The finish line of the Boston Marathon this year was dedicated to those who died in a bombing 10 years ago. Can the site of something horrible become something powerful?
Word of the Day: posterity
This word has appeared in 59 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
How To Make A Portfolio When You Don’t Have “Enough” Work To Show
Your portfolio is supposed to give hiring managers and potential employers a snapshot of your greatest hits — but that can look very different depending on your career and experience. A seasoned dev’s portfolio might include impressive product launches at well-known brands, while someone who’s new to tech only has practice projects to pull from.
When you’re putting together your very first portfolio, it’s tough to determine whether you have enough projects and work to show that you’re legit and ready to get hired. In general, your portfolio shouldn’t be a laundry list of everything you’ve ever worked on. It’s a good idea to have 2-5 of your best projects in your portfolio that are the most relevant to the position you’d like to pursue. Be selective, and aim for quality over quantity.
Learn something new for free
You’re probably sitting on some projects that you’re super proud of and ready to show off, either in your portfolio or somewhere else. We recently launched a coding project showcase where Codecademy learners like you can submit projects for a chance to be featured on our website. (You can read more about how to be included in the showcase here.)
Here are some tips for building your portfolio from scratch, getting involved with group projects, and finding inspiration for your next project.
Be inventive
The projects that you highlight in your portfolio can be just-for-fun hypothetical projects that you build for the sake of coding something. Especially when you’re early in your career and don’t have work experience to draw from, it’s okay to just create a pretend project that’s connected to your skills. (Our catalog of projects is a great place to start practicing your skills or preparing a portfolio.)
Instead of coding the same old calculator app that everyone tends to make, why not create something that’s unique to your interests? Like a video game that’s based on your life story or a Python machine learning model that analyzes the lyrics to songs by your favorite musician. Not only will you be more motivated to work on projects related to your passions, but it’s also an additional way to weave your personality into your portfolio.
Team up with another job seeker
Learning to code on your own can often feel like a solitary activity, but there are lots of ways to connect with other aspiring developers and work on group projects. Take a look at Codecademy Forums to see the types of projects that learners are building in our courses and beyond. You can also attend one of the virtual meetups hosted by fellow Codecademy learners to practice building a project live or get some inspiration for what to make next.
Participating in hackathons is another opportunity to get hands-on experience collaborating with a team on a programming project, and you can totally include these projects in your portfolio. Be clear about the role you played in the group hackathon project, how you contributed individually, and what you learned. Don’t forget to include any prizes or awards you won along the way.
Read job descriptions
In job descriptions, hiring managers list out the types of skills and technologies they’re looking for in a candidate. These are helpful clues that you can use to determine the type of projects you take on for your portfolio.
For instance, the requirements on a Data Analyst job description might say: “Use data visualization tools and programming languages like Tableau, R, Python, Excel, and other internal tools to work efficiently at scale.” In that case, it’d be wise to include a project using those technologies in your portfolio. Need a refresher on how to understand a job description? Read this blog with tips for tailoring your resume to a job description.
If you’re applying to a job in a specialized field, tailoring your projects to the line of work you’re interested in is a great way to show your enthusiasm and commitment. That’s how Tom Bliss, the National Football League’s Football Operations Data Science Manager, landed his first internship with the league. He made two projects related to sports analytics, one using the NFL specifically. “I was able to show up to the interview saying, Look at what I’ve already done,” he says. “I was able to show both my ability to do data science and my ability to know sports well enough to ask interesting data questions.”
See what other people are making
It’s inspiring to check out the diverse projects that other programmers and code enthusiasts are building in their daily lives. That’s one reason why we launched a new project showcase to help learners get their projects seen by millions of peers and beyond. Each month, we’ll spotlight the standout projects on our website for 30 days — and we’ll archive the previous winners so you can browse them at any time.
Take a look at our criteria and rules to get a sense of what we’re looking for, then submit your project (or multiple projects!) to be included.
Brainstorm ideas using ChatGPT
You can find inspiration for coding projects anywhere — just chatting with a friend about their frustrations and anxieties could inspire at least one app idea. If you’re having trouble getting your creative juices flowing, you can use the AI tool ChatGPT to generate a handful of out-of-the-box project ideas.
For example, you could ask ChatGPT: “I’m applying for an entry-level Junior Web Developer position at an exciting tech startup. What kinds of projects would help my portfolio stand out? Include 5-7 ideas and examples.”
This is just one example of how developers can use ChatGPT to be more efficient and creative in their daily lives. Check out our new course Intro to ChatGPT to learn more about the trendy technology.
Start learning a new skill
If you’re just starting out your coding journey and want to start applying your skills to real-world projects, consider taking one of our career paths. They’re each structured around a different in-demand tech role (like Full-Stack Engineer or Data Scientist: Machine Learning Specialist), and will teach you all the relevant programming languages and techniques you need to get an entry-level job.
