TDP #14: 4 Tips for a Stand-Out Portfolio Project

A few helpful ways to make your project shine

June 17, 2023

Having a project portfolio incredibly helpful to have when job hunting.

Heck, it’s good to have at anytime to keep yourself ready for new inbound opportunities.

But you want to make sure your projects provide a clear and easy-to-read representation of your skillset.

I review a lot of portfolios during 1:1 sessions. I’ve seen plenty of great project examples as well as ones that could use some work.

So here are 4 things to consider for a clear, stand-out project. This covers tips for the project itself as well as for it’s presentation.

1 | Make the goal of the project analysis clear

It’s quite common for me to review a project and not understand what the goal of it is.

If we’re following the standard 5-second rule, I should be able to tell what this is right off the bat.

I recommend coming up with a set of questions you want to answer before beginning your project.

Make these questions and their answers clear in your analysis. This goes for coding and visualization projects.

2 | Be detailed, but don’t be exhaustive

Sometimes I see projects that are quite frankly just too much.

Whether it’s a Tableau dashboard with too many charts, or a SQL analysis with too many pages of code.

Now let me be clear, you don’t want to sacrifice the quality of your project just to keep it brief.

It’s okay if your project is on the longer side. The important thing is to find the balance between brevity and detail.

I recommend thoroughly editing your project to cut out any noise. Keep only the details that are vital to the analysis and final results.

Detail is important, but so is having a clear analysis.

3 | Highlight key skills used in your project description

I call this the TL;DR of your projects, (that stands for “too long, didn’t read”).

In your portfolio description, it often helps to list out key functions used in a bullet point format.

Here’s a few examples for a Tableau project. You could say, “Key functions used in this project:”

  • Calculated fields used to create “…”

  • LOD expressions to build “…”

  • Dual axis for line charts

  • Top N filtering for “….” chart

  • Use of containers for dashboard spacing

You could add more of course, but these are a few quick ideas.

Listing key functions gives a nice overview of what it took to create the project.

Listing key functions give hiring managers a window into your proficiency level. It operates like a checklist, but it also gives them some quick details if they only have time to skim your project.

4 | Include images of the project

This depends a bit on the project, but allow me to explain.

Of course, a visualization project is an image itself. But on your landing page, I recommend including a “preview image” of it to hook people. Then they can navigate to the full project page to see the whole thing.

For coding projects like SQL or Python, include various snippets of your code as you walk people through the analysis.

As mentioned in point #2, aim for brevity while keeping the key details of the analysis, but it’s nice to walk people through what you did in a step-by-step fashion.

Images help your portfolio and description pages stand out and hold reader attention.

That’s in for this week friends.

See you next time ✌️

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:

1 | The Data Portfolio Guidebook

If you’re looking to create a data portfolio but aren’t sure where to start, I’d recommend this ebook: Learn how to think like an analyst, develop a portfolio and LinkedIn profile, and tackle the job hunt.

2 | 1:1 Coaching Call

For help navigating the data job hunt, consider booking a 1:1 career guidance session with me. We’ll review your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn, and we’ll also develop a roadmap to get you to your ideal data job faster.