The Ultimate Guide to Your Coding Portfolio: Tips, Examples, and More

A coding portfolio lays the foundation for the best tech jobs across countless software fields. Whether you want to become a software developer, mobile app developer, user experience designer, or software engineer, knowing how to make a coding portfolio will help you get better career advancement opportunities even faster. 

Our article is a great source for anyone wanting to impress a potential employer through their programming portfolio. We’ll give you top coding portfolio examples and the essential elements you’ll need to build your own portfolio. A portfolio is a great way to show off your tech skills with each coding project you add to it. 

What Is Coding?

Coding is a language used to communicate with computers and develop software. The usage of coding or programming applies to a wide range of subject areas that cover software engineering, visual design, software development, and data science projects. 

Depending on your career aspirations you will need to learn Python, JavaScript, SQL, Ruby on Rails, Swift, PHP, or HTML. The world of tech and software is impossible without programming, and coding is a crucial component for technical advancement. By mastering coding, you become a sought-after candidate across a multitude of sectors. 

Do You Need a Coding Portfolio?

Yes, you need a coding portfolio to highlight your programming and software development skills. The competition in the tech job market is skyrocketing and a resume and a cover letter alone won’t suffice. A portfolio allows you to go the extra mile and showcase your programming ability to employers you’re interested in working for.

It is vital that you customize your programming portfolio to match your profession’s skill requirements. For example, software developer portfolios must include Python, Scala, and Java projects. To get a career in data science, your programming portfolio should include Python, SQL, MATLAB, and Julia projects. 

Elements of a Strong Coding Portfolio

Elements of a strong coding portfolio include a call to action, as well as your relevant skills and professional background. You can create a portfolio unique to you while integrating the essential elements of a coding portfolio.

• Your contact information. One of the primary elements of a coding portfolio is the candidate’s contact information. This allows prospective clients and future employers to get in touch with you. Be sure to include your email address, phone number, LinkedIn account, and full name. 
• About you. It is a known fact that your first impression can often be your last one. Make sure to create a lasting impression in your introduction. The “About Me” section should be a blend of your past experience, soft skills, technical skills, and important projects. 
• The projects. The most vital element of your portfolio is your projects. These projects prove your professional capabilities and give you the opportunity to showcase your technical skills. You should include a description of each project and links to the code in your portfolio. 
• Professional references. This component will help you solidify your personal and professional characteristics. Include information about how you know each reference when you’re listing their contact information.  
• Educational and professional qualifications. Don’t forget to include your educational background and job experiences that you mentioned in your resume. 

How to Make a Coding Portfolio

We’ve made a detailed step-by-step guide on how to make a coding portfolio below. Know that these steps will vary depending on your choice of tech career and professional background. 

1. Learn to Code 

The first step to building a programming portfolio is to learn the coding languages required by your profession. If you want to meet the typical tech job industry standard, then a Bachelor’s Degree in Software Development or Engineering might be for you.

But, if you are looking for a short-term education that offers career services training, then a coding bootcamp should be your first choice. Flatiron School’s software engineering bootcamp will get you ready for a lucrative coding career. Online courses that teach programming languages are another great avenue that will help you learn to code. 

2. Research Your Preferred Job Posting 

The second step to making a coding portfolio is to customize it to meet the specific job you’re applying for. Programming is a broad field and the usage of specific coding languages and subjects can vary. If you want to pursue a career in front end development you will need to prioritize the usage of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in your portfolio.

If, however, you want to enter a software engineering profession, then you will need to focus on Python, Java, C++, and Scala. Be sure to highlight languages and skills that are appropriate for the specific profession you’re working towards.

3. Add Projects 

The third step is to add relevant content to your programming portfolio. You can add Python, Java, SQL, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, or Scala projects. The projects you include will vary depending on your profession of choice. You can either create new projects or use any previous coding projects you have from coding classes you’ve taken in the past.

4. Get a Professional Certification

A coding portfolio with the backing of a professional certification makes you stand out as a candidate. You can also use any projects you complete in certification programs to add interesting projects to your portfolio.

5. Make Your Coding Portfolio

The last step is to actually make your coding portfolio. Once you have completed your programming projects, done your job research, and earned a professional certificate, it’s time to integrate them into a stellar portfolio. Don’t forget to add your personal interests and hobbies along with professional competencies. 

Coding Portfolio Examples

Highlighting in-demand coding skills through software development, front end development, user experience, mobile app development, and responsive web design projects are key to building an impressive coding and tech portfolio. Below are five coding portfolio examples that can be used to start your programming career in the web development, web design, front end development, or software engineering fields. 

Denise Chandler Coding Portfolio 

Denise Chandler’s front end development and web design coding portfolio leads visitors through a creative experience perfect for a design and development profession. This online portfolio includes a menu section that is neatly categorized and easy to navigate. The projects are further organized into web development and web design projects. 

Best Parts of Denise Chandler’s Coding Portfolio

• One of the best parts of Chandler’s portfolio is the design elements. As a web designer, Chandler does a great job of highlighting her web design skills in every aspect of this page. 
• The shop section is a great addition to the website and allows clients to browse through the various web design templates Chandler has to offer. This also showcases her user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design skills. 
• Chandler’s variety of portfolio projects includes professional jobs and links to the websites that prove design and development competency. 

