Could I land a job? Opinions and criticism welcome.

[damir.hara]

Hey guys,

I have been doing web design and development for just over a year now. I learned how to code in class and outside of class as well. My design on the other hand has primarily been outside of class and its pretty much self taught. I am at the point where I think I can get a job doing this stuff but I'm still not quite sure.

So here I am, asking some of the pro's on here if I qualify for a job doing Front-end Dev and/or UX/UI Design?

Links to my work:
http://www.damirhara.com - My responsive portfolio page I coded and designed along with some work I did.
http://www.damirhara.com/words - My WP based blog I designed and coded using an existing theme. Futures stuff I am currently working on and stuff thats not complete yet.

As far as my training goes, I have taken 2 classes at my University that focus on web coding (HTML5, CSS3, JS, jQuery), as well as a UX Design course I just completed. I am ready to begin testing the job waters and see what happens but would like to get some feedback and opinions from you guys.

Thanks

ps. I am a non-traditional student, I am graduating next semester at the age of 27 and I do have a solid job at the moment but I want to switch fields.

 

[mark!]

I'm not sure about your school's reputation or if they have a career center for your program, but my school is well-known in the tech field in the midwest and has a strong career center. Around 85% make commitment to graduate school or have found employment by graduation. Compared to you, I've seen people with bad portfolios, less experience, and barely any skills get jobs for $55k a year.

That being said, I think you did a good job in the design of the portfolio. I would say work on loading more content, as it is a bit sparse right now. I like the design as far as typography, layout, and color scheme though.

 

[damir.hara]

I'm not sure about your school's reputation or if they have a career center for your program, but my school is well-known in the tech field in the midwest and has a strong career center. Around 85% make commitment to graduate school or have found employment by graduation. Compared to you, I've seen people with bad portfolios, less experience, and barely any skills get jobs for $55k a year.

That being said, I think you did a good job in the design of the portfolio. I would say work on loading more content, as it is a bit sparse right now. I like the design as far as typography, layout, and color scheme though.

Thanks for the feedback Mark, appreciate it. That is good to hear!

 

[fig]

IMO your site suffers from a typical student issue: you set me up for something and then don't give me any payoff.

You've got a nicely designed, on trend website with big type, nice and clean,it makes a generally good first impression (note: with a layout like this your alignment needs to be perfect, your "I am currently enrolled in a UX Design course at the University of Utah that I blog about" needs some tweaking).

You make me scroll a lot, which isn't necessarily bad, so I go to the Work section and I get: two screenshots.

You're telling me you did the HTML and CSS, that they're responsive, etc...and I have no way of knowing that. Give me a dev site, more pages, SOMETHING. Your examples don't look badly designed but the first in particular is kind of naked and looks very empty, fill them out with stock imagery or your own photos or whatever to make them look like real websites. And I need to see more than two projects.

I click resume and it scrolls down to a tiny pic and you tell me I can download it below. Don't tell me I can download it, either show it to me or give me a link. There's not a real point to scrolling down two pages to be told that now I can see the thing I could've seen after the first click. If the initial link says "PDF Resume" I know what it is.

The same goes for Contact, if you're going to make me scroll down then give me a form or something. If I'm just clicking a link to e-mail you then you could've just done that with one link at the top of the page.

None of this is to say that you aren't good enough to get a job, as you very well may be. But if I'm a potential employer you have to show me that.

Hope that helps.

 

[damir.hara]

IMO your site suffers from a typical student issue: you set me up for something and then don't give me any payoff.

You've got a nicely designed, on trend website with big type, nice and clean,it makes a generally good first impression (note: with a layout like this your alignment needs to be perfect, your "I am currently enrolled in a UX Design course at the University of Utah that I blog about" needs some tweaking).

You make me scroll a lot, which isn't necessarily bad, so I go to the Work section and I get: two screenshots.

You're telling me you did the HTML and CSS, that they're responsive, etc...and I have no way of knowing that. Give me a dev site, more pages, SOMETHING. Your examples don't look badly designed but the first in particular is kind of naked and looks very empty, fill them out with stock imagery or your own photos or whatever to make them look like real websites. And I need to see more than two projects.

I click resume and it scrolls down to a tiny pic and you tell me I can download it below. Don't tell me I can download it, either show it to me or give me a link. There's not a real point to scrolling down two pages to be told that now I can see the thing I could've seen after the first click. If the initial link says "PDF Resume" I know what it is.

