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Portfolio website - What next?

lympero

lympero

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 1, 2008
869
562
Arta, Greece
Hello all,
Im in the process of TRYING to change my career to web/ iOS developer. I am using all my free time studying and coding for 2-3 years and I have created an website/portfolio but since I don't live in USA/UK I find it hard to get noticed by just applying online and not be able to attend to startup meetings etc.

Currently I'm preparing my first "complete" application in order to publish it to AppStore but I can't thing of anything else.

Any recommendations/ideas of how should I continue from now on?

Here is my website http://glympero.tk/

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
 
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I'd add more padding to your text blocks in the education section, that text is really pressed up against the top of the frame.

First thing I would do, if you're looking at a global market, is to register the .com of your domain name. It's a small expense and, from a marketing point of view, the .com will be a more familiar TLD for most people.

Getting clients in this industry without being able to get out there and network is going to be tough. My only advice would be to use the various online platforms that are available to showcase your work, and hope to get noticed.

Start working locally, it's pretty much how we all started, and go from there.

Best of luck.

Oh...and I went to the University of Hertfordshire too! :)
 

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BillyBobBongo said:
I'd add more padding to your text blocks in the education section, that text is really pressed up against the top of the frame.

First thing I would do, if you're looking at a global market, is to register the .com of your domain name. It's a small expense and, from a marketing point of view, the .com will be a more familiar TLD for most people.

Getting clients in this industry without being able to get out there and network is going to be tough. My only advice would be to use the various online platforms that are available to showcase your work, and hope to get noticed.

Start working locally, it's pretty much how we all started, and go from there.

Best of luck.

Oh...and I went to the University of Hertfordshire too! :)
Click to expand...
Yeah. You are right about the padding. Thanks for the tips.
 
The domain change is a good point. Start blogging about your projects or stuff that interests you. This will get your name out there.

I would also put the focus on one area, either focus on IOS or web. If you wanna focus on web, pick either frontend or backend, whichever you prefer.

It's better to have one or two areas of expertise than being a jack of all trades.
 
Did you talk to the university for any companies looking for entry level or even paid internships? I'd imagine they'd be able to give you some guidance. You may want to go somewhere as even a Jr level, I know you may have higher skill but once you get your foot into the door it opens up other doors.

The advice I would give is to not spread your skill set thin. Swift, C#, PHP, C++ and Java is quite a challenge to be perficient with all 5 then tacking on the JavaScript ecosystem world. That looks more Backend / DevOps and quite a variety that could hurt more than help. Nothing wrong with aspiring to be a full stack dev but have realistic goals.

Even though a resume would be light on tech positions I'd still put on together and really call out your education achievements. Best of luck!
 
lympero said:
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Please take this the right way. I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but your site doesn't look real. I thought you had changed some text in a templated theme and put up a bunch of icons and images as placeholders. It took me a a few trips through it to realize it was a real site and those were your skills and actual projects.

You might simply be better off with a detailed profile page at some freelancer site. At least then anyone looking at it will understand the information is legit.

The site also doesn't work so well on a mobile device.

If you want to keep it, I'd simplify it down down down. That spot where you list all of your skills. It makes it look like you're selling a software product, not your own services. There's nothing wrong with text. One of the biggest mistakes people make is they think everything needs an icon.

The proportions of the images are also a bit out of wack. There's too much whitespace in some places and too little in others.

Take out all of the drop shadows and reintroduce them only to a few elements that you feel needs to be highlighted. The drop shadows make the site boxy and hard to scan.
 
lympero said:
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Very nice, clean design. I like the game at the end as well. Nice touch.

Here is an ADA guide for websites:
http://wave.webaim.org/report#/http://glympero.tk/

Yes, it is for Americans with Disabilities, and not necessarily applicable to your location/site; but it is a good resource.

You said you need ideas. Head to a local church or school and check out their old outdated stuff, start improving their workflow, once you get a couple more freebies under your belt you will have more work than you can handle.
 
You have a couple of spelling mistakes in your About Me section, namely 'militaty onligations'. Also, when I scroll up the Welcome To My Portfolio header clashes with the skills and portfolio links, but otherwise that's a neat website. Good luck!
 
olup said:
The domain change is a good point. Start blogging about your projects or stuff that interests you. This will get your name out there.

I would also put the focus on one area, either focus on IOS or web. If you wanna focus on web, pick either frontend or backend, whichever you prefer.

It's better to have one or two areas of expertise than being a jack of all trades.
Click to expand...

+1

Another consideration would be to include localizaton as one of your abilities, if that is something at which you are competent. Given your living in Greece (according to your listing) and your well written first post, I would suspect that localizing apps and/or websites would be a skill you could offer, and least Greek<>English. This could be an entry point to clients and give you something to build on, expanding your services to the clients that initially only need the localization service.
 
I'm not sure how to say this without potentially causing offence, but please don't take offence. I would consider a different name if you want to target the UK or USA. Not that we're anti Greek, but we can be pretty ignorant when it comes to pronunciations and Greek surnames are not often the easiest to pronounce!

I would maybe consider shortening it on the site - maybe use 'Glympero' as a company name - still keeping your name in there, but making it feel more like an agency and easier to pronounce (and matching your domain is also a bonus!).

Don't take away your personality/individuality completely though - definately keep your full name where you're talking about you - I just wouldn't lead with.
 
I think an app approach is good you can get traffic from the app stores alone. Make sure your site is setup properly for SEO so you can get as much traffic as possible from normal searching. Good luck!
 
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