A Programmer's Portfolio

Hi everyone, i’m so surprised at the resilience of this post, I figure i’d test it one more time and throw this question out there. First of all, I should point out that 95 percent of my programming has been based on making video games as this is what I wish to pursue. What I would like to know is should I include my code in my port folio? I’ve sort of been sticking with the idea that the finish product (a playable game, usable feature or engine part) shows ability, plus i’m reluctant to put code I’ve worked hard on onto the all mighty internet. In an interview situation i’d have no problem showing any code, or discussing anything at length.

Perhaps there is a way to share my code through the internet in a less public manner than how I currently have my portfolio set up here: https://www.behance.net/lukemcintosh

Anyways, it would be interesting to me to know what anyone thinks. Are my reservation unnecessary? Thanks in advance!

Bill Lovett’s site ilovett.com was the inspiration for me to do one. Since I’m no game designer and I can’t even say I have any thing with a visible UI (most of my stuff is deep in the backend)

Anyway here is my portfolio

https://trajano.net

And the trials and tribulations (more coming):

The sources

Looks good, but I don’t understand why you had the Adobe icon on the top right.

For code, just pick and choose the ones you are willing to show on Github, otherwise don’t bother showing it (I doubt anyone is going to read it unless they need to, what’s more important is the fact that you show you HAVE code).

I love your portfolio website. How much traffic do you get to your site? Have you gotten a lot freelance offers from traffic on your site?

thanks I don’t really get any :slight_smile: but it won’t stop me from playing around.
Traffic is not that high in that a raspberry pi 3 is sufficient. That and I am pretty expensive but not overpriced :slight_smile:

Hey Kevin - so 13 years in, how’s it gone… did the portfolio help you with your career progress? Any tips for aspiring Coders out there looking to do the same… :slight_smile:

Another thing I recently did which I found to be a bit difficult is the one-page resume especially after having many years of work. https://trajano.net/2017/02/developing-my-one-page-resume/ with a direct link here https://trajano.net/assets/Archimedes%20Trajano.pdf

Hi All!

Kevin here, again… 15 years later! I randomly stumbled across my old portfolio’s zipfile which lead me back to this post. (:+1: to Jeff for keeping these old posts so well preserved.) I’ve put my portfolio back up, and this time it should be permanent, barring Github disappearing. Here it is: Portfolio - Kevin Zink - 2004.

For those who were curious about where I’m at in life. I’m good! During my early career, I worked a few jobs and became pretty dissatisfied with the corporate developer life. Cubicles, clueless spikey-haired middle managers, worthless meetings, etc. A few years and I had had enough of it. That experience, paired with frequent reading of blogs (like this fantastic one) ultimately led me to quit my job and strike it out on my own. Long story short, I co-founded a software product company and have built an engineering team to about 10 members over the last decade. (Feel free to peak at my career history here if interested: Kevin Zink - Tripleseat Software LLC | LinkedIn)

I’ve been hiring developers the last several years and, being on the other side of the table, I have some suggestions for anyone who is recently graduated or just entering the industry and now faced with doing interviews:

  • Anything you can do to stand out from the crowd is super helpful. A clean, succinct resume is a must-have and a custom-tailored cover letter, detailing out why you’re interested in the company/job (one that isn’t blatantly re-used for every job you apply for), is a great touch. When I hire, I’m not looking for someone who just wants a job – I want someone who wants a job and wants to be part of what my company is doing and what we’re all about.

  • If you’re doing an in-person interview, make sure you bathe, wear some nice clothes (not a suit, but something professional), and absolutely don’t be late. Bring a few copies of your printed resume and, if possible, print off some code samples of your work that you can talk about.

  • If you’re doing a remote/video interview, the above rules basically still apply. In addition, make sure your camera setup has good picture and sound quality (anything on par with a Macbook should suffice), don’t conduct the interview with the laptop actually on your lap (no shakey cam, please!), and make sure the internet connection you’re on is as stable and free of interruption as possible (e.g., tell your roommate to shut down his torrent downloads during the call). I recommend doing a test video call with a friend or family member before the real thing to verify. I’ve had to endure a few too many video interviews that were plagued by the aforementioned issues and it really sinks your chances.

  • Last but not least, a portfolio site is still a great way to help sell yourself. Hiring companies get flooded with resumes with links to candidates’ Github, and other repository, accounts, but don’t count on anyone rummaging through your code repositories unguided. This is where a portfolio site comes in great. It allows you to showcase your best work very quickly. My portfolio site was simple: I built a page for each project and…

Quoting myself from my comment in 2007
“Each project entry had a description, some code snippets, and maybe a screenshot or two - nothing phenomenal. I didn’t make entries for completely noobie “hello world” programs; each project was unique and displayed some level of difficulty.”

Having been 15 years since I built that portfolio site, things have changed. Mine was built from the ground up with html/css, but a simple Wordpress install with a nice theme would be a much simpler route. Github pages is another good alternative.

That is about all I had on my mind – I hope this is helpful to at least one person! Best of luck to all in your portfolio building, job searching, and careers!

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Awesome, thanks for the update Kevin :clap: :smile:

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