The same goes for Contact, if you're going to make me scroll down then give me a form or something. If I'm just clicking a link to e-mail you then you could've just done that with one link at the top of the page.

None of this is to say that you aren't good enough to get a job, as you very well may be. But if I'm a potential employer you have to show me that.

Hope that helps.

Great feedback! Thank you.

 

[blanka]

Please more content yes. The big problems is: how to tell the difference between your site programming and a nice WP template? Try to make some nice conceptual work, preferably database driven.
Oh and you have exactly 12 days to remove the background. Grain was SO 2013.

 

[damir.hara]

Hahaha thanks Blanka

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I work as a senior creative for a media company, and actually am having a look at a lot of portfolio at the moment...

Firstly I'd suggest putting a little more context around portfolio item, an image isn't enough. When I am looking I really want to know what your input was and how did you get there?

It's the process over the end result, it allows me to find out where your skill set is at and how you can fit into a team

Secondly, think of a folio as a pitch rather than a CV. The best give me the information I am hearing you pitch, put it from an employer perspective.
- What are you like as a person, can you fit into my team with your set of interests?
- What are your interests and passions? Why are you a dev/designer?
- Where are you now and where do you want to be (you can do this with some awesome side projects of what you really really want to do), for me this is a good one it shows vision and willingness to stick with your career.
- How do you rate your skill set?
- And most importantly what value sets you apart from other designers I may hire, what will you bring to the team?

Answering these will make your portfolio pop, because it will give an holistic view of you as a person and a potential team mate.

I'd also suggest for social links just having Behance, Twitter and Linkedin (don't do Facebook).

The simplest way a very good Creative Director friend put it, "I am busy and can give you me what I want to know in 30 seconds?".

I've also added some links you may find to be useful.
My Simple Portfolio
Portfolio Web Design Trends
The Reverse Job App (this is gold from a copy POV).

 

[McGiord]

remove the multiple "etc." from your Resume.
Provide links to the sites.

 

[damir.hara]

Thanks guys. Love the feedback.

 

[blanka]

I'd also suggest for social links just having Behance, Twitter and Linkedin (don't do Facebook).

I guess behance is OK, personally I prefer Facebook profesionally! I ditched Linkedin and Twitter. LinkedIn is mainly for losers terribly dying to find a job OR the white-collar types looking for other collars, not for creative work. Twitter is like a very deep well. You have no idea where your voice echoes.
Facebook is very good for showing a big variety of media to your contacts. I don't see FB as something for personal crap, 100% for business. But it might differ from country to country. It gives good interaction and good ways to measure your exposure. Use the professional pages though! Not the personal one.

 

[Consultant]

Home page poorly designed. It showed almost no work.
Shows two small thumbnails (seriously?).
Click on one and it shows a design problem.
See more button -> coming soon (lame).

Blog shows more work. Should include more work from blog into home page.

 

[fig]

LinkedIn is mainly for losers terribly dying to find a job OR the white-collar types looking for other collars, not for creative work.

Not sure what exactly your experience is with LinkedIn, but I've gotten a good amount of interest from potential employers simply by having an experience summary and portfolio link (I haven't been actively looking at all). There's some useful groups on there as well.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I guess behance is OK, personally I prefer Facebook profesionally! I ditched Linkedin and Twitter. LinkedIn is mainly for losers terribly dying to find a job OR the white-collar types looking for other collars, not for creative work. Twitter is like a very deep well. You have no idea where your voice echoes.
Facebook is very good for showing a big variety of media to your contacts. I don't see FB as something for personal crap, 100% for business. But it might differ from country to country. It gives good interaction and good ways to measure your exposure. Use the professional pages though! Not the personal one.

Sorry but I completely disagree.

Facebook for home.
Linkedin for work.
Behance for folio.
Twitter for rants.

I have pick up more work on Linkedin than any other medium, and not crappy freelance gigs either I did end up getting flights to NYC, Singapore, Norway and Doha for work in news graphics after senior creatives came across my cv.

It's one of the best networks to link to creative networks, business such as M&C Saatchi, Y&R, Al Jazeera and Ogilvy directly hire from Linkedin. I don't know your previous experience with Linkedin but I would never discount it as a powerful professional tool, if not it gives great SEO/SEM value.