Your Boring Data Portfolio Will (Probably) Not Get You Hired.
Channel: Albert Bellamy
Date: 2023-06-09

Somebody had to say it. 

Look folks, I recommend making an online data portfolio.... just like every other "successful" (read: employed) data professional in the known universe. 

It's great practice to put your work up for public scrutiny. It forces you to take your messy work and polish it up so it's not an embarrassment. It's good to get feedback from others. 

And yes, it CAN BE a demonstration of your professional prowess. 

BUT... if your portfolio is style over substance, 

if it's a cookie-cutter replica of everyone else in your Data Job Program Cohort, 

if it doesn't progress beyond SQL, Excel and the Titanic data set... 

It (most likely) won't get you hired. 

And any data influencer who says they can get you hired based on their foolproof 10-point plan and formulaic portfolio? 

Is just making a buck off of you. 

Folks, I don't have all the answers about this career. But what I've seen is this:

If you do courses and earn certs in order to make your resume look more impressive, it shows.

If you do "paint by numbers" projects based on making your portfolio look pretty, it shows. 

Do the work that interests you. Study the relevant skills that you need to do a job. Document and present that work in a professional manner. 

Be INTELLECTUALLY creative, not just visually. 

THAT is the kind of portfolio that gets noticed. 

And that portfolio MIGHT get you hired. 

***DISCLAIMER: This video mentions Alex Freberg's content. I am in no way disparaging Alex. Alex is the man, I am a massive fan of his work, and I (perhaps selfishly) consider him a personal friend. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY DO ALEX'S PROJECTS. I have done some of them myself. 

That being said, I have seen many, many people whose portfolios never graduated from following Alex's older, simpler videos to the letter. The COVID dashboard was from 2 years ago, people. Move on and learn some more skills. That alone won't move the needle. Be creative, and be curious. 

(Please don't let Alex be mad at me...)***

#data #datascience #dataanalytics #dataanalysis #datavisualization #dataviz #dataanalyst #datajobs #dataportfolio #linkedin #linkedinprofile #alextheanalyst #contentcreator #kaggle