Ask HN: How to build a github portfolio?

[Armslong]

I see a lot of people suggesting that one should build a github/bitbucket portfolio. What would be appropriate projects/code to put on there, considering the fact that I doubt my skills are enough to make any non-trivial contributions to the major open-source projects?

[mindcrime]

Pretty much anything. Even if you're just working your way through some tutorial on $SOME_TOPIC, put the code in a repo. Later, if you're applying / interviewing somewhere, it will still be of interest, even if it isn't some standalone, super-fancy, gee-whiz, flashy $WHATEVER.

If I were interviewing somebody who had only tutorial or exploratory code up, I'd just use it to seed the conversation. "I see you used a while loop here... is there a way you could do the same thing with a for loop instead?" or "You did this tutorial a year ago, based on what you've learned since then, how would you rewrite this bit?" and things of that nature.

Over time, as you start writing bigger and more functional apps or systems, you'll obviate the need for that stuff, but use what you've got.

[hkmurakami]

I've seen many posts here suggesting that any personal projects are a plus since it gives hiring managers visibility into your coding style.

[MojoJolo]

I also have this question. I'm not contributing to open source (yet). It is because I have more fun in developing my personal projects. But most or all of them are not in Github (well, they are in BitBucket, but in a private repo).

[lifeguard]

'Scratch an itch', meaning make something you want to use.

[nubbie]

If you can only make trivial contributions, then by all means; it's not all that different to starting a new job in my opinion.

[dylanhassinger]

git push