Do I need a portfolio?
Not all positions expect a portfolio and not all Olin students have one. Beyond applying for a job that requires (or highly recommends) a portfolio, a few reasons you might benefit from having a portfolio are;
- you are applying for design or software positions or have a strong creative or coding background.
- you have trouble fitting all relevant details of your projects/experiences on your resume.
- you have a few impressive, well documented projects that showcase relevant skills.
What should I use to make my portfolio?
There are a lot of options for creating your portfolio. The first thing to do is decide if you are going for a slides/PDF portfolio or a website. You may choose to use slides/PDF if you have less content (such as when you are making your first portfolio), want easier control over the style/artistic elements, and/or have limited time to create your portfolio. You may choose to use a website if you have a large variety of content, want a platform that is easy to expand and update, and have more time to create your portfolio.
A few popular website tools include:
- Adobe Portfolio
- Wix
- Weebly
- Squarespace
- Notion
- Github Pages
A few popular slides/PDF tools include:
- PowerPoint
- Canva
- Adobe Illustrator
- Figma
What should I put in my portfolio?
An Olin education can mean so many things. A great way to show exactly what your path looks like is through a strong portfolio of work. Remember that your portfolio is a way to showcase your educational journey. Some things you might include in your portfolio are:
- Class Projects. Many classes include a big project and those projects are perfect to showcase in your portfolio.
- Classes/Class Assignments. Even beyond projects, some classes have assignments that showcase important and relevant skills. While it’s not a good idea to include every piece of homework, you can use your portfolio to showcase polished assignments when relevant. If you chose to do so, it might be useful to showcase a group of 2-4 assignments for a particular class together, since individual assignments can sometimes be too small for a full page of your portfolio.
- Personal Projects. This one is relatively self-explanatory.
- Club Projects. Are you part of a club on campus? Are you guys working a project? That’s something you can showcase! Make sure to specify parts of the project that you worked on and use pictures of your work in particular.
- Outside-of-class Academic Advancement. Are you working through an online course? Learning a new coding language in your free time? These types of academic advancement might make good content for your portfolio, especially if they contain mini or large projects that you can showcase.
- Work Projects. Are you building a website for work? Re-designing a classroom experience? Manufacturing signage for facilities? If your job includes a relevant project, that might be another good thing to share. Make sure to check with your supervisor to ensure they are okay with the information you are posting.
- Research. If you’ve been involved in research on campus or at another institution, well, there’s another project to share about!
- Capstone Projects. Are you currently in SCOPE, ADE, or another type of capstone experience? You may be able to share that project on your portfolio. (Remember to be careful about NDAs though!)