So, we are about to begin our second part of our How to become a freelancer article series, You can follow the first part here! And today let’s talk about portfolio! I’ll give you free tool tips for you to Create your Portfolio.
A portfolio is a collection of projects you may have undergone in your career.
CREATE YOUR PORTFOLIO
First thing, there is not such a thing as the perfect formula for landing the perfect CV or portfolio, you should always keep in mind, as a thumb rule, that everything that is made with love and care, tends stand out from your competition, giving you the chance to call out the attention of any potential recruiter.
Now, more than just carrying for the visuals of your portfolio, you should also have an extra care to the inline details, to show that you are able to carry some train of thought through your portfolio, by showing that the path you took throughout your career, has made a lot of sense, and therefore, you are the professional you claim to be, because you have chosen the best projects, paths and ideas, which when put together, makes the killer professional you are today.
There are tons of tutorials on how to get your portfolio decently put together, here’s a great one by the way:
For the newcomers, who do not yet have much to show, you might ask.
Well, there are tons of ways you can chose to come up with a great looking, filled with projects portfolio in almost no time.
Think about that friend of yours who has been telling you for ages that he/she is in need of a website to expose his/her new idea. Perhaps the pizza delivery place down in the corner of your home.
You may also create on mobile app for your uncle, whom told you the other day about his cool idea he’s been thinking about lately. Or even bring yourself up one notch, by helping in building that charity institution a very nice website.
Most new ideas do not require a big amount of dedication, just to bring up one landing page to expose that idea. Some apps may start just with the bare minimum, or as we call in the IT business: a minimum valuable product.
While you won’t need to be the sole developer of any of kick-start ideas your network of friends might have, besides helping them to make their ideas come true, it will certainly add up to your portfolio having these extra projects as being one of the co-creator.
Talk to your friends! They have the idea, you have the expertise. One never knows what the future might bring to you guys.
Just keep in mind that the thumb rule is, regardless of what you do, do it with love and dedication, that will certainly have a huge pay off, because people out there will see it as a reflection of your the way you care about things.
Most of the time, it’s not about quantity, but about quality. Having that in mind, try to always keep your portfolio up to date, if you feel that a certain project no longer reflects who you are as a professional, take it out of your portfolio and get it replaced by another one that will stand out a better image.
Also, you do not need to have your own domain website to kick-start your own portfolio, but of course if you do, it will help people to connect your name with your projects.
Out there you can find tons of free, almost-free, or very reasonable priced ways to quickly have your portfolio ready.
Some free options I have found to be very handy are:
Behance (https://www.behance.net/). Besides offering a great way to quickly create one portfolio, these guys have tons of cool inspiration on how to have your portfolio more beautifully made.
Adobe portfolio (https://www.myportfolio.com/). This is a free plaform, though you may need to create your adobe ID.
Dribbble (https://dribbble.com/)
And, for the programmers, in case you do not yet have your GitHub (https://github.com/) account, it’s time to have it and start posting your projects there.
CONCLUSION
So, that’s all folks! There is a constellation of free tools out there you may choose to use in your favor, never be afraid of using them! You have only to win!
Follow the series How to become a Freelancer:
- How to become a Freelancer – Develop your Freelance Skills (Part 1)
- How to become a Freelancer – Create your Portfolio (Part 2)
- How to become a Freelancer – Develop your Productivity and Mindset (Part 3)
- How to become a Freelancer – How to Build a Professional Networking (Part 4)
- How to become a Freelancer – How to be a Formalized Freelancer (Parte 5)
