– You don’t have a portfolio
– You don’t document your work
– You fail to bring up your successes when asked
– You fail to show your greatness when it matters
But hear me out
Writing a portfolio and documenting your work is often romanticized and overcomplicated by the SEO-driven articles out there on the net webs, it doesn’t have to be.
Here is what I want you to do, going forward, for every week, for a year, write down these 5 lines of information:
Template –
Date
1- Project Tech Stack: Write everything related to the tech stack and the application for the project
2 — Client Details: Company Name, Point of Contact, Website
Work Highlight:
3 — Detail 3-5 aspects of the work you have done in the past week
4 — To make it to the list, there needs to be a clear action and result to the item
5- The items in this list should focus on your personal contribution
Example –
Week of June 26, 23
1 — Project Tech Stack: Node JS/Backend, Nest JS/Framework, Prisma ORM, PostgreSQL, Swagger, AWS EC2
2 — Client Details: Express Apps, Elon Musk/CEO, spacenext
Work Highlight/Past Week:
3 — Developed the framework to calculate users lost on the platform per the decision made by the CEO
4 — Implemented a quick fix for misidentified human users scrapping the Twitter feed
5 — Wrote this line for people who cannot take a joke
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Do this for a year, and you will have a goldmine ready to go whenever asked to show your work, pick your favorites over the year, compile them on a page, and now you are above 90% of the devs out there.

Knowledge by Execution - Breaking Down Tech for the Mango Man (Aam Aadmi/Regular Person) - https://www.sknexus.org/

SK NEXUS

To grow as a developer, maintain a weekly record of your projects, tech stacks, client details, personal contributions, and results. This practice simplifies portfolio creation and highlights your achievements effectively, making you stand out professionally.

You fail to grow as a Dev, because

Stop attacking me. I’m doing my best, I think…
All in all, short, to the point and really self reflective on my part. Thanks.

then the impostor syndrome comes in

I keep a db note in Notion titled “Brag List” and anytime I do something I’m proud of I record a new line in the db. Then I have a nice list ready to talk about on my monthly/annual 1 : 1s.

There is no failure, only the lack of opportunities to accommodate you.

I think that there’s a bunch of good points to think on, especially lack of self discipline and following up on self projects. Great article and thank you for the templates, you know, to avoid falling into the void.