If you’re just starting out in your career as a developer, you may not have a lot of relevant job experience to list on your resume. Maybe you did an internship or have some freelance experience, but you don’t have that solid one to two years of full-time experience yet.

While this is a hurdle in the job-hunting process, the good news is: A great Junior Developer portfolio can help close that gap by showing hiring managers that you can start and finish a major project, apply your theoretical knowledge to real-world problems, and work effectively in a team.

Whether you’re a Back-End Developer showing off your best PHP or Ruby projects, or a Front-End Developer displaying screenshots of your latest Python or Swift app, portfolios are the best way for hiring managers and recruiters to see the results of all the hard work you put into your new development career.

Most developer portfolios are online, either as standalone websites or as part of your personal website. Here are the key sections to include in your portfolio and what to put in each one.

Bio

The bio you include in your portfolio can be a high-level summary of your professional background, relevant experience, education, and any awards or achievements you want to highlight.

You may also want to point out a passion project you’re proud of that shows off your developer skills, as well as a bit about who you are — like your hobbies or an interesting fact about yourself.

Contact information and resume

Just like on your resume, make sure your name and professional email address are easy to spot. You can also include links to your social media accounts and/or a blog in this section if they’re relevant.

Even though you’ll submit your resume to the hiring manager when you apply for jobs, you still want to include it here, whether it’s a PDF download or a link to another page. You never know who might be looking at your work. Hiring managers and recruiters often reach out to qualified professionals even if they don’t directly apply to a job.

Projects and experience

It can be tricky to know which projects to include in your portfolio, especially if you have a wide range of work you’re proud of. But you want to be selective here and pick the ones that are most relevant to the jobs you’re applying to and showcase the skills that’ll help you get an interview.

Are you trying to get a job at a mobile app start-up? Then you likely want to pick projects that highlight your work in Swift, Go, or Kotlin. Looking to get into game development? Consider including screenshots and video reels along with your projects in C++, Python, and Java.

Under each project, write a brief description. You’ll want to include details like your specific responsibilities, the overall scope of work, and results. You can also write about the issues or challenges you faced during the project and how you overcame them. Hiring managers like to learn how you approach obstacles in your work. This is a place to also mention your soft skills — like communication, organization, and leadership — and how you used them.

Looking for ways to add more projects to your portfolio? Our Career Paths include Portfolio Projects where you use the skills you’ve learned to build a project that you can include in your portfolio. If you’re interested in web development, check out our Full-Stack, Front-End, and Back-End Developer Career Paths. For mobile development, you can take a look at our iOS Developer Career Path, and for game development, our Create Video Games with Parser.js has a final project that could be included in your portfolio.

Skills

From programming languages to libraries to APIs, developers can have a wide range of skills, but the ones you decide to highlight in your portfolio should relate to the specific roles you’re applying to.

To make sure you’re including the most important skills to match the job requirements, you can scan the job descriptions to help you prioritize which skills to list. And remember to include a few of your soft skills in this section along with your hard skills.

References/Recommendations/Awards

If you have any great testimonials or feedback from past projects, you can absolutely include those in your portfolio. This is a great way to show the value of your work from someone else’s point of view. This goes for awards as well — don’t hesitate to include any awards or other professional recognition you’ve received.

A note on your portfolio and your personal brand

Even if you’re not planning to pursue a career in web design or Front-End Development, you can — and should — approach your portfolio website as part of your personal brand. That means getting a personalized, easy-to-remember domain name and putting some thought into the aesthetic of your portfolio. Remember that hiring managers look through tons of portfolios, so picking a memorable layout can help yours stand out.

Take your Junior Developer portfolio to the next level

As a Junior Developer, you’re probably looking for ways to beef up your portfolio while also learning new skills to advance your career. Depending on which direction you want to go in, we have one-off courses and complete career paths to help you get to the next level.

If you’re working in web development, we have a full range of courses covering everything from back-end app development to software design principles. And if you’re just starting out, you can pick from Full-Stack, Front-End, and Back-End development. For mobile development, you can learn how to build basic Android apps and iOS apps. And for game development, you can take your ideas and turn them into reality with our Learn Game Development with Phaser.js course, or learn A-Frame (VR).

We also offer several courses that teach specific programming languages, like Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++, and lots more.

In addition to your portfolio, you’ll also need a great resume to land an interview as a Junior Developer. Check out these tips on how to write a Junior Developer resume that’ll catch the hiring manager’s eye. Also, check out our Career Center for more advice and guides on job-hunting and interviewing.

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After landing your first entry-level position and spending a few months adjusting to your new role, you might start turning your eyes to the next level. But promotions can be hard to navigate. Every company has its own way of doing things, and you might be unsure of how to proceed.

Still, there are some best practices that could help better position you for a promotion. Here, Codecademy People Operations Business Partner Asif Kumandan explains that there are several steps you can take to help set yourself up for success.

