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!

I’m currently a freelancer webdesigner. Until a short while ago I used to do freelancing jobs only during the spare time and on weekends, however, a couple of months ago I decided to leave the industry and fully embraced the responsibility and risks of working from home.

This is my first article, and also the first one from a series of How to become a freelancer. Let’s start with a very interesting topic: Develop Your Freelance Skills.

I intend to provide as many references, tools, as well as tips to auxiliate us all, beginer freelancers, and those who are already seasoned freelancers will certainly take advantage of it as well.

So, shall we begin?

Do I feel scared of leaving my former steady job? Heck yeah. However, during these 5 years of freelancing, after so many successfully finished projects I noticed that many new projects are a result of indications from former customers, and they are every increasing! Of course you have to be good with at you do, otherwise you can ruin your reputation.

DEVELOP YOUR FREELANCE SKILLS

A previous experience in any IT company will add to your expertise. Try to get to know how the lifecycle of the projects work in all the IT departments of the company.

Another way of getting to know how one project may spread its lifecycle though all the departments of one company is by studying the cases and whitepapers many known companies release on their websites

For both cases the idea is to keep always learning about projects’ lifecycle, so you can get the best possible overview of the big picture on what involves the project you might be part of. For that, there are plenty of  resources, from youtube channels, tech events, and so on!

Always get to invest more time in what you are good at! Further develop your abilities, meawhile you get to understand more in the broader sense, you’ll be able to get down to the nitty-gritty of some other areas, which are not your sole focus of study, but certainly will come in handy when time arises.

As a webdesigner, I need to understand a bit of many different areas, such as:

• The Digital Marketing: get to know how it works, the entire process of planning a digital campaign.
• UX – UI: also known as user experience. Get to know how the job requirements assessment is done; the gathering of information, all the way to the wireframe construction.
• Design: Find out how the UX team does their info gathering for the layout construction phase. In most cases it’s the designer that gets to wear the UX hat.
• Web and Development: it’s where the webistes and apps are built. It’s important to understand about what they are speaking, their tools, and so on.
• Customer service: Knowing, listening to the customer and knowing the time to speak, be polite, pass security for the client, know how to dress, etc …
• Sales: Make a budget, know how to price the value of a project and close a sale.

Getting to know at least a bit about these areas, will certainly help you a big deal when for instance, having a meeting with one of your customers.

Of course, you are not required to understand every single detail, and to have an answer for every single problem, but the professional who has this knack for a variety of aspects in the project thereof, will certainly be an asset, and will also greatly aid you when it’s time to send the projects estimates and pricing.

Another very important thing. Learn to speak a second language (in my case, English). Sooner or later you are going to need it. For non English speakers, knowing English nowadays, in most cases, isn’t even considered an asset, but a mandatory skill. In the IT field it’s one of the cases which English is the bridge language, used for a variety of tasks, from basic communication purposes, to even coding the company’s products.

Here below, I’m leaving a few extra resources which might add up to one’s knowledge acquisition:

• https://www.upinside.com.br/blog
• https://tableless.com.br
• https://marketingdeconteudo.com
• http://chocoladesign.com

Free online courses:

• https://www.codeschool.com/courses
• https://www.codecademy.com/
• https://www.schoolofnet.com/

The statement proves to the company that the applicant is really interested to assess his skills towards the requirements for the project.

Done right, this statement can already be the key for a successful application even without reading the whole CV.

This statement helps saving time on the client side which will be very much appreciated by the reviewer.

It emphasizes the proficiency and practical experience in concrete projects mentioned in the CV.

While writing the personal statement, keep in mind to follow these simple rules:

1. Describe your experience based on facts rather than on opinion
2. Keep it short: Try to summarize your experience and skills in 3 – 4 sentences
3. Keep it simple: Instead of using much jargon, simplicity gains the upper hand

These simple rules will bring you a step closer to your desired job.

Good luck![:de]

Warum ist ein individuelles Motivationsschreiben nebst dem Lebenslauf so wichtig für eine Bewerbung?

Das Motivationsschreiben zeigt den Unternehmen auf, dass der Bewerber wirklich die für die Stelle angeforderten Fähigkeiten mit sich bringt.

Diese Aussage kann schon der Schlüssel für eine erfolgreiche Bewerbung sein, auch ohne den ganzen CV durchlesen zu müssen.

Es hilft Referenten sowohl Zeit zu sparen als auch die Kompetenz und praktische Erfahrungen zu unterstreichen.

Behalten Sie einfach folgende Punkte im Auge, sobald Sie Ihre persönlichen Aussage schreiben:

1. Beschreiben Sie Ihre Erfahrungen faktisch und nicht basiert auf Ihre Meinung
2. Halten Sie es kurz und bündig: Versuchen Sie, Ihre Erfahrungen und Fähigkeiten in max. 5 Sätzen zusammenzufassen.
3. Schreiben Sie in einfacher Sprache: Verwenden Sie Fachbegriffe mit bedacht und im passenden Kontext

Diese einfachen Regeln bringen Sie schon einen Schritt näher zu Ihrem gewünschten Job.

Viel Glück![:pt]

Por quê uma carta de apresentação extra, além do Currículo bem formatado é tão importante para uma proposta de trabalho?

Essa parte, que consiste na apresentação, é usada para provar para o recrutador que o concorrente à vaga está realmente interessado em direcionar seus conhecimentos técnicos aos requisitos para a vaga.

Essa apresentação ajuda as agências a ganhar tempo, que será em contrapartida muitíssimo bem recebida pelo “recrutador” que irá avaliar o seu perfil para a posição. Ela também enfatiza as suas proficiências e experiência prática em projetos reais que forem mencionados no Currículo.

Portanto, nada de pular a carta de apresentação! Reserve um tempinho para fazer algo simples, porém sucinto que irá certamente lhe destacar em meio aos seus concorrentes à vaga.[:pb]

Por quê uma carta de apresentação extra, além do Currículo bem formatado é tão importante para uma proposta de trabalho?

Essa parte, que consiste na apresentação, é usada para provar para o recrutador que o concorrente à vaga está realmente interessado em direcionar seus conhecimentos técnicos aos requisitos para a vaga.

Essa apresentação ajuda as agências a ganhar tempo, que será em contrapartida muitíssimo bem recebida pelo “recrutador” que irá avaliar o seu perfil para a posição. Ela também enfatiza as suas proficiências e experiência prática em projetos reais que forem mencionados no Currículo.

Portanto, nada de pular a carta de apresentação! Reserve um tempinho para fazer algo simples, porém sucinto que irá certamente lhe destacar em meio aos seus concorrentes à vaga.[:]