Programming Portfolio

Question

I am currently a University student on a 12 month internship, before returning to University for a final year. My questions is, how useful would it be to create a portfolio of home projects that can be used to support a CV for that firsrt graduate job? Are there any employers on here that have any thoughts on this and also what level of work should be on display? I'm thinking of going down this route to make me stand out from a lot of other candidates. As a mature graduate (34 when I graduate) I think any slight advangate is a must.

Thanks.

Answer 1

As a developer that has been involved in interviewing candidates, I would say that having a portfolio of projects (home projects, open source, etc) is a great idea.

If you think about what a potential employer has to go on (a CV which tells a very limited story plus one or more interviews which are generally still pretty high-level), giving an example of your work puts out a few strong messages about yourself:

1. I can actually develop software
2. I'm confident enough in my software development skills to show them to you

By the way, I wouldn't worry too much about being a mature student -- this can just as easily be used to your advantage (i.e. you have life experience which new graduates will likely be lacking).

Answer 2

i would say it is very useful; put down any interesting personal projects on your cv, that shows that you are keen to learn new stuff and likes to do programming in your spare time, as well as the additional experience you gained while coding them etc.