for potential freelancing clients, though that is a bit limiting for an opportunity to showcase things. That kind of viewer maybe doesn't understand creating a framework or something like that. How can we make a portfolio that contains this information (look at this framework) to be appreciated by both technical people and those not so ingrained in the details of technology? Also what's your opinion on advertising full time work you've done in the past, and how might that be presented in a portfolio site? Thanks for this great content!

[@waelltifi-2023]

we are not super power devs , 90 % of us aren't , i am humble enough to admit that even though i'm a softwear engineer with extensive background in math and physics , what we care about is getting a job and make it to the managing position so that we won't need to code anymore , alot of us hates coding and only do it because we have no choice of a good job in this economy ! that is the truth no one is saying ... plus there's an ocean of informations there , you won't be able to be good in many things , focus on a single specific stack

[@Aaron.Seabolt]

Make projects that have real world applications. I’m glad to know that I already figured out the assignments I make in class and follow along coding projects won’t be my forever show off.

[@sandeeptanjore1253]

Liked the term "solid wall of projects" 🙂

[@adityantamarapu6239]

Feels like there's too much beginner advice on youtube.

[@bubu60112]

don't even get me started. as soon as you start going in a direction you think you want to establish some consistency in, boom!! comes a video saying DON'T DO THIS. I am at a point where I am beginning to unfollow a lot of people. Don't get certifications, build projects, hands-on projects, get your hands dirty, certifications are worthless etc it just comes down to your luck at the end of the day. If there is a job that requires no experience, fight to get that one, that is the only realistic way of getting into cloud or TECH that they don't tell you. If you are young and I mean really young, then by all means focus on apparenticeships and a 3 year plan, but if you are over 30, with how demanding life can get financially in this poor economy, you'll do well if you can tough out an apprenticeship and be on peanut wages for a prolonged period of time in hopes that one day you'll get your foot through the door and build from there. It's tough, one year in, 8 hours a day and I'm on the verge of giving up !!!

[@OZTutoh]

I've understood years ago that content creators have to keep putting out content to maintain audience engagement, regardless of how over-reported that topic might be. The right-arrow key and turning the video down to 360p have been my best friends here.

[@Beyondlimits_400]

@@bubu60112Hey man I’m right there with you. I’ve been at it for a year but for Cybersecurity learning Splunk, doing the Pentesting Path on HTB, while trying to learn how to program at an intermediate level in Python and JavaScript. It’s fucking rough after a 10 hour shift of bending metal on a press brake to then come home and spend 3-4 hours of studying every single night. But don’t give up, you’ll get there, it’s a marathon not a race. I got this and you got this, as long as you keep going.

[@bestopinion9257]

I make forum and eCommerce with MySQL, Laravel, Inertia SSR and Vue3. Single Page Apps. I make the database and normalize it. I use AI to get suggestions, I ask on forums too. I take decisions. They are on github and also on a server to test functionality. Are this good enough for a self taught junior? If not, what else?

[@DanielDogeanu]

Hm... Interesting notetaker app at 7:48, Travis! I wonder where did you get the inspiration from? It looks wildly similar to my Notes App design on Dribbble! 😄 Anyway, nice video! 😊

[@TravisMedia]

The design I’m sure I definitely stole from somewhere 😂. Perhaps it was yours!!

[@DanielDogeanu]

@@TravisMedia That design went viral, and honestly I'm so flattered that people like it so much that they get inspired from it! 😊

[@vahesevachyan9399]

Good advice

[@prashh47-k3o]

I'm currently mastering Django, planning to dive into React, data science, and AI next. I’m also thinking of integrating these with frameworks like FastAPI, Flask, and Django to build AI-driven apps. Honestly, I'm doing all this because I want to make big money in web development! Does that sound like a good plan, or should I be focusing on something else?

[@kazmi401]

What do you mean by mastering django, planning to dive into react, datascience, and AI. integrating them with fastAPI, flask, and django. hhh I would recommend choosing your specific path first.

