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I am a coder and I'm encountering a challenge: To show a portfolio.
If you are a designer you can show visual designs, a graphic designer can have a paper portfolio.
Could a developer have a portfolio of code? Code might not mean much to an recruiter who has too little coding experience to evaluate the skill in the code, but if I can't show the code, what can I do?
In my case, I'm not even allowed to show my code, because it belongs to my company, so that's not an option at all for me. However, the following could be:
Indicate your years experience
This does not necessarily say something about your coding skills, but it does say something about management, decision making skills, ability to work with other people, etcetera.
Show the projects you've worked on, and your role in them
You can show some of the projects you've participated in and say what your role was in those projects. You might not be able to show the code, but you can explain that "I did this like this, so that it's futureproof" or "I did some research and found that method X, which I implemented, was the best for the case".
This does not show actual code, but it does show a bit of your train of thought.
Talk about your skills
I like speed in websites, so I could make a section on my approaches to achieving that. You can think of two or three things you are good at, and then use that to start a paragraph ( like this one ;) ) about something that you know a fair amount about. Don't forget to add examples (e.g. "speed: check out the speed of the flow in example.com").
Sharing code you've made (but isn't yours)
We all have that piece of code, shining in its brilliance, that we'd like to share. You MUST ask your employer*, otherwise it might result in nasty nasty situations.
An option to make it less 'stealable' is to take a screenshot of it and post that, or only show it upon request.
Don't forget, you don't have to show everything, just some smart/good functions should do.
* "Even if you're self employed, the code may not necessarily belong to you - e.g. if you're contracting/consulting." - Jon Story
Certificates or diplomas
If you have any, obviously, add them. This, again, might not really reflect your actual code, but it does help paint a picture of your overall skillset.
They can, but the way to do it depends on what you have available.
Some options
My preferred would be a combination of 1 and 2... make an application and document the build in a blog, and then later start adding other articles with issues you find elsewhere or while maintaining it. This will give you a single set of source code to show your coding ability (+ ability to document and organise code), along with proof of your ability to plan, project manage and problem solve.
Could a developer have a portfolio of code? Code might not mean much to an recruiter who has too little coding experience to evaluate the skill in the code, but if I can't show the code, what can I do?
This is a good question. Because all of this stuff is essentially, “invisible” so explaining what you do and what you have done is quite difficult. My experience in coding and systems administration is deep, my resume is solid, and I have code examples but the actual interview process where this gets explained still becomes stressful due to the fact that initial conversations are often with non-techs who become confused quite quickly when hearing about this stuff.
What I have found to be helpful is having GitHub public repositories for projects. The projects do not necessary have to be connected to a job directly, but perhaps you have coded a library or tool for a task you had and you posted that tool generically to your GitHub account so others can benefit from that work.
That said recruiters might not have the ability to assess you coding skills by looking at code, so you still need to create some “high level” narrative of your work. Such as, “Worked on this website and created a JSON API which enabled this site to be used in new, creative ways by staff and contractors…” And then that could dovetail to code examples in your repository.
But another good tool is the tool we are using right now: Stack Exchange. If you build up your reputation and have some solid activity on the site it’s valuable to share that with a recruiter who might pass that info onto the actual techs you would be working with. You might be nervous about exposing the casual tone of many interactions one has on this site to a potential recruiter, but the reality is unless you a complete jerk, modern tech-savvy recruiters completely understand that forums are forums.