Jonny MacEachern Coding Portfolio

Jonny MacEachern’s web development coding portfolio is a great guide for developers looking to launch a web design and development website. MacEachern breaks down the portfolio into services, projects, and pricing sections. These elements are pivotal to any small business. 

Best Parts of Jonny MacEachern’s Coding Portfolio

• The “Get in Touch” section of MacEachern’s portfolio is a great addition to the website. As a freelance web developer and designer, adding a convenient customer experience feature to your website creates a lasting impression on your potential clients. 
• The preview option offered on MacEachern’s projects puts forth another great customer experience initiative in the portfolio. It allows visitors to take a quick look at the projects without being directed to another page unless they choose to click the available links.
• Another great component of MacEachern’s portfolio is the different types of web development and design projects. They showcase MacEachern’s dynamic thinking and appealing design abilities, as well as his front end development and visual design skills. 

Emily Ridge Coding Portfolio

Emily Ridge’s portfolio is suitable for all aspiring front end developers and designers looking to get their portfolios ready. It covers website design, WordPress development, and WordPress website maintenance projects. 

Best Parts of Emily Ridge’s Coding Portfolio

• Ridge’s portfolio is a great source for designers and developers applying for freelance jobs. It covers information on the offered services and includes project links to prove those technical skills. 
• The user interface and user experience design components of Ridge’s coding services provide easy navigation for the visitors. The solutions are featured categorically and linked to pages with further information which makes the experience a seamless one. 
• For those of you who want to venture into a career as a WordPress developer, Ridge’s diverse projects will be a great source for you. The portfolio has designs for ecommerce, dating, and event management platforms. 

Timmy O’Mahony Coding Portfolio

Timmy O’Mahony’s coding portfolio consists of software development projects on GitHub and Stack Overflow. It also includes personal blog posts covering a variety of programming topics. This portfolio puts forth a simple user interface design and is great for professionals who want to create an easy-to-navigate website. 

Best Parts of Timmy O’Mahony’s Coding Portfolio

• O’Mahony’s projects will appeal to employers who prefer a short and concise career summary and a decluttered website layout. O’Mahony simply links to GitHub and Stack Overflow projects that showcase his professional competency. 
• Another great aspect of O’Mahony’s portfolio is the various coding projects added to the GitHub repository and Stack overflow page. The projects cover several essential software development technologies including Django, Python, web applications, CMS, and NGINX. 
• Similar to many coding portfolios, O’Mahony also adds a blog post page that directs visitors to a page with several relevant tech news and opinion posts. This column allows O’Mahony to shine a light on his personal opinions about the world of tech advancement. 

Chris Lamb Coding Portfolio

Chris Lamb is a software engineering professional working on the software research and development team at Reproducible Builds. Lamb’s coding portfolio is best suited for aspiring backend developers and software engineers. Lamb’s coding projects cover a wide range of extension suites, Django development, IDEs, and Python interface work. 

Best Parts of Chris Lamb’s Coding Portfolio

• Lamb’s career summary and personal statement is a great combination of technical skills, past experiences, qualifications, and personal interests. The hyperlinks added in the “About” section are also a great component that provides the website visitors with proof of Lamb’s technical abilities. 
• Lamb’s project diversity is another great aspect of this portfolio that covers tons of backend development, web development, and coding framework projects. The overall design and layout of these projects are also concise and easy to navigate. 
• Lamb’s portfolio also includes a writing page that compiles a list of books and blogs covering various coding topics. The writing added to the portfolio is a great way to provide the client with further insight into Lamb’s programming capabilities. 

Best Coding Portfolio Project Ideas

Listed below are five coding portfolio project ideas that you can add to your portfolio to flaunt your programming and software coding competencies. These ideas cater to several occupations across the data science, software development, web design, and software engineering fields. Choose the projects that match your career goals. 

• Build a web-based game with JavaScript. Adding a JavaScript project to your coding portfolio showcases your web development and front end development skills. In this project, you will build a web-based game with JavaScript and incorporate animations and UI interactive features into it. This project is great for aspiring game developers. 
• Develop a website with Python. Adding a Python project to your coding portfolio is crucial for impressing your potential employers. In this project, you will develop a website using Python’s Django framework and libraries. This project integrates HTML, JavaScript, and backend development elements. 
• Create a database management system with Azure SQL server. If a career in database management or data science is your goal, then this coding project idea is for you. Data science is a field that integrates Python, SQL, and Java languages. In this project, you will create a database management system with Azure and showcase your SQL skills. 
• Build the backend of a movie database. Whether you want to become a backend developer or a software engineer, adding backend projects will elevate your programming skills. In this project, you will build the backend database of movies similar to IMDB. You even choose to include ranking and genre features in your database. 
• Develop a JavaScript application with Gist API. This JavaScript project is great for front end developers who want to highlight their Vue.js and API skills. 

Coding Portfolio FAQ