What web applications should you include in your portfolio for web development jobs?

"Crafting digital experiences that captivate the eye and seamlessly adapt to every screen – where aesthetics meet responsiveness, and user delight knows no bounds" "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs You can see the importance of the designs and their responsiveness, doesn't matter how their performance is if you can't catch a client's eye. Some use Tabs, some use phones, some use desktops some use big LEDs so it must be best from all aspects. More user friendly it is, the more user is friendly with website :D

Pizza Making Build Your Own and Ordering Application A great example of a practical and user-friendly application that utilizes PHP Laravel, The application can showcases your ability to handle user input, manage data, and integrate with payment systems like stripe, paypal etc School Management System This web application streamlines various aspects of school administration, including student records, attendance management, and communication with parents. It highlights our ability to handle complex data structures, maintain user roles and permissions, and integrate with third-party systems like email or messaging platforms. These three web applications showcase your versatility and ability to tackle diverse development challenges.

As a web developer in 2023, responsive design is an aspect of your web development journey that you have to show to employers with not only your portfolio but also in other jobs you have done that will be captured on your portfolio. One of your best friends as a web developer is the Browser Developer Tools. You can find this in most browsers. With this tool, you can view, test and monitor changes to your website UI with the Device Toolbar to check what your website looks like on different devices (mobile, tablet and desktop). For you to be able to develop a website that fits perfectly on several screen sizes and orientations, you need to understand media queries/breakpoints and Flexible layouts (Flex & Grid).

One of the benefits of using Frameworks in web development is that they are easy to use and make the job easier. Frameworks developers are working overtime to include features that make these frameworks more efficient for web developers to create optimal websites. One way of showing that you are proficient in a particular framework is by using it to design your portfolio and emphasizing the project you have used it on. For instance, designing your portfolio with React while adhering to the best practices of the React library will appeal to an employer who needs a React Developer. To sum up, your portfolio is an opportunity to create an impression, ensure you use it judiciously.

In the context of Front-End Frameworks a good web dev portfolio should show the prospect's ability command: - CRUD - State Management - API calls, loading states and gracefully management of errors. - Route Management - Component Mangement - Templates and Data Binding. - Responsiveness. Beyond these basics, if the prospect want to standout, they would show best practices, human readable code, established pattern and/or even custom built hooks. Now, if the prospects wants to go the extra mile, (Unit, E2E, Security and Performance) testing, and documentation so I, as a hiring manager do not have to guess my way through the prospect's system, this point would also give me a strong assurance the prospect can build high quality products.

In the context of Backend a good portfolio would be proof of the prospect's knowledge and ability to harmonize in the following areas: - Database design and ORM layers. - REST APIs design - this is in my opinion the most challenging part of being a BE. - Auth/Authorization - Security - Caching Beyond the basics: - Micro-services, ie modular services that scale - Async/Queuing - DevOps/Infra - Performance Optimization - Custom Middleware - Scalability Above and Beyond: - Complex algorithms and queries - ML - Real Time features like chat, notifications and web-sockets - Documentation - Testing(Unit, Security, Integration)

There are a few big stacks in the web development space. Lead by frameworks like React, Angular, Astro, etc. Each one is worth checking out, and has its own ecosystem and opinion on how things are done. My favorite has to be Next.js, because it gives me control from the server to the client. Next.js was able to solve all of the problems I've faced in web development while also adopting features like building your API routes alongside your pages. You won't go wrong by at least trying a framework or reading the documentation. The developers who worked on it believed it to be optimal for SOMETHING. That's worth investigating.

The real challenge in web development isn't just technical issues like security or performance—it's communication. At the end of the day, programming is a social activity where we build solutions for people. Effective teamwork, thorough testing, stakeholder alignment, and meeting users' expectations are what differentiate great products. A web developer’s portfolio that highlights these collaborative achievements, along with technical proficiency, signals a truly prosperous career.

In closing, I'd like to share my personal mantra: The Service, The Service, The Service. Service: Prioritize your stakeholder and users. Service: Nurture your team. Service: Refine and rigorously test your code. The rest will come.