[@jakelake-u1q]

"im learning django and planning to dive into react , data science and AI". thats not how this works unless if you're talking about your 7+ year plan future plan. why would you aim for 3 different industries? just choose one thing and master it for the next 1 or 2 years, then get a job in that thing stay in it for at least a year and then see how you move on from there. i doubt you're really "mastering" django. you didnt begin to master django unless you built actual projects with it then got hired at an actual company for 2-3 years

[@jakelake-u1q]

@@kazmi401 this is what social media did to people. everyone wants to just "learn tech" and get paid 6 figures, lol

[@imaquackaholic]

This has got to be an AI generated comment.

[@prashh47-k3o]

@@jakelake-u1q I was just thinking about AI-driven applications

[@bestopinion9257]

When you say a Redit clone, you refer to the whole app or just the look, front-end?

[@TravisMedia]

Just a slimmed down version of Reddit. Not necessarily all the features but just the main idea.

[@TravisMedia]

Or, could be just the front end, depending on what you’re going for

[@zwischenzug910]

Very Relatable thumbnail, lmao!

[@ballroomdru]

What about an app that solves a business problem for the type of business you want to apply to?

[@TravisMedia]

That's the answer!

[@cmillion]

what? At that point start your own business LOL

[@muntasirhossen9730]

hi travis how you doing? how’s FrontEnd Masters Courses?

[@TravisMedia]

Yeah they are a good choice. In the end, these courses and platforms all teach you the same things. Learning React in one place will be the same material as the other.

[@slliks4]

nice video❤

[@marosmierka1904]

a started ot learn coding because.... i had idea for game i wanted play but couldnt find so thats my portoflio - im working on a game that does not exist (in form i would want it) there are some that are like 60% at most of what i want - basically fallout shelter but fantasy and not idle - more of tycoon "normal" game slightly more complex thats my portoflio half done(so far) game not sure if thats what i should be working on but thats my hobby i wouldl ike to turn into job one day but im learning a lot of stuff like yesterday i kinda realised that when you inherit from class in unity and create awake in child it will override awake in parent (silly me thought awake start and update wont count) wonder what i learn today, how badly will i shoot myself in foot or how many hours will i sank in typo or null reference error its fun tho gives me playing factorio / tycoon game vibes its jsut slower, more complex with more freedom with a portion of torubleshooting

[@SomethingSpiritual]

does it good to move in government jobs for lonegitivity and safe future?

[@TravisMedia]

There is money there and job security for sure. Not everyone likes the slow pace at which those projects move though.

[@SomethingSpiritual]

@TravisMedia understood. I want it for the long run. If money was the thing then surely I won't entered in development industry.

[@TheDeathknight23]

What about unconventional programming languages like F#?

[@sealsharp]

Unconventional can be good if you want to target a certain niche. People mainly learn javascript and python now so for example learning C and doing pointers and registers for embedded is a niche. I took that example because i know that embedded exists and companies still search for realy low level devs. For functional, i don't know. If you want to know the viability of those languages, you might want to dig deeper into those communities.

[@zero3281]

i dint ge tthe steve woz and matt joke please explain 🥺🥺

[@alpotato6531]

too many people in tech

[@alpotato6531]

@right_wing_grifter videos like this are a huge red flag. Its as if nobody sees it because its just the water that we (the fish) are swimming in. In other fields, spending your *free time* on work would be fucking stupid.

[@wombozombo]

I got rejected from joining the skool community Sadge

[@TravisMedia]

I had aound 90 signups that never completed the signup process. I sent two follow-up emails with reminder steps. No answer or action taken by many. So after 10 days of no response, I reject them.

[@wombozombo]

I overlooked the email. Thanks for replying.

[@navjotsingh2457]

tysm

[@zzkevinlim]

Building a random low-level app is just as worthless. You should build whatever the job market in your area is looking for, that's how you land a job, not by making a Rust-based calculator. Knowing how to build something low-level (which isn't that hard) doesn't make you any better than a web developer.