[Non-Major, Surviving as a Developer] 17. New Developer Portfolio, How Far?

Surviving as a Non-Computer Science Major Developer

#17. New Developer Portfolio: How Far Should You Go?

Personally, while mentoring through other platforms, I often receive requests for portfolio feedback.

When looking at portfolios created at coding bootcamps, many demonstrate a good understanding of the current tech stack demanded by companies. They implement at least the basic CRUD functions, separating the front-end and back-end, which is great. However, a difference lies in their experience with infrastructure.

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Generally, web services are built around various themes like restaurants, pets, or communities. These typically involve the following tech stacks:

Many use SpringBoot, Oracle, and JPA for their portfolios, and the tech stack itself is good. But those with infrastructure experience also incorporate Docker, CI/CD implementation through cloud services, and other activities like using Redis, an in-memory database, going beyond basic development to include the infrastructure aspect as well.

However, I personally believe that for new developers, focusing on the basics while gaining experience with external API integration is sufficient for a strong portfolio, rather than diving into infrastructure at this stage.

Commonly used external APIs include Naver Login, Naver Maps API, and Public Data Portal API. These are frequently used in real-world projects, and the experience of reading API specification documents and developing based on them is crucial. Therefore, a portfolio incorporating this level of complexity is more than adequate.

It's difficult to entrust new developers with immediate development tasks, and infrastructure tasks are even less likely to be delegated.

Therefore, I believe in the principle of "If the development is good, that's enough." Rather than attempting mediocre development alongside infrastructure, a portfolio with basic CRUD but demonstrating careful thought and design will resonate strongly with experienced developers.

So, if you're confident in your development skills, applying various open stacks can be beneficial. However, if not, it's better to focus on development and structure your portfolio accordingly, as this approach will likely be more helpful for landing a job.