{"id":135,"date":"2021-08-03T09:18:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T13:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serioussemicolons.wordpress.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2021-08-03T09:18:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T13:18:32","slug":"portfolios-and-code-rot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/?p=135","title":{"rendered":"Portfolios and Code Rot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had someone recently ask me for some samples of my work. “Sure,” I said, “Just check out my GitLab<\/a>…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uh-oh, it turns out they’re not technical and can’t read code. They need pictures and screenshots. “Do I even have those?”<\/em>, I ask myself. It turns out, the answer was mostly “no”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/em>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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MIT,
Image courtesy of extremetech.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>Me<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My colleague also had this to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…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.<\/p>Rob H.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<!\u2013 wp:paragraph \u2013>
\n<p>I had someone recently ask me for some samples of my work. “Sure,” I said, “Just check out my <a href=”https:\/\/gitlab.com\/jamisonbryant”>GitLab<\/a>\u2026”<\/p>
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\n<!\u2013 wp:paragraph \u2013>
\n<p>Uh-oh, it turns out they’re not technical and can’t read code. They need pictures and screenshots. <em>”Do I even have those?”<\/em>, I ask myself. It turns out, the answer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,17,35,37,48],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clients","tag-code-rot","tag-portfolio","tag-screenshots","tag-visual"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bryant.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}