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Ask HN: How should I organize my portfolio? What should even be in it?
3 points by hanyoon 3839 days ago
Growing up as a Generation Y, I fell in love with computers at a very early age. Since then, I have accumulated tons and tons of work (personal and for work). These range from running PPC campaigns, social media marketing consultant for hundred-million dollar company, logos/print design, and even a game-hack that I wrote 10 years ago for SC:BW. I was an odd child.

However -- About 75% of them are just simple (but professional) websites that I have made as a freelancer over the more recent years.

1) What would you include in the public portfolio?

I feel that potential clients / employers may like to see that I try to be well-rounded and always curious to try new things. But I'm not sure how others would think about my SC:BW hack called "BagFullOfSh!t" (can't make this up, you can Google "BagFullOfSh!t ghoztcraft" if you're curious lol). Sure, it was 10 years ago when I was 12, but does it deserve a spot -- on my professional portfolio?!

2) How would you organize your portfolio?

I was thinking of putting them into categories, such as "Logo Design," "Website Development", "Social Media Marketing", etc. But a lot of them overlap with eachother. I could also organize it by client instead of project -- but I've worked with some clients more than others. I'd love to hear your input/suggestions/inspiration.

3) What can you include in your portfolio, morally and legally?

For example: I've had the wonderful opportunity to do some social marketing work for the LA Dodgers (just a small project; custom app on Facebook). However, there was a middle-man advertising agency that reached out to me. Morally, I feel that I can post this project in my portfolio, since I did do 100% of the actual work. Legally, however, could it have repercussions on me?

Thanks for bearing with me guys. I learned a lot from my last AskHN thread, and I am deeply thankful. It's hard to have thoughtful discussions like these on Reddit, and I am loving this HN community!

2 comments

Off-topic, but I didn't want to spam you guys with a new thread. Quick question: Is it looked down upon at HN to repost questions on other sites like StackExchange? I like to get as much input as possible from people, but I don't want to get off as being 'spam-y.'
Given the differences between StackExchange and HN, ideally the questions would be tailored for each community. To go further, it may make sense to post serially since questions can be improved based on responses on other sites.
Ideally, a portfolio is purpose tailored. It emphasizes logos when pursuing logo design work. It emphasizes web design for web design work. etc.

Good luck.

Yeah, I realized that, but at the same time I thought maybe showing the younger "fun" side of me would be beneficial. Definitely something to think about... thanks for the input.
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