Just realized my portfolio was a mess after a hiring manager in Austin told me they gave up after 30 seconds

I had to choose between a huge, 20-project portfolio showing everything I've ever done or a tight edit of just 3 case studies. I picked the 3-case-study route, focusing on my process for a local brewery rebrand, a mobile app UI, and a packaging project. It felt risky leaving so much out, but my interview callback rate went from maybe 1 in 15 to 1 in 4 over the last two months. Has anyone else cut their portfolio down that hard and seen better results?

3 comments

3 Comments

butler.quinn1mo ago

That Austin manager sounds dramatic, honestly. Cutting down to three solid projects is just showing your best work, not some magic trick.

sandra_anderson1mo ago

Did the same thing last year, cut my ten project mess down to four really deep case studies. The extra space let me show my actual problem solving, not just pretty pictures. I get what @butler.quinn is saying, but for me it was less about showing my best and more about showing I can think. Callbacks went way up.

tyler82216d ago

Oh man, my friend did this exact thing. He had like eight projects that were just okay, then he picked two and went super deep. He showed all his messy notes and how he fixed a big bug, not just the final app. He said it totally changed how interviews went, because they kept asking about his process.