I had someone recently ask me for some samples of my work. “Sure,” I said, “Just check out my GitLab…”
Uh-oh, it turns out they’re not technical and can’t read code. They need pictures and screenshots. “Do I even have those?”, I ask myself. It turns out, the answer was mostly “no”.
It seems that in all the years I’ve been doing professional software development, I was unconsciously making the assumption that people who wanted to verify my skills could do so simply by looking at my code. Dumb mistake, and one I regret. Of course there are folks who don’t read code who want to know what I can do. How do I ensure they are taken care of? Do these sites I’ve made over the years even still boot? The answer, as I found out last night, is sadly mostly “no”.
In my portfolio, there are numerous sites that were made on older versions of frameworks (some even pre-dating Composer, if you can believe it), sites without READMEs, sites with docker-compose files so complex even I can’t parse them anymore…the list goes on and on. In essence, a big ol’ stinking pile of code rot! Unfortunately code rot is a semi-common occurrence in the industry, and just something we have to deal with, however I learned a very important lesson from this experience:
When you finish building something cool, TAKE a SCREENSHOT. Screenshots are timeless, require no setup, and instantly communicate value and skill to stakeholders, especially non-technical ones.
Me
So, while I am trying to get 4 or 5 old sites booted up (yes, I am still going through with it) just so I can take screenshots to share with a third party, I am ruminating quite deeply on this lesson. Take it from me, code rot is unavoidable, but screenshots are forever. Keep your portfolios happy and healthy with plenty of images and context.
My colleague also had this to say:
…every once in a while I would do a screen recording with a voiceover walking through some of my portfolio work. 1 to 2 minutes. People seem to enjoy it.
Rob H.
I’ve actually also done this before, but for my day-job projects, not for my contracting gigs. It’s worth thinking about, if you have a good screen recording program, a decent mic, and basic video editing skills.
Do you have any clever solutions for maintaining a portfolio over a long period of time, or for handling long-ingrained code rot? Drop a comment below, I’d love to chat about it.