You want your portfolio projects to reflect the competencies required for the position you’re applying for — so, an iOS Developer would want to include apps they’ve built, while a BI Data Analyst would want to analyze real-world data using their own functions. In our career paths, you’ll get to code a few portfolio-ready projects that align with the role. Not only will career paths give you a glimpse into the day-to-day tasks of a particular profession, but they’ll also help you build up a body of work that you can use in your job search.
Let go of impostor syndrome
If you’re switching careers or trying to break into tech, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with impostor syndrome thoughts or perfectionist tendencies. The thing is, you most likely have plenty of projects that are worthy of your portfolio. Try not to agonize over whether or not a project is good “enough” to show potential employers. The worst thing that could happen is you get feedback on the project that helps you improve it.
Want more portfolio advice? Read our blogs about how to build a software developer portfolio, tips for making a compelling portfolio website, and eye-catching project ideas to consider adding next.
What the Nose Knows: The Underappreciated Olfactory Sense
We are honoring the top 10 winners of our Student STEM Writing Contest by publishing their essays. This one is by Siwen Cui.
3-D Bioprinting: A Modern Day Prometheus
This essay, by Logan Ramanathan, 17, from The Nueva School in Los Altos Hills, Calif., is one of the top 10 winners of The Learning Network’s fourth annual STEM Writing Contest, for which we received over 3,000 entries.
You can find all of our student winners here.
3-D Bioprinting: A Modern Day Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus, the god of fire, was tasked with creating the human — to shape the human body and its organs from mud. Now, through science, a version of Prometheus’s feat may be becoming a reality.
Fourteen hours after entering into surgery, 10-year-old Luke Massella awoke in Boston Children’s Hospital. Luke was born with a condition called spina bifida, a spinal disease that can cause wide-ranging health complications. By 10 years old, he had undergone over a dozen surgeries, and in 2001, a malfunctioning bladder led to kidney failure. Luke needed a new bladder; however, traditionally, this was not possible. Previously, bladder failure meant living with either an ostomy bag that collects urine outside the body or an internal pouch drained with a tube. Additionally, without a healthy bladder, Luke’s kidneys would never be able to heal.
“I was kind of facing the possibility I might have to do dialysis [blood purification via machine] for the rest of my life,” Luke said. “I wouldn’t be able to play sports, and have the normal kid life with my brother.” Dr. Anthony Atala, a pioneering pediatric urologist, had other ideas.
Using specialized 3-D printers and a small piece of Luke’s bladder, Dr. Atala’s team, over two months, was able to grow Luke a new bladder. The transplant surgery was an overwhelming success. To this day, Luke lives without complication; the first-ever case of a 3-D-printed organ transplant. By 2018, nine other patients had received similarly printed organ transplants.
Bioprinters work similarly to traditional 3-D printers; however, instead of depositing layers of plastic, they deliver layers of biomaterial which includes living cells. These living cells are grown from seed cells taken from the patient and cultivated to form a bioink. The printers follow instructions from detailed computer models of organs or other tissues that are often made specifically for a given patient. Thus, through the use of an MRI scan and harvested cells, printers can make a custom organ, providing a perfect match.
In the past decade, the bioprinting industry has rapidly developed to work on even more complicated tissues and organs. A team at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, for example, recently achieved a breakthrough in the printing of human blood vessels.
According to Jennifer Lewis, a professor at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, in less than a decade, almost all organs could be printed, eliminating the need for transplant donors. With 17 Americans dying every day while waiting for organ transplants, bioprinting could become hugely impactful. Through new technology, hundreds of thousands of people would be able to receive lifesaving transplants which would have been otherwise impossible.
Through bioprinting, science is bringing mythology to life. This time, though, instead of titans shaping elements of the human body from mud, researchers and doctors are printing organs using high-tech equipment, ushering us into a healthier future.
Works Cited
Belton, Padraig. “A New Bladder Made From My Cells Gave Me My Life Back.” BBC News, 11 Sept. 2018.
Cartwright, Mark. “Prometheus.” World History Encyclopedia.
Fountain, Henry. “At the Printer, Living Tissue.” The New York Times, 11 Aug. 2013.
Khademhosseini, Ali. “3-D. Technology: Building a Better Blood Vessel Video and Transcript.” Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Lord, Brian. “Bladder Grown From 3-D. Bioprinted Tissue Continued to Function After 14 Years.” 3D Printing Industry, 12 Sept. 2018.
Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Doctors Transplant Ear of Human Cells, Made by 3-D Printer.” The New York Times, 2 June 2022.
Rogers, Kristen. “When We’ll Be Able to 3-D-Print Organs and Who Will Be Able to Afford Them.” CNN, 10 March 2023.
Rosen, Ellen. “A Possible Weapon Against the Pandemic: Printing Human Tissue.” The New York Times, 27 July 2020.
Tang, Jenny. “Organ Regeneration With 3-D Printing, and Future Applications.” Imperial Bioscience Review, 28 Jan. 2022.
What Are Your Thoughts on Uniforms and Strict Dress Codes?
Are uniforms or dress codes a part of your life at school, at work or while playing sports?
Word of the Day: treacherous
This word has appeared in 213 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
Page, Stage and Screen: Can You Guess This Award-Winning Poet?
How African Restaurant Baobab Fare Found Success in Detroit
He also had a big dream: to bring the food of their home country to Detroit. He competed in a local entrepreneurship program in 2017, and the couple won the $50,000 prize to help them get their restaurant started. They finally opened the doors to their airy restaurant, Baobab Fare, in early 2021 — in the throes of the pandemic.
The accolades have rolled in. In February, the couple were named for the second time as semifinalists for best chef in the James Beard awards, and in March, Mr. Mamba won an episode of “Chopped,” a cooking competition on the Food Network, and with it, $10,000. Now they are donating that prize money to Freedom House Detroit, the nonprofit that helped Ms. Nijimbere, and other asylum seekers like her, escape persecution.
“Mamba is what you want the rest of humanity to be like,” said Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, the chief executive of Freedom House Detroit.
Growing up in Burundi in East Africa, Mr. Mamba, 42, learned to cook traditional regional flavors from his mother, who owned a restaurant. She taught him to cook with his senses, not just by recipes, which gave him an advantage on “Chopped” when he was confronted with proteins unfamiliar to him, like ostrich and scallops. But, he said the culinary skills that landed him on the show don’t compare to his wife’s talent.
“The best cook is not even me, it’s Nadia,” he said.
Ms. Nijimbere, 41, is not one for the limelight, though, and didn’t want to go on national television. Mr. Mamba nearly turned down the “Chopped” producers, but decided to compete himself because he felt it was important to share their food and the story of how two refugees became small-business owners.
An Awakening of a Geological Giant: The Next Deadly Eruption of Mount Baekdu
On the border between China and North Korea lies an active volcano called Mount Baekdu, also known as Changbai in China, that undergoes a major eruption every 1,000 years. The last such eruption occurred in 946 when 45 megatons of sulfur dioxide were released into the atmosphere — 1.5 times the amount put out by the Tambora eruption. And as the date suggests, a millennium eruption is now overdue.
Scientists who have been monitoring the status of this sleeping giant detected around 3,000 earthquakes between the years 2002 to 2005; however, since 2006, seismic activity has dramatically decreased — a key signal that a volcanic eruption is imminent. Furthermore, a Russian satellite noticed a remarkable increase in surface temperature around the mountain, while the concentration of hydrogen and helium emissions also rose tenfold in 2006. “Mount Baekdu is almost like the calm before a storm right now,” said Yun Sung-Ho, a professor of earth science education at Busan National University.
The National Institute of Environmental Research of Korea has analyzed the potential power of Mount Baekdu and suggested that the global impact may be as devastating as the Mount Tambora explosion. Volcanic ash and gas could dim the sun, lowering the temperature in East Asia by 2 degrees for two months. Not only can the fallout of volcanic ash leave an indelible imprint on our skin, but it has far-reaching secondary damages on the economy and livelihoods, as witnessed in 1816.
Scientists state that cooperation among the international community is urgently needed to prepare for all possible outcomes. They suggest that an evacuation plan must be developed, and a close monitoring system must continue. In the face of this herculean giant’s unpredictable fury and destructive force, it reminds humans that studying volcanoes is not just a matter of scientific curiosity but a crucial discipline that holds the key to protecting our planet.
Works Cited
D’Arcy Wood, Gillen. “The Volcano That Changed the Course of History.” Slate, 9 April 2014.
Evans, Robert. “Blast From the Past.” Smithsonian Magazine, July 2002.
Jeong-Won, Heo. “North’s Analysts Worry About Paektu Eruption.” Korea JoongAng Daily, 6 June 2019.
Munger, Michael. “1816: ‘The Mighty Operations of Nature’: An Environmental History of the Year Without a Summer.” University of Oregon, 2012.
Oppenheimer, Clive. “Climatic, Environmental and Human Consequences of the Largest Known Historic Eruption: Tambora Volcano (Indonesia) 1815.” Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment, June 2003.
Park, Chang-Seok. “Mt. Baekdu Eruption’s Impact on North East Asia (25).” The Korea Times, 3 May 2012.
Park, Dae-gi. “If Mt. Baekdu Erupts, the Temperature in East Asia Will Drop by 2 Degrees.” KBS News, 31 Jan. 2011.
St. Fleur, Nicholas. “Only a Rumbling Volcano Could Make North Korea and the West Play Nice.” The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2016.
Volcano Hazards Program. “Be Ready for the Next Volcanic Event.” U.S. Geological Survey.
Voosen, Paul. “North Korea’s ‘Millennium Eruption’ Flooded the Skies With Sulfur, but Left Little Climate Trace.” Science, 30 Nov. 2016.
Wayman, Erin. “‘Tambora’ Links Volcano to the ‘Year Without a Summer.’” Science News, 13 July 2014.
Witze, Alexandra. “North Korea Lets Scientists Peer Inside Dangerous Volcano.” Nature, April 2016.