Figure out how you want to grow

Before you can advance, you need to know where you want to go. “The first step is understanding what you want,” Asif says.

What are you hoping to gain from a promotion? (Aside from money.) Is there a platform or technology you want to become more familiar with? An aspect of software development that you want to specialize in? Or maybe you’re drawn to the idea of nurturing other people and aiding in their career development.

Think about what growth looks like for you — not just in terms of role but also experience. “When you get the right experience and learn the right skills, the roles and responsibilities will come with it,” Asif says.

Start by doing your research. Many companies provide a breakdown of the competencies required for each role. Try looking at your role and the one above it. Not only will this give you an idea of what to expect at the next level, but it’ll also give you some insight on how to get there.

“If you want to be promoted, you want to meet at least 75% of the competencies at the level above your current role,” Asif says.

You could also try reaching out to your senior team members to ask about their responsibilities and the steps they took to earn a promotion. And if you still need more information, consider doing a little competitive research. Look through job postings related to your desired roles and take note of their requirements.

Once you have an idea of how you want to grow and what it’ll take to get there, try to find opportunities to build the required skills. What projects can you take on to meet those next-level competencies? Are there any new programming languages you should learn?

Share your goals with your manager

After you’ve figured out how you want to grow, the next step is to sit down with your manager to discuss your goals.

This can be intimidating — especially for junior team members, Asif says. Many people shy away from these conversations because they worry about coming off as greedy or that their manager will think they’re considering other options. But these conversations are essential for your career growth, and they also show your manager that you’re actively looking for ways to improve.

“It’s on managers to create opportunities for people to grow, so don’t shy away from these conversations,” Asif says. He also points out that these conversations are mutually beneficial. As your abilities grow, you’ll be able to provide more value for your team and company, he says.

In your next one-on-one with your manager, try setting up a separate meeting to discuss your career development. Outline your broad goals and share the ideas you came up with during your research. Then, your manager will be able to help you develop a plan of action and find specific steps you can take to build your skills and work your way up to the next level based on the company’s goals and timeline. “Sometimes your goals are perfectly aligned, and sometimes they aren’t, but the only way you can find out is by starting the conversation,” Asif says.

Keep track of your accomplishments

One of the best ways to earn a promotion is to illustrate the value of your contributions. But this isn’t always easy to do. We often get caught up in our day-to-day work, completing tasks and immediately moving on to the next. When you’re constantly looking forward, it’s easy to lose track of all the great things you’ve done thus far.

That’s why Asif recommends creating a Hype Doc. Try using Google’s Hype Doc template to get started. Highlight any big projects you’ve handled — summarize the problem you resolved and the results of your efforts. You’ll also want to add any work you’ve done that’s not captured in your competencies, including smaller, unique tasks that were helpful for your team.

Hype Docs are a great way to keep track of all of your achievements, so when it’s time for your performance review and you want to showcase your hard work, you don’t have to scramble through old tickets and documents. They also give your manager a valuable resource to help build a case for your promotion. Asif points out that managers juggle a lot of responsibilities, and having a Hype Doc on hand helps ensure that your accomplishments don’t get overlooked or slip through the cracks. “Great managers will advocate for you, but no one can advocate better than you can for yourself,” he says.

You also might want to include metrics in your Hype Doc. Maybe you resolved an error that reduced downtime or implemented a feature that increased your user retention rate. Knowing how to understand and explain hard data points can help clarify the impact of your contributions. If you need help learning how to collect and make sense of your data, check out our data analytics courses.

Find opportunities to work with other people

The importance of having good people skills is often overlooked, especially in tech, but they’re essential for you to succeed in your career. As you rise to more senior levels, you’ll have to work more closely with other teams and departments. That means your communication and collaboration skills need to be top-notch, and you’ll also need good leadership skills to keep your junior team members on track and help them advance in their own careers.

“Many of the competencies in engineering roles speak to cultural impact and soft skills,” Asif says. “It’s not just about how much code you wrote.”

Try to find opportunities to collaborate with your team members and foster each other’s growth. This might include code reviews, pair programming, or lightning talks where you share new and valuable information. You also might want to consider mentoring another developer. These steps can help show your manager that you’re ready for the next level.

For more information, check out our list of soft skills you’ll need for a career in tech. And if you need help getting your skills to the next level, take a look through our programming courses.

If you’re a Front- or Back-End Developer who dreams of becoming a Full-Stack Developer, Connecting Front-End to Back-End will take you one step closer to achieving your goals. If you’re a Data Analyst who wants to become a Data Scientist, we’ll show you how to Build a Machine Learning Model with Python. And if you want to learn more about modern software development and best practices, try our Introduction to DevOps course.

You can also find other helpful resources, including tips from tech recruiters and projects that’ll help you build your skills, in our career center.

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