Focus on Your Work Projects, Not Just Personal Ones, for a Better Portfolio
When you’re building a portfolio for a potential job, you want to highlight your best work. You may think that these are your personal projects, but do not neglect your professional work.
As the 99u productivity site points out, even if you’re not so emotionally attached to your professional projects, they showcase key aspects of your work ethic to a potential employer. They show how flexible your style can be, or how you can adapt to a client’s needs:
“Do-it-yourself projects are fun to explore and practice, but when it comes to your portfolio, try to show as much of the real thing as possible. A real project means you have to adapt to certain parameters and production constraints. You dealt with a client, made changes, and had to justify your choice. What you’ve done on your personal project may never happen in the real world because your personal projects are rarely at risk due to real-world circumstances, such as customer testimonials. If you have created something that you really think is worth showing, make the layout so good that it will be difficult to distinguish real from fake, and indicate that it was initiated by you, and that there is a thinking behind it. “
Of course, if you did something really impressive in your field that was a personal project, there is nothing wrong with demonstrating it. However, your professional designs are likely to reflect the skills you will need and use in your work environment. Even if you are not so proud of them or not in awe of them, a potential employer wants to see them.