How to Build a Portfolio that Gets You Hired as a Junior Frontend Developer?

Summary

The article provides guidance for junior frontend developers on creating a unique portfolio that showcases their ability to learn and adapt, which is crucial for getting hired.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of building a distinctive portfolio for junior frontend developers to stand out in the job market. It criticizes the common practice of cloning generic projects like weather or todo apps and stresses the need for portfolio projects that demonstrate a deeper understanding of both frontend and basic backend concepts. The author, a junior developer with two years of experience, shares personal insights on avoiding tutorial dependency and the necessity of practical application of knowledge through documentation and hands-on coding. The article suggests creating more complex projects, such as a fullstack blog app, an e-commerce app with advanced features, niche chatbots, or a basic version of a dream company's project, to showcase adaptability and the ability to integrate new technologies. Additionally, contributing to open-source projects is recommended to familiarize oneself with existing codebases and demonstrate the ability to collaborate and adapt to different coding styles. The conclusion advises against showcasing short, unchallenging projects and suggests working on portfolio pieces for extended periods to prove one's capabilities with at least two different tech stacks.

Opinions

The author believes that simply watching tutorials and cloning common projects is a mistake that many junior developers make, leading to a lack of differentiation in the job market.
They argue that tutorials can be a trap, akin to a company selling both the cause of a problem and its solution, implying that tutorials may intentionally prolong the learning process to ensure continuous engagement.
The article suggests that understanding a library or framework through its documentation is sufficient theoretical knowledge and that practical implementation is more valuable than extensive video tutorial consumption.
It is the author's opinion that a portfolio should include projects that require at least a month of work to demonstrate commitment and depth of understanding.
The author emphasizes the importance of being familiar with both frontend and basic backend operations, even for those focusing on frontend development, to create more impactful portfolio projects.
Contributing to open-source projects is highly recommended as it shows the ability to work with code written by others, a common scenario in professional environments.
The author advises that using multiple tech stacks in portfolio projects can showcase a candidate's adaptability, which is an attractive trait for potential employers.

How to Build a Portfolio that Gets You Hired as a Junior Frontend Developer?

Junior developers with no full-time experience often make a common mistake: They simply watch Udemy/YouTube courses and clone the same projects like [“Weather App”, “Todo App”, or “Netflix Clone”]. If everyone has these, then why should an HR person hire you? We’ll discuss portfolio project ideas that a junior frontend developer must have to stand out.

Are you stuck in tutorial hell? Get out of there!

I am a junior frontend developer with almost two years of experience. While I was learning frontend development, I didn’t find a mentor or an article for people wanting to enter the industry. Unfortunately, I learned the “must-do” and “avoid” list the hard way.

I spent too much time watching video courses and never felt like “I’m ready to code.” Almost all courses try to teach you theory like a dictionary. It’s definitely a trap. They just want you to watch forever. It’s the same logic as Nestle: they sell chocolates that can potentially give you diabetes, and they also sell diabetes medication. If Nestle’s medication cured you 100%, how could they earn more money? It’s the same with tutorials.

If you can read documentation and implement it in your code, then you know it!

Most of us want to know everything and do/code everything without even Googling. But dude, this isn’t possible. If you already understand a library/framework just from reading their documentation, then you know enough theory. You don’t need to watch hours of videos about it. Just get your hands dirty and practice.

Oh, this blog was about portfolio project ideas!

Everyone has some copy-paste projects like Weather App, Todo App, Netflix Clone, etc. in their portfolio. Just think as an HR person, why would you hire yourself? Because you are eager to learn? Because you are cute? Because you don't want a salary? A big NO to these reasons. You must be at least one step further than everyone else.

— A fullstack blog app: “What? We are a frontend developer? WTF are you talking about?” But no, even if you are just a frontend developer and don’t want to focus on anything else, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to know the basics of API routes. Learn at least CRUD operations on both sides. — E-commerce app: Well, this is also common, but at least you can add some other features. Use some Redux Toolkit sauce to make it a bit more complicated than fetching dummy API data only. — Some ChatGPT apps: This is also popular lately. But if you create a niche ChatGPT chatbot, like a “practice Chinese bot,” it will show that you can integrate with new technologies in the industry. — Niche project: If you have a specific company you want to apply to, create a basic version of their main project. For example, if your dream company works in the streaming niche, just create a basic Twitch clone with the tech stack they use.

BONUS: Contribute to open-source projects

Contributing to open-source projects on the internet is really important. The company you apply to won’t start a new project just for you. You will be joining a codebase created by someone else. So, by contributing to other projects, you show the company that you know how to read a different codebase that wasn’t created by you.

Conclusion

As junior developers, we are excited to get hired by a company, but the truth is, they are not excited to hire us. If you don’t have any code to show them your abilities, you can’t prove yourself.

In short, I just want to suggest that “your portfolio project must be big enough to work on for at least 1–2 months.” Don’t show off your 3–5 hour projects that you watched on YouTube. Also, if you use at least 2 different tech stacks in these projects, you can prove that you will adapt quickly if the company needs to change their tech stack somehow.

I hope everyone gets results from their efforts! See you in the next